OF  THK 


University  of  California. 


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ARGENTINE    EVIDENOE 


ARGENTINE     REPUBLIC 


ARBITRATION 

Upon  a  part  of  the  National  Territory  of  Misiones 

DISPUTKD   BY    THE 


ARGENTINE  EVIDENCE 

LAID   BEFORE   THE 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

B  Y 

Kstanlslao  S.  Xeballos 

ENVOY   EXTRAORDINARY    AND   MINISTER   PLENIPOTENTIARY   OK  THE 

ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC 


VOLUME,   1 


fol,  -       ' 


tf  C</A^'->-^' 


V, 


"X      OrVl/v/i/9    .      >>^  ..JS^.-.\ 


[UKIVBRSIT 

298  Broad-way,  Pie-w  York. 
18  0  3. 


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f^^^l^ 


Ci  qt^ 


FIRST    FART 


TREATIES 

and 

ROYAL    LETTERS    PATENT 

from 

1493    to    1893 


A 'oir  TOT "^^^ 

[TJFIVBRSIT 


BUIiZi  of  FOFE  ALEXANDER  VI,  on  the  DISCOVERIES 
OF    THE    FORTUaUESE    AITD    SFANIARDS, 
GIVEN  AT  ROME  ON  IMIAV  4th,  1493.  {*) 

ALEXANDER,  Bishop,  Servant  of  the  Servants  of  God, 
to  the  Illustrious  and  Dearest  in  Christ,  our  Son  the 
King"  Ferdinand,  and  in  Christ  most  beloved  daug'hter 
Elizabeth,  ^ueen  of  Castile,  Leon,  Arag-on,  Sicily  and 
Granada :    Greeting-  and  Apostolic  Blessing. 

Of  the  works  most  grateful  to  the  DivineMajesty  and  most  desired  by  our 
heart,  the  principal  is,  that  the  Catholic  Faith  and  the  Christian  Religion  be 
exalted,  so  much  more  in  our  times,  and  that  it  may  grow  and  extend  every- 
where, that  the  salvation  of  souls  be  promoted  and  that  the  barbarous  nations 
be  depressed  and  reduced  to  the  same  faith.  Consequently,  having  been 
elevated  to  this  sacred  See  of  St.  Peter  by  favor  of  the  Divine  mercy,  and  not 
through  our  merits,  and  being  aware  that  you,  as  the  true  Catholic  Kings  and 
Princes  I  know  you  to  have  always  been,  by  your  clear  deeds  known  to 
almost  all  the  world,  not  only  contrive  to  the  same  end  but  with  full  devotion, 
earnestness  and  diligence,  without  saving  toil,  expenses  or  perils  nor  your  own 
blood,  contribute  and  have  dedicated  all  your  attention  and  efforts  to  it 
from  long  ago,  as  the  recent  recovery  of  the  Kingdom  of  Granada  from  the 
tyranny  of  the  Sarracens  testifies  it,  with  so  much  glory  for  the  Divine  name, 
we  justly  deem,  not  without  cause,  that  we  must  spontaneously  and  graciously 
grant  you  all  that,  to  the  honor  of  God  and  the  extension  of  the  Christian 
empire,  may  help  you  in  this  holy  and  laudable  purpose. 


(*)  Published  in  the  «  Collection  of  Treaties  between  the  Argentine  Republic  and  the 
Foreign  Nations  »  :  «  Tratados  celebrados  por  la  Republica  Argentina  con  las  naciones  extran- 
Jeras.n  Oficial  publication,  V.  Ill,  Appendix  p.  IX.  The  book  in  three  volumes  is  presented 
with  these  documents. 


We  were  aware  that  from  long  ago  you  had  intended  to  search  after  and 
discover  some  distant  and  unknown  islands,  and  remote  and  unknown  lands, 
never  before  visited  by  men,  in  order  to  reduce  their  natives  and  dwellers  to 
the  worship  of  our  Redeemer  and  to  the  profession  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  but 
being  prevented  hitherto  from  carrjing  out  this  holy  and  laudable  purpose 
by  your  strenuous  efforts  in  securing  the  Kingdom  of  Granada,  you,  having 
finally,  by  the  will  of  God,  conquered  that  Kingdom  and  decided  to  fulfill 
your  wishes,  did  appoint  to  search  after  diligently  by  sea,  hitherto  unsailed, 
those  main  lands  and  remote  and  unknown  islands,  the  dear  son  Christopher 
Columbus,  man  verily  worthy,  and  very  commendable  and  apt  for  so  great  an 
enterprise,  with  men  and  ships  prepared  therefor,  not  without  the  greatest  toils, 
perils  and  expenses,  that  at  last,  through  the  Divine  mercy,  sailing  by 
the  Ocean  sea  with  great  diligence,  found  several  most  remote  islands  and 
main  lands  never  before  found  by  other  men,  wherein  a  numerous  race  dwells 
in  peace,  undressed  and  unwilling  to  partake  of  meat,  as  we  are  told,  which 
people,  according  to  what  your  envoys  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  believe  in 
the  existence  in  heaven  of  a  God  Creator,  and  seem  most  wiUing  to  embrace  the 
Catholic  faith  and  to  live  hereon  in  good  customs ;  it  being  hoped  that,  were 
they  duly  instructed,  the  name  of  the  Saviour  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  be 
readily  confessed  at  the  mentioned  lands  and  islands  ;  and  that  the  above 
named  Christopher  caused  to  be  built  in  one  of  the  most  important  of  said 
islands  a  fort  well  ammunitioned,  to  garrison  which  he  appointed  a  few 
Christians  from  among  those  he  had  brought  with  him  to  look  for  some  other 
far  and  unknown  islands  and  lands  ;  and  that  in  said  lands  and  islands  already 
discovered,  gold,  spices  and  many  other  precious  things  of  divers  kind  and 
quality  are  found  : 

Whereof,  carefully  considering  all  these  things,  and  chiefly  the  exaltation 
and  extension  of  the  Catholic  Faith  (as  it  becomes  to  Catholic  Kings  and  Princes) 
you  intended,  following  the  example  of  the  Kings  your  ancestors  of  illustrious 
memory,  to  submit  the  mentioned  main  lands  and  islands,  and  to  reduce  their 
natives  and  inhabitants  to  the  Catholic  Faith  : 

We,  therefore,  praising  much,  in  the  Lord  name,  your  holy  and  laudable 
purpose,  and  wishing  it  to  be  duly  accomplished  and  that  our  Saviour's 
name  be  implanted  in  those  lands,  must  exhort  you  in  the  Lord  and  by 
the  obligation  of  the  sacred  baptism,  by  which  you  are  bound  to  the  apostolic 
precepts,  and  by  the  merciful  entrails  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  request 
you,  should  you  intend  to  the  such  undertaking  foster,  to  will  and  try  with  ready 
will  and  the  zeal  of  true  faith  that  the  people  dwelling  in  those  lands 
and  islands  shall  embrace  the  Christian  Religion,  in  spite  of  all  perils  and  toils, 
and  in  the  firm  hope  and  trust  that  the  Almighty  God  shall  look  with  favor 
upon  your  undertaking. 

And  to  enable  you,  the  liberality  of  apostolic  grace  being  to  you  granted, 
to  take  such  an  important  work  in  hand  with  full  freedom  and  daring,  we, 
of  our  own  will,  without  any  asking  of  your  part  nor  of  any  one  in  your  behalf 
but  out  of  our  own  graciousnes,  and  of  a  certain  science  and  fullness  of  apos- 
tolic power,  grant  and  asign  to  you  for  ever  and  to  your  heirs  and  successors 


—  II  — 

[King  of  Castile  and  Leon]  all  the  islands  and  main  lands  discovered,  or  found 
to  be  discovered,  or  to  be  afterwards  discovered,  westward  and  southward, 
drawing  and  tracing  a  line  from  the  Artie  or  North  Pole  to  the  Antartic  or 
South  Pole,  whether  these  lands  and  islands  found  or  to  be  found  should  lie 
towards  India  or  any  other  part ;  which  line  shall  be  at  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  leagues  from  any  of  the  islands  commonly  called  of  Azores  and  Cape 
Verde  to  the  West  and  South,  so  that  all  the  islands  and  lands  discovered  and 
to  be  found  to  be  discovered,  or  that  would  be  discovered  from  the  mentioned 
line  to  the  West  and  South,  not  being  in  possession  of  any  other  King  or 
Christian  Prince  until  the  day  of  Christmas  last,  in  which  day  begins  the  pre- 
sent year  of  one  thousand  four  houndred  and  ninety  three,  when  by  your 
envoys  and  captains  were  found  some  of  the  abovementioned  islands  by  the 
authority  of  the  Almighty  God,  to  us  in  Saint  Peter  granted,  and  which  as  Vicar 
of  Christ  we  exercise  upon  the  earth,  with  all  the  dominions,  towns,  forces, 
villages,  rights,  jurisdictions  and  all  their  dependencies,  as  herein  stated,  we 
give,  grant  and  assign  them  forever  to  you  and  to  the  Kings  of  Castile  and  of 
Leon,  your  heirs  and  successors ;  and  we  appoint,  constitute  and  dipute  you 
and  said  heirs  and  successors  of  yours  as  their  lords,  with  full,  free  and  absolute 
power,  authority  and  jurisdiction  ;  herein  declaring  that  by  this  gift,  grant  and 
assignation  of  ours,  it  be  not  understood,  or  might  be  understood,  that  any 
Christian  Prince  which  may  have  possessed  the  mentioned  islands  and  main 
lands  before  the  said  day  of  Christmas,  be  herein  deprived  of  the  rights  by  him 
acquired,  we  further  command  you,  by  virtue  of  the  holy  obedience  [as  you 
too  promise  it,  a  promise  which  we  doubt  not  you  shall  fulfil  on  account  of  your 
great  devotion  and  royal  magnanimity]  to  send  to  the  aforesaid  main  lands  and 
islands  honest  men,  fearful  of  God,  wise,  skilful  and  experienced  in  order  to 
instruct  said  natives  and  inhabitants  in  the  Catholic  Faith  and  to  teach  them 
good  habits,  in  which  task  you  shall  put  all  necessary  diligence. 

And  we  absolutely  warn  all  persons  of  whatever  dignity,  even  imperial  and 
royal,  or  of  whatever  degree,  order  or  condition,  under  the  penalty  of  excomu- 
nion  lata  setitcnticc,  which  they  shall  incur  should  they  transgress,  not  to 
attempt  to  procure  merchandisie,  or  by  any  other  motive  without  your 
special  permission  or  that  of  your  mentioned  heirs  and  successors  to  go  to 
the  islands  and  mainlands  discovered,  or  to  be  found  discovered,  or  that  would 
be  discovered  to  the  West  and  South,  drawing  and  tracing  a  line  from  the 
Artie  to  the  Antartic  Pole, whether  the  mainlands  and  islands  be  found  or  shall 
be  found  on  any  other  side,  which  line  shall  be  distant  from  any  of  the  islands 
commonly  called  of  Azores  and  Cape  Verde,  one  hundred  leagues  to  the  West 
and  South,  as  above  mentioned  ; 

Notwithstanding  any  Apostolic  constitutions  and  ordinances,  and  other 
decisions  in  opposition  thereto,  hoping  in  the  Lord,  from  whom  all  possessions, 
empires  and  lordship  proceed,  that,  led  by  the  Lord,  should  you  pursue  this 
holy  and  laudable  purpose,  your  doings  and  efforts  shall  briefly  and  most 
prosperously  succeed,  for  the  happiness  and  glory  of  all  Christian  people  ;  and 
since  it  would  be  difficult  to  carry  these  letters  to  every  place  where  to  carry 
them  would  be  necessary,   we  will,   and  with  the  same  motive  and  science 


12    

command  that  its  transcripts,  signed  by  the  hand  of  the  notary  for  this  service 
required,  and  sealed  with  the  seal  of  some  one  endowed  with  ecclesias- 
tical dignity,  or  of  an  ecclesiastical  court,  may  receive,  in  judgment  and  out  of 
it,  the  same  faith  that  these  present  letters  would  receive. 

Therefore,  be  it  neither  licit  for  any  man  to  infringe,  nor  with  daring 
audacity  oppose  this  our  recommendation,  exhortation,  requisition,  donation, 
gift,  assignation,  constitution,  diputation,  decree,  precept,  prohibition  and  will. 
Should  somebody,  notwithstanding,  attempt  it,  let  him  know  that  he  will  incur 
the  wrath  of  the  Almighty  God  and  that  of  the  blessed  Apostles  Peter  and 
Paul. 

Given  at  Rome,  before  St.  Peter,  at  the  one  thousand  four  hundred  and 
ninety  third  year  of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Lord,  on  the  fourth  of  May  of  the 
first  year  of  our  Pontificate. 


^^^  Of  TH«*^^ 

fUHIVBRSITT] 

1494 


TREATV   OF    TORDESZLLAS 

Capitulation  of  the  partition  of  the  Ocean  Sea  made  between 

the  Catholic  Kings  Don  Fernando  and  Dona  Isabel  and 

Don  Juan,  King  of  Portugal.  ( The  original  document 

is  in  the  General  Archives  of  Indies,  Sevile. )   {*) 

Don  Fernando  and  Dona  Isabel,  by  the  Grace  of  God  King  and  Queen 
of  Castile,  of  Leon,  of  Aragon  and  of  Sicily,  of  Granada,  Toledo,  of  Valencia, 
of  Galicia,  of  Majorca,  of  Sevile,  of  Sardinia,  of  Cordoba,  of  Corsica,  of  Mur- 
cia,  of  Jaen,  of  Algarve,  of  Algeciras,  of  Gibraltar,  of  the  Canary  Islands, 
Count  and  Countess  of  Barcelona,  and  Lord  and  Lady  of  Biscay  and  of  Mo- 
lina, Duke  and  Duchess  of  Athens  and  of  Neopatria,  Count  and  Countess  of 
Roussillon  and  of  Sardinia,  Marquis  and  Marchioness  of  Oristan  and  of  Goc- 
cano,  together  with  the  Prince  Don  Juan,  our  very  dear  and  very  beloved  Son, 
firstborn  heir  of  our  aforesaid  Kingdoms  and  Lordships:  Whereas  by  Don 
Henrique  Henriques,  our  chief  Steward,  and  Don  Gutierre  de  Cardenas,  chief 
Commendator  of  Leon,  our  President  of  the  Court  of  Accounts,  and  Doctor 
Rodrigo  Maldonado,  all  of  them  of  our  Council,  it  was  treated,  adjusted  and 
agreed  for  us  and  in  our  name  and  by  virtue  of  our  power,  with  the  Most 
Serene  Don  Juan  by  the  Grace  of  God,  King  of  Portugal  and  of  Algarves,  and 
of  this  and  the  other  side  of  the  sea.  Lord  of  Guinea  in  Africa,  our  very  dear 
and  very  beloved  brother,  and  with  Ruy  de  Sousa,  Lord  of  Sagres  and  Beren- 
guel,  and  Don  Juan  de  Sousa,  his  son,  chief  Inspector  of  Weights  and 
Measures  of  said  Most  Serene  King  our  brother,  and  Arias  de  Almadana, 
Corregidor  of  the  Civil  Acts  of  his  Court  and  that  of  his  Desembargo,  all  of 


(*)     The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  document  alluded  to  in  the  previously  men- 
tioned, "Collection  of  Argentine  Treaties  &.» — Vol.  Ill,  Appendix,  Pag.  Xiv. 


—   14  — 

them  of  the  Council  of  the  aforesaid  Most  Serene  King  our  brother,  in  his 
name  and  by  virtue  of  his  power,  his  Ambassadors  who  to  us  came  about  the 
disputes  of  that  which  to  us  and  to  said  Most  Serene  King  our  brother  apper- 
tains of  that  which  until  the  seventh  day  of  the  present  month  of  June,  in 
which  we  are,  from  the  date  of  this  deed,  is  being  to  be  discovered  on  the 
ocean  sea,  in  which  agreement  our  aforesasid  Attorneys,  amongst  other  things, 
promised  that  within  a  certain  term  expressed  in  it  we  should  grant,  confirm, 
swear,  ratify  and  approve  the  abovementioned  agreement  by  ourselves,  we 
wishing  to  fulfil  and  fulfilling  all  that  which  in  our  name  was  adjusted,  agreed 
and  granted  in  regard  to  the  abovementioned,  we  ordered  said  deed  of  the 
aforesaid  agreement  and  conveant  to  be  brought  before  us  in  order  to  see  it  and 
examine  it,  and  the  tenor  of  which,  de  verho  ad  verb u in,  is  as  follows: 

In  the  name  of  God  Almighty,  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  three  truly 
separate  and  distinct  persons  and  only  one  Divine  Essence, 

Be  it  manifest  and  known  to  all  who  this  public  instrument  should  see, 
that  at  the  village  of  Tordesillas,  on  the  seventh  day  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
one  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety  four,  in  the  presence  of  us,  the  secre- 
taries, clerks  and  notaries  public  abovementioned,  being  present  the  honorable 
Don  Henrique  Henriques,  chief  Steward  of  the  Very  High  and  Very  Power- 
ful Prince  and  Princess  Don  Fernando  and  Doiia  Isabel,  by  the  Grace  of  God 
King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  of  Leon,  of  Aragon,  of  Sicily,  of  Granada,  etc., 
and  Don  Gutierre  de  Cardenas,  President  of  the  Court  of  Accounts  of  said 
King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  of  Leon,  of  Aragon,  of  Sicily,  and  of  Granada, 
etc.,  their  competent  Attorneys,  on  one  party,  and  the  honorable  Ruy  de 
Sousa,  Lord  of  Sagres  and  Berenguel,  and  Don  Juan  de  Sousa,  his  son,  chief 
Inspector  of  Weights  and  Measures  of  the  Very  High  and  Very  Excellent  Don 
Juan,  by  the  Grace  of  God  King  of  Portugal  and  of  Algarves,  of  this  and  that 
side  of  the  sea.  Lord  of  Guinea  in  Africa,  and  Arias  de  Almadana,  Corregidor 
6l  the  Civil  Acts  of  this  court  and  of  that  of  his  Desemba'rgo,  all  of  the  Council 
of  said  King  of  Portugal,  and  his  competent  Ambassador  and  Attorneys 
as  exhibited  by  both  said  parties  by  the  procurations  and  power  of  attorney  by 
their  Lords  granted  to  them,  the  tenor  of  which,  dc  vcrbo  ad  verbiim,  is  as 
follows : 

Don  Fernando  and  Doiia  Isabel,  by  the  Grace  of  God  King  and  Queen 
of  Castile,  of  Leon,  of  Aragon,  of  Sicily,  of  Granada,  of  Toledo,  of  Valencia, 
of  Galicia,  of  Majorca,  of  Sevile,  of  Sardinia,  of  Cordova,  of  Corsica,  of  Mur- 
cia,  of  Jaen,  of  Algarve,  of  Algeciras,  of  Gibraltar,  of  the  Canary  Islands, 
Count  and  Countess  of  Barcelona,  and  Lord  and  Lady  of  Biscay  and  of  Mo- 
lina, Duke  and  Duchesess  of  Athens,  of  Neopatria,  Count  and  Countess  of 
Roussillon  and  of  Sardinia,  Marquis  and  Marchioness  of  Oristan  and  of  Goc- 
cano,  etc.  Whereas  the  Most  Serene  King  of  Portugal  and  very  dear  and 
very  beloved  Brother  has  sent  to  us  as  his  Ambassadors  and  Attorneys,  Ruy 
de  Sousa,  Lord  of  the  villages  of  Sagres  and  Berenguel,  and  Don  Juan  de 
Sousa,  his  chief  Inspector  of  Weights  and  Measures,  and  Arias  de  Almadana, 
his  Corregidor  of  the  Civil  Acts  of  his  Court  and  that  of  his  Desembargo.  all 
of  his  Council,  to  treat  and  convene  and  accord  with  us  or  w  ith  our  Ambas- 


—  15  — 

sadors  and  Atjorneys  in  our  name,  upon  the  disagreement  between  us  and 
said  Most  Serene  King  of  Portugal  our  Brpther,  as  to  what  to  us  and  to  him 
appertains  of  that  which  until  the  present  is  hable  to  be  discovered  in  the 
ocean  sea ;  therefore,  confiding  in  you  Don  Henrique  Henriques,  our  chief 
Steward,  and  in  Don  Gutierre  de  Cardenas,  Chief  Commendator  of  Leon,  our 
President  of  the  Court  of  Accounts,  and  in  Doctor  Rodrigo  Maldonado,  all  of 
our  Council,  that  you  are  such  persons  as  will  serve  us  loyally,  and  well  and 
faithfully  accomplish  that  which  we  would  order  and  command  to  you,  by  this 
present  letter  we  give  you  all  our  full  power  in  the  most  ample  form  that  we 
can  and  the  case  requires,  especially  in  order  that,  for  us  and  in  our  name  and 
that  of  our  heirs  and  successors  and  of  all  our  Kingdoms  and  Lordships,  and 
subjects  and  natives  of  them,  you  may  treat,  accord  and  agree,  and  adjust 
and  covenant  with  the  Ambassadors  of  said  Most  Serene  King  of  Portugal, 
our  Brother,  in  his  name,  any  contract,  agreement,  limitation,  demarcation 
and  adjustment  about  what  has  been  said,  by  the  winds  and  directions  in  de- 
grees of  North  and  South  and  by  those  c[uarters,  divisions  and  places  of  dry 
and  sea,  and  of  land,  which  you  would  esteem  convenient;  and  so  we  give 
you  said  power  that  you  may  leave  to  the  said  King  of  Portugal  and  to  his 
kingdoms  and  successors,  all  the  seas,  islands  and  lands  lying  within  what- 
ever limitation  and  demarcation  of  coast,  seas,  islands  and  lands  might 
lie  in  ;  and  further,  we  give  you  said  power,  in  order  that  in  our  name 
and  that  of  our  heirs  and  successors,  and  of  our  Kingdoms  and  Lord- 
ships, and  subjects  and  natives  of  them,  you  may  accord,  agree  and  re- 
ceive, and  accept  from  said  King  of  Portugal  and  from  said  his  Ambas- 
sadors and  Attorneys,  in  his  name,  that  all  the  seas,  islands  and  lands 
lying  within  the  limitation  and  demarcation  of  coasts,  seas  and  islands, 
and  lands  which  should  rest  or  remain  for  us  or  for  our  successors,  may 
be  ours  and  of  our  Lordship  and  conquest,  and  in  the  same  manner  of 
our  Kingdoms  and  successors  of  them,  with  those  limitations  and  excep- 
tions and  with  all  the  other  divisions  and  declarations  which  you  would  esteem 
convenient ;  and  in  order  that  you  may  do  and  grant,  accord,  agree  and  re- 
ceive and  accept,  in  regard  to  all  what  has  been  said,  and  to  every  thing  and 
part  of  it  and  about  that  concerning  it  or  depending  on  it  or  annexed  to  and 
connected  with  it  in  any  form,  in  our  name  and  that  of  the  said  our  heirs  and 
succesors,  and  of  all  our  Kingdoms,  Lordships  and  subjects  and  natives  of 
them,  whatever  capitulations,  penalties  and  submissions  and  resignations 
which  you  would  wish  and  esteem  proper,  and  about  it  you  may  make  and 
grant  and  do  make  and  grant  every  thing  and  each  of  them,  of  whatever  na- 
ture and  quality,  gravity  and  importance  they  be  or  may  be,  although 
they  be  such  that  by  their  condition  they  should  require  another  determinate 
and  special  mandate,  and  that  it  should  by  act  and  right  be  made  a  singular 
and  express  mention  of,  and  that  we,  being  present,  could  make  and  grant 
and  receive;  and  further  we  give  you  full  power  that  you  may  swear  and  do 
swear  b_,  our  souls,  that  we  and  our  heirs  and  successors,  and  subjects  and 
natives  and  vassals  acquired  or  to  be  acquired,  shall  have,  keep  and  ac- 
complish, and  that  they  shall  have,  keep  and  accomplish  really  and  effectively. 


—  i6  — 

all  that  you  thus  may  agree,  contract,  swear,  grant  and  sign,  except- 
ing every  artfulness,  fraud  and  deceit,  fiction  and  simulation  ;  and  thus  you 
may,  in  our  name,  agree  and  assure  and  promise  that  we  personally  shall 
assure,  swear  and  promise  and  grant  and  sign  all  that  you,  in  our  name,  about 
what  has  been  mentioned,  will  assure  and' promise  and  contract,  within  that 
space  of  time  which  you  would  esteem  proper,  and  that  we  shall  keep  and  ac- 
comphsh  it  really  and  effectively,  upon  the  conditions  and  penalties  and  obli- 
gations contained  in  the  contract  of  peace  made  and  accorded  between  us  and 
the  said  Most  Serene  King,  our  Brother,  and  upon  all  the  rest  which  you  would 
promise  and  agree,  those  which  from  this  moment  we  promise  to  pay  if  we 
should  incur  in  them :  to  which  end,  in  all  and  in  every  part  of  it, 
we  give  you  said  power  with  free  and  general  administration,  and  we  pro- 
mise and  assure  by  our  faith  and  royal  word  to  have,  keep  and  accomplish, 
we  and  our  said  heirs  and  successors,  all  that  through  you,  about  what  has 
been  said,  in  whatever  form  and  manner,  would  be  made  and  agreed  and  sworn 
and  promised,  and  we  promise  to  have  it  for  firm,  conclusive  and  acceptable, 
stable  and  valid  now  and  forever;  and  that  we  shall  not  go  or  come  against  it 
nor  against  any  part  of  it,  nor  our  heirs  and  successors,  by  ourselves  or  by 
other  intervening  persons  directly  or  indirectly,  under  any  pretext  or  law- 
suit, nor  out  of  it,  upon  the  express  obligation  which  we  therefor  make  of  all 
our  patrimonial  and  fiscal  goods  and  any  others  of  our  vassals,  subjects  and 
natives,  moveable  and  landed  property  had  or  to  be  had.  In  firmness  whereof, 
we  ordered  this  our  letter  of  attorney  to  be  executed,  which  we  signed  with  our 
names,  and  order  it  to  be  sealed  with  our  seal.  Given  at  the  village  of  Tor- 
desillas,  the  fifth  day  of  the  month  of  June,  one  thousand  four  hundred  and 
ninety  fourth  year  of  the  nativity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. —  I  the  King. —  I  the 
Queen. —  I  Fernan  Alvarez  de  Toledo,  Secretary  of  the  King  and  of  the 
Queen  our  Lords,  caused  it  to  be  written  by  their  command. 


Don  Juan,  by  the  Grace  of  God  King  of  Portugal  and  of  Algarve,  and  of 
this  and  the  other  side  of  the  sea  in  Africa  and  Lord  of  Guinea,  to  all  those  who 
this  our  letter  of  attorney  and  procuration  should  see,  let  it  be  known,  that ; 
Whereas  by  the  mandate  of  the  Very  High  and  Very  Excellent  and 
Powerful  Prince  and  Princess,  the  King  Don  Fernando  and  Queen  Dona 
Isabel,  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  of  Leon,  of  Aragon,  of  Sicily,  of 
Granada,  etc.,  our  very  beloved  and  very  esteemed  brothers,  some  islands 
were  discovered  and  newly  found,  and  some  islands  and  lands  could  be  hence- 
forth discovered  and  found,  about  which  ones  and  the  others  found  oi  to 
be  found  through  the  right  and  reason  which  we  have  for  it,  there  could 
happen  amongst  us  all,  and  our  Kingdoms  and  Lordships,  and  the  subjects  and 
natives  of  them,  disputes  and  controversies  (which  our  Lord  forbid),  we  wish  for 
the  great  love  and  friendship  which  amongst  us  all  exist,  and  in  order  to  seek, 
procure  and  maintain  a  greater  peace  and  firmer  concord  and  tranquility,  that 
the  sea  in  which  the  mentioned  islands  he  and  might  be  found,  be  divided  and 


—  17  — 

marked  out  between  us  in  some  good,  sure  and  limited  manner ;  and  as  we  at 
present  cannot  personally  practice  it,  confiding  in  you  Ruy  de  Sousa,  Lord  of 
Sagres  and  Berenguel,  and  in  Don  Juan  de  Sousa,  our  chief  Inspector  of 
Weights  and  Measures,  and  in  Arias  de  Almadana,  Corregidor  of  the  Civil  Acts 
of  our  Court  and  of  our  Desembargo,  all  of  our  Council,  by  this  present  letter 
we  give  you  all  our  full  power,  authority  and  special  mandate,  and  we  make 
and  constitute  you,  all  together  of  you  and  each  one  in  solidum,  were 
the  others  in  any  way  disabled,  our  Ambassadors  and  Attorneys,  in  that  most 
ample  form  that  we  can  and  in  such  case  is  required,  generally  and  especially, 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  generality  may  not  abrogate  the  speciality,  nor  the 
speciality  the  generality,  that  for  us  and  in  our  name,  and  that  of  our  heirs  and 
successors  and  of  all  our  Kingdoms  and  Lordships,  subjects  and  natives  of 
them,  you  may  treat,  contract,  agree,  and  make,  and  do  treat,  contract,  agree 
and  make  with  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  our  Brothers,  or  with  whom 
to  that  end  may  have  their  power,  whatever  covenant,  agreement,  limitation, 
demarcation  and  accordance  upon  the  ocean  sea,  islands  and  continents  that 
should  exist  in  those  directions  and  degrees  of  North  and  of  South,  and 
through  those  quarters,  divisions  and  places  of  dry  and  sea,  and  land 
which  you  may  esteem  proper  ;  and  thus  we  give  you  said  power  that  you 
may  yield  and  do  yield  to  said  King  and  Queen,  and  to  their  King- 
doms and  successors,  all  the  seas,  islands  and  lands  that  may  be  or  should  be 
within  whatever  limitation  and  demarcation  that  to  said  King  and  Queen 
should  appertain:  and  thus  we  give  you  said  power,  in  our  name  and  that  of  our 
heirs  and  successors  and  of  all  our  Kingdoms  and  Lordships,  subjects  and 
natives  of  them,  so  that  you  may  agree,  convene,  receive  and  accept  with  and 
from  the  King  and  Queen  or  from  and  with  their  Attorneys,  that  all  the  seas, 
islands  and  lands  which  might  lie  within  the  limits  and  demarca- 
tion of  coasts,  seas,  islands  and  lands  that  to  us  and  our  successors  should 
remain,  be  ours  and  of  our  Lordship  and  conquest  and  also  of  our  Kingdoms 
and  successors  of  them,  with  those  limitations  and  exceptions  of  our  islands, 
and  with  all  the  other  clauses  and  declarations  which  you  would  esteem 
proper.  Which  said  power  we  give  to  you  said  Ruy  de  Sousa  and  Don 
Juan  de  Sousa  and  Arias  de  Almadana,  in  order  that  in  regard  to  all  that 
has  been  mentioned  and  to  everything  and  part  of  it,  and  to  that  concerning  it 
or  depending  upon  it,  or  to  it  annexed  and  connected  with  in  any  form,  you  may 
make  and  grant,  agree,  treat  and  undo  agreements,  receive  and  accept  in  our 
name  and  of  our  said  heirs  and  successors,  and  of  all  our  Kingdoms  and  Lord- 
ships, subjects  and  natives  of  them,  whatever  capitulations  and  contracts  and 
deeds  with  whatever  bonds,  pacts,  manners,  conditions,  obligations  and 
stipulations,  penalties  and  submissions  and  resignations  that  you  should  like 
and  esteem  proper,  and  about  it  you  may  make,  grant,  do,  and  convene 
agree  all  things  and  each  of  them  of  whatever  nature,  character,  gravity  and 
importance  they  be  or  may  be,  provided  they  be  such  that  by  their  condition 
they  should  not  require  another  singular  and  special  mandate,  and  of  which  a 
singular  and  express  mention  should  by  act  and  right  be  made,  and  that  we 
being  present  could  make  and  grant  and  receive  ;  and  further  we  give  you  full 


"^ 


■  'y^OS  T/IK 


iu'HIVBRSIT 


power  that  you  may  swear  and  do  swear  by  our  souls,  that  we  and  our  heirs 
and  successors,  subjects  and  natives  and  vassals  acquired  or  to  be 
acquired,  shall  have,  keep  and  accomplish,  and  that  they  shall  have,  keep  and 
accomplish  really  and  effectively,  all  that  you  may  thus  contract,  agree,  swear 
and  grant  and  sign,  excepting  every  artfulness,  fraud,  deceit  and  fiction  ;  and 
you  may  thus  in  our  name  contract,  assure  and  promise  that  we  persorally 
shall  assure,  swear,  promise  and  sign  all  that  you  in  the  aforesaid  name,  about 
\yhat  has  been  said,  shall  assure,  promise  and  contract,  within  the  space  of 
time  which  you  would  esteem  proper,  and  that  we  shall  keep  and  accomplish 
really  and  effectively,  upon  the  conditions,  penalties  and  obligations  contained 
in  the  contract  of  peace  amongst  us  done  and  agreed  and  upon  all  the  rest  that 
you  would  promise  and  contract  in  the  said  name,  which  from  this  moment  we 
promise  to  pay  and  we  shall  really  and  effectively  pay,  if  we  should  incur  in 
them  :  for  all  which,  and  each  thing  and  part  of  it,  we  give  you  the  said  power 
with  free  and  general  administration,  and  we  promise  and  assure  through  our 
royal  faith  to  have,  keep  and  accomplish,  and  also  our  heirs  and  successors, 
all  that  by  you,  about  what  has  been  mentioned,  in  whatever  form  and  manner 
be  made,  contracted,  sworn  and  promised  ;  and  we  promise  to  have  it  as  firm, 
conclusive  and  acceptable,  stable  and  valid  now  and  ever,  and  that  we  shall 
not  go  or  come,  nor  they  shall  go  or  come  against  it,  nor  against  any  part  of  it 
at  any  time  nor  in  any  form,  by  us  nor  by  themselves,  nor  by  any  intervening 
persons,  directly  nor  indirectly,  under  any  pretext  nor  law-suit,  nor  out  of  it, 
upon  the  express  obligation  which  we,  therefore,  make  of  the  said  our  Kingdoms 
and  Lordships,  and  of  all  the  rest  of  our  patrimonial  treasure,  and  any 
others  of  our  vassals,  subjects  and  natives,  moveable  and  landed  property  had 
or  being  to  be  had  ;  in  testimony  and  faith  whereof,  we  order  this  our  letter  to 
be  given  to  you,  signed  by  us  and  sealed  with  our  seal,  given  at  our  city  of 
Lisbon,  the  eight  day  of  March. — RuY  de  Pina  made  it  the  year  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ's  Nativity,  of, one  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety  four. — THE 
KING. 


And  immediately  the  said  Attorneys  of  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile, 
of  Leon,  of  Aragon,  of  Sicily,  of  Granada,  etc.,  and  of  the  said  King  of 
Portugal  and  of  the  Algarves,  etc.,  said  that  : — Whereas  amongst  the  said 
masters  their  constituents,  there  is  a  certain  difference  about  what  to  each  of 
the  said  parties  appertains,  of  that  which  until  the  present  date  of  this  capitula- 
tion is  about  being  discovered  in  the  Ocean  sea  ;  that  they,  therefore,  in  merit 
of  the  peace  and  concord,  and  of  the  maintenance  of  the  relationship  and  love, 
that  the  said  King  of  Portugal  has  with  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  of 
Aragon,  etc.,  their  Highnesses  are  pleased,  and  the  said  their  Attorneys  in 
The  Divisory  their  namcs  and  in  virtueof  their  said  powers  granted  and  consented,  that  a 
Lineis  herein  line  bc  traced  and  marked  out  through  the  said  Ocean  sea  straight  from  Pole 
to  Pole,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  Arctic  to  the  Antartic  Pole,  that  is,  from  North 
to  South,  which  line  or  limit  to  be  given  is,  as  it  is  said,  at  three  hundred  and 
seventy  leagues  to  the  right  from  Cape  Verde  Islands  towards  the  West  by 


fixed. 


—  19  — 

degree  or  in  any  other  form  as  it  better  and  sooner  might  be  given,  so  that 
they  may  not  be  more,  and  that  all  that  until  the  present  has  been  found  and 
discovered,  and  that  henceforth  should  be  found  and  discovered  by  the  said 
King  of  Portugal  and  by  his  ships,  both  islands  and  main  lands,  above  the  said 
limit  and  line  given  in  the  above  mentioned  form,  going  along  the  said  side  of 
the  East  within  the  said  line  to  the  side  of  the  East  or  of  the  North  or  South  of 
it,  provided  it  be  not  passing  across  the  said  line,  shall  be  and  rest  for  and 
belong  to  the  said  King  of  Portugal  and  to  his  successors  for  ever  and  ever,  and 
that  all  the  rest,  both  islands  and  main  lands,  found  or  about  being  found, 
discovered  or  about  being  discovered,  which  were  or  should  be  found  by  the 
said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  and  of  Aragon,  etc.,  and  by  their  ships,  from 
the  said  line  given  in  the  aforesaid  form,  running  along  the  said  side  of  the 
West,  after  passing  the  said  line  towards  the  West  or  the  North  or  South  of  it, 
shall  be  and  rest  for  and  belong  to  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  of 
Leon,  etc.,  and  to  their  successors  for  ever  and  ever:  And  further  the  said 
Attorneys  promised  and  assured  in  virtue  of  the  said  powers,  that  henceforward 
no  ships  shall  be  sent,  that  is  to  say,  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  and 
of  Leon,  and  of  Aragon,  etc.  by  this  side  of  the  line  or  the  side  of  the  East  on 
this  side  of  the  said  line,  that  rests  for  the  said  King  of  Portugal  and  of  the 
Algarves,  etc.,  nor  the  said  King  of  Portugal  to  the  other  side  of  the  said  limit, 
that  rests  for  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  and  of  Aragon,  etc.,  to 
discover  and  search  after  lands,  nor  any  islands,  nor  to  contract  or  rescue, 
nor  conquer  in  any  manner  whatever  ;  but  that  if  it  should  happen  that  going 
in  this  way  of  this  side  of  the  same  limit  the  said  ships  of  the  said  King  and 
Queen  of  Castile,  of  Leon,  and  of  Aragon,  etc.,  should  find  any  islands  or  lands 
in  that  which  thus  rests  for  the  said  King  of  Portugal,  that  that  such  be  and 
rest  for  the  said  King  of  Portugal  and  for  his  heirs  for  ever  and  ever,  and  their 
Highnesses  are  to  order  it  thereupon  to  be  given  up  and  delivered.  And  if  the 
vessels  of  the  said  King  of  Portugal  should  find  any  islands  and  lands  on  the 
side  of  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  and  of  Leon,  and  of  Aragon,  etc., 
that  all  that  be  and  rest  for  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  of  Leon,  and 
of  Aragon,  etc.,  and  for  their  heirs  for  ever  and  ever,  and  that  the  said  King 
of  Portugal  is  to  order  it  thereupon  to  be  surrendered  and  delivered. 

And  further,  in  order  that  the  said  line. or  limit  of  the  said  partition  which 
is  to  be  given  and  do  give,  be  straight  and  the  surest  that  it  be  possible  along 
the  said  three  hundred  and  seventy  leagues  from  the  said  Cape  Verde  Islands 
towards  the  West,  as  it  has  been  said,  accorded  and  agreed  by  the  said 
Attorneys  of  both  said  parties,  within  the  first  following  ten  months,  reckoned 
from  the  day  of  the  date  of  this  capitulation,  the  said  their  constituents  are  to 
send  two  or  four  caravels,  that  is  to  say  one  or  two  from  each  party,  or  more 
or  less,  as  it  be  agreed  by  the  said  parties  to  be  necessary,  which  for  the  said 
time  are  to  be  assembled  at  the  Grand  Canary  Island  ;  and  each  of  the  said 
parties  is  to  send  with  them  men,  both  pilots  and  astrologers  and  sailors  and 
some  other  persons  that  may  be  convenient,  but  they  are  to  be  as  many  on  one 
party  as  on  the  other  ;  and  that  some  of  the  said  pilots,  astrologers  and  sailors 
and  skillful  men  that  the  said   King  and  Queen  of  Castile,   of  Leon,    and  of 


20    

Aragon,  etc.  should  send,  are  to  go  in  the  ship  or  ships  that  the  said  King  of 
Portugal,  and  of  the  Algarves,  etc.,  should  send,  and  Hkewise  some  of  the  said 
men  that  the  said  King  of  Portugal  should  send,  are  to  go  on  the  ship  or  ships 
that  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile  and  of  Aragon  should  send,  as  many 
from  one  part  as  from  the  other  one,  so  that  they  may  jointly  better  observe  and 
survey  the  sea,  the  rhumb  and  quarters  and  degrees  of  South  and  North,  and 
mark  out  the  above  mentioned  leagues,  in  order  to  perform  the  demarcation  and 
limit,  everybody  that  should  go  in  the  said  ships,  sent  by  both  said  parties, 
and  that  should  have  their  powers,  to  act  friendly  together  ,  whose  said  ships 
all  jointly  are  to  set  sail  for  the  said  Cape  Verde  Islands  and  thence  they  shall 
take  their  route  right  to  the  West  up  to  the  said  three  hundred  and  seventy 
leagues,  measured  as  the  said  persons  who  should  there  go  would  agree  that 
they  are  to  be  measured,  without  injuring  the  said  parties  ;  and  there  where  they 
should  end  the  point  or  convenient  sign  is  to  be  made  by  degrees  of  South  or 
of  North  or  by  day's  run  of  leagues,  or  as  they  could  better  agree.  Which 
said  line  they  are  to  mark  out  from  the  said  Artie  to  the  said  Antartic  Pole, 
namely,  from  North  to  South,  as  it  has  been  said,  and  that  which  they  should 
mark  out  is  to  be  written  and  signed  with  their  names  by  the  said  persons  that 
would  therefore  be  sent  by  both  said  parties,  which  are  to  have  faculty  and 
powers  from  the  said  parties,  each  one  of  its  own  one,  to  perform  the  said  sign 
and  limitation  ;  and  made  by  them,  all  being  agreed,  let  it  be  had  as  a 
perpetual  sign  and  demarcation  for  ever  and  ever,  in  order  that  the  said 
parties,  nor  any  of  them,  nor  their  successors,  may  never  contradict,  annul,  or 
alter  it  in  any  time  or  in  any  form  whatever.  And  should  it  happen  that  the 
said  line  or  limit,  from  Pole  to  Pole,  as  it  has  been  said,  should  run  along  any 
island  or  continent,  at  the  beginning  of  such  an  island  or  land  which  were  thus 
found,  through  which  the  said  line  should  run,  some  sign  or  landmark  is  to  be 
made,  and  straight  from  that  sign  or  landmark  is  to  be  continued  henceforward, 
placing  other  signs  along  such  island  or  land  straight  to  the  said  line,  which 
are  to  divide  that  which  to  each  of  the  parties  should  belong,  and  in  order  that 
the  subjects  of  the  said  either  parties  may  not  dare  pass  over  to  one  another's 
side,  overpassing  the  said  sign  or  limit  in  the  said  island  or  land. 

And  further,  whereas  the  said  ships  of  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile, 
of  Leon,  of  Aragon,  etc.,  in  order  to  sail  from  their  Kingdoms  and  Lordships 
to  their  said  part  of  the  other  side  of  the  said  line,  in  the  manner  that  it  has 
been  said,  must  necessarily  pass  through  the  seas  on  this  side  of  the  line 
which  is  left  for  the  said  King  of  Portugal,  it  is  therefore  agreed  and  adjusted 
that  the  said  ships  of  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  of  Leon,  of  Aragon, 
etc.,  may  go  and  come  and  do  go  and  come  freely,  surely  and  pacifically 
without  any  obstacle  through  the  said  seas  that  are  left  to  the  said  King  of 
Portugal,  within  the  same  line,  always  and  whenever  their  Highnesses  and 
their  successors  should  desire  or  deiem  it  proper;  which  vessels  are  to  go 
through  straight  ways  and  routes  from  their  kingdoms  to  whatever  part  lying 
within  their  hne  of  limit,  where  they  be  willing  to  send  to  discover,  conquer 
or  contract,  and  that  they  are  to  take  their  straight  way  whereby  they  should 
agree  to  go  on  any  affair  to  their  said  part,  and  they  are  not  to  separate  from 


21    

them,  excepting  that  a  contrary  weather  should  compel  them  to;  so  that 
they  may  not  take  or  occupy,  before  passing  the  said  line,  anything  of  what 
would  be  found  by  the  said  King  of  Portugal  on  his  said  side;  and  if  their 
said  ships  should  find  any  hing  before  passing  the  said  line,  as  it  has  been 
said,  that  that  be  for  the  said  King  of  Portugal,  and  their  Highnesses  are  to 
order  it  to  be  whereupon  given  and  delivered  to  him.  And  as  it  might  hap- 
pen that  the  ships  or  men  of  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile  and  of 
Aragon,  etc.,  or  on  their  account,  some  islands  and  main  land  might  have 
been  found  until  the  twentieth  of  the  present  month  of  June,  date  of  this 
capitulation,  within  the  said  line  which  is  to  be  traced  out  from  pole  to  pole 
by  a  straight  line  at  the  end  of  the  said  three  hundred  and  seventy  leagues 
reckoned  from  the  said  Cape  Verde  Islands  to  the  West,  as  it  has  been  said, 
it  is  agreed  and  adjusted,  in  order  to  prevent  any  doubt,  that  all  the  islands 
and  main  land  which  may  be  found  and  discovered  in  any  way  until  the 
said  twentieth  day  of  the  said  month  of  June,  although  they  be  found  by 
the  ships  or  men  of  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile  and  of  Aragon,  etc., 
provided  it  be  within  the  two  hundred  and  fifty-first  leaguesof  the  said  three 
hundred  and  seventy  leagues  reckoned  from  the  said  Cape  Verde  Islands  to 
the  West  towards  the  said  line,  at  any  part  of  them  towards  the  said  poles, 
that  they  be  found  within  the  said  two  hundred  and  fifty  leagues  tracing 
straight  line  from  pole  to  pole  where  the  said  two  hundred  and  fifty  leagues 
should  end,  are  to  be  left  and  remain  for  the  said  King  of  Portugal  and  of 
the  Algarves,  etc.,  and  for  his  successors  and  kingdoms  for  ever  and  ever. 
And  that  all  the  islands  and  main  land  that  until  the  said  twentieth  day  of 
the  present  month  of  June  may  be  found  and  discovered  by  the  ships  of  the 
said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile  and  of  Aragon,  etc.  and  by  their  men  or  in 
any  other  form  within  the  other  one  hundred  and  twenty  leagues,  which  are 
wanted  to  complete  the  said  three,  hundred  and  seventy  leagues  where  the 
said  line,  which  is  to  be  traced  from  pole  to  pole,  as  it  has  been  said,  is  to 
end,  at  any  part  of  the  said  one  hundred  and  twenty  leagues  towards  the 
said  poles,  that  may  be  found  until  the  said  day  be  left  and  remain  for 
the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile  and  of  Aragon,  etc.,  and  for  their  suc- 
cessors and  their  Kingdoms  for  ever  and  ever,  as  it  is  and  is  to  be  their  own 
all  that  which  is  or  might  be  found  on  the  other  side  of  the  said  line  of  the 
said  three  hundred  and  seventy  leagues  which  are  left  for  their  Highnesses, 
as  it  is  said,  despite  of  the  said  one  hundred  and  twenty'  leagues  being 
within  the  said  line  of  the  said  three  hundred  and  seventy  leagues  that  are 
left  for  the  said  King  of  Portugal  and  of  the  Algarves,  etc.,  as  it  is  said. 
And  if  up  to  the  said  twentieth  day  of  this  said  month  of  June  nothing  is 
found  by  the  said  ships  of  their  Highness  within  the  said  one  hundred  and 
twenty  leauges,  and  henceforth  should  it  be  found,  let  it  be  for  the  said 
King  of  Portugal  as  in  the  above  written  chapter  is  contained.  All  that 
which  is  said,  and  each  thing,  and  part  of  it,  the  said  Henrique  Henri- 
quez,  chief  Steward,  and  Don  Gutierre  de  Cardenas,  President  of  the  Court 
of  Accounts,  and  Doctor  Rodrigo  Maldonado,  attorneys  of  the  said  very 
high  and  powerful  Princes  and  Princess,  the  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  of 


22    

Leon,  of  Aragon,  of  Sicily  and  of  Granada,  etc.,  and  in  virtue  of  their  said 
power  hereto  incorporated,  and  the  said  Ruy  de  Sousa  and  Juan  de  Sousa 
and  Arias  de  Almadana,  attorneys  and  ambassadors  of  the  said  very  high  and 
very  excellent  Prince,  the  King  of  Portugal  and  of  the  Algar\^es,  of  this  and 
the  other  side,  Lord  of  Guinea  in  Africa,  and  in  virtue  of  his  said  power 
which  is  hereto  incorporated,  promised  and  assured  in  the  name  of  the  said 
their  constituents,  that  they  and  their  successors  and  Kingdoms  and  Lord- 
ships for  ever  and  ever,  shall  have,  keep  and  fulfil  really  and  effectively, 
excepting  all  fraud  and  artfulness,  deceit,  fiction  and  simulation,  everything 
contained  in  this  capitulation,  and  each  thing  and  part  of  it  shall  be  kept, 
fulfilled  and  performed,  as  everything  contained  in  the  capitulation  of  peace 
done  and  adjusted  amongst  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  and  of  Aragon, 
etc.,  and  Don  Alfonso,  King  of  Portugal,  that  may  rest  in  peace,  and  the  said 
King  which  is  now  of  Portugal,  his  son,  being  Prince  the  past  year  of  one 
thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-nine  ;  and  upon  those  same  penalties, 
bonds  and  surety  and  obligations,  in  accordance  with  and  in  the  manner  con- 
tained in  the  said  capitulation  of  peace  it  is  to  be  kept,  fulfilled  and  performed  ; 
and  they  obliged  themselves  and  their  successors,  not  to  go  ever  against  the 
said  peace  nor  anything  of  it,  nor  they  are  to  come  against  the  aforesaid  and 
specified,  nor  against  anything  or  part  of  it,  directly  or  indirectly,  nor  in  any 
other  form  at  any  time  whatever,  nor  in  any  intended  or  not  intended  manner 
that  it  be  or  may  be  upon  the  penalties  contained  in  the  said  capitulation  of 
the  said  peace,  and  the  penalty  paid  or  not  paid,  or  graciously  remitted  ; 
that  this  obligation  and  capitulation  and  contract  be  left  and  remain  firm, 
stable  and  valid  for  ever  and  ever  ;  and  in  order  to  have,  keep  and  fulfil 
and  pay  all  in  this  manner,  the  said  Attorneys  and  in  the  name  of  the  said  their 
constituents  engaged  one  another  the  movable  and  landed  property  of  their  said 
parties,  patrimonial  and  fiscal,  and  of  their  subjects  and  vassals,  had  and  being 
to  be  had,  and  renounced  to  whatever  laws  and  rights  which  the  said  parties 
or  either  of  them  may  avail  themselves  of  in  order  to  go  or  come  against 
the  abovementioned  or  against  any  part  of  it  ;  and  for  greater  surety  and  firm- 
ness of  the  abovesaid,  they  swore  upon  God  and  Holy  Mary  and  the  sign  of  the 
Cross  on  which  they  set  their  rights  hands  and  upon  the  words  of  the  sacred 
Gospels,  in  whatever  part  they  are  most  largely  written  in  the  souls  of  their  con- 
stituents, that  they  and  eve:y  one  of  of  them  shall  have  and  keep  and  fulfil  all  the 
abovementioned  and  each  thing  and  part  of  it  really  and  effectively,  excepting  all 
fraud,  artfulness  and  deceit,  fiction  and  simulation,  and  they  shall  not  contra- 
dict it  at  any  time  nor  in  any  form.  They  swore  upon  the  said  oath  not  to 
demand  absolution  nor  release  of  it  to  the  Pope,  nor  to  any  other  legate  or 
prelate  which  may  give  it  to  them  and,  though  by  his  own  will  should  it  be 
given  to  them,  they  shall  make  no  use  of  it,  but  by  this  present  capitulation 
they  entreat  in  their  said  names  to  the  Pope  that  His  Holiness  be  pleased  to 
confirm  and  approve  this  said  capitulation,  according  to  what  it  contains,  and 
shall  order  bulls  to  be  issued  about  it  to  the  parties  or  to  either  of  them  which 
should  solicit  them,  and  shall  order  the  tenor  of  this  capitulation  to  be  incorpo- 
rated in  them,  laying  his  censure  upon  those  which  should  go  or  pass  against  it 


—   23   — 

at  any  time  whatever.  And  likewise  the  said  Attorneys,  in  their  said  name, 
obhged  themselves  upon  the  said  penalty  and  oath,  within  the  first  following 
one  hundred  days  reckoned  from  the  day  of  the  date  of  this  capitulation  for 
the  parties  give  to  each  other  the  approbation  and  ratification  of  this  said  capi- 
tulation, written  in  parchment  and  signed  with  the  names  of  the  said  their 
constituents,  and  sealed  with  their  pending  lead  seals,  and  in  the  writing  which 
the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  and  Aragon,  etc.,  should  issue,  is  to  sign 
and  agree  and  grant  the  very  noble  and  very  illustrious  Prince  Don  Juan  their 
son.  Of  all  what  is  said  two  copies  were  drawn,  both  of  the  same  tenor,  which 
they  signed  with  their  names  and  were  done  before  the  secretaries  and  wit- 
nesses undersigned,  one  for  each  party.  And  either  of  them  which  should  ap- 
pear, let  it  be  as  valid  as  if  both  should  do;  that  they  were  done  and  executed 
at  the  said  city  of  Tordesillas  the  above-mentioned  day,  month  and  year.  The 
Knight  Commander  Don  Henrique,  Ruy  de  Sousa,  Don  Juan  de  Sousa,  Doctor 
Rodrigo  Maldonado,  Licentiate  Arias.  Witnesses  who  were  present,  and  who 
saw  the  said  Attorneys  and  Ambassadors,  sign  here  their  names  and  execute 
the  aforesaid,  and  make  the  said  oath: — The  Knight  Commander  Pedro  de 
Leon,  the  Knight  Commander  Fernando  de  Torres  residents  of  the  city  ofVal- 
ladolid,  the  Knight  Commander  Fernando  de  Gamarra,  of  Traga  and  Cenete, 
Cohtinos  of  the  house  of  the  said  King  and  Queen,  our  Lords,  and  Juan  Suarez 
de  Sequeira,  and  Ruy  Leme,  and  Duarte  Pacheco,  Continos  of  the  house  of  the 
said  King  of  Portugal,  therefore  procured.  And  I,  Fernand  Alvarez  de  Toledo, 
Secretary  of  the  King  and  Queen,  our  Lords,  and  of  their  Council,  and  Notary 
Public  in  their  Court,  and  in  all  their  Kingdoms  and  Lordships,  was  present 
to  all  what  is  said,  together  with  the  said  witnesses  and  with  Esteban  Baez, 
Secretary  of  the  said  King  of  Portugal,  that  by  authorization  that  the  said  King 
and  Queen,  our  Lords,  gave  him,  to  give  him,  to  give  faith  of  this  act  in  their 
Kingdoms,  was  also  present  to  what  is  said;  and  at  the  petition  and  execution 
of  all  the  said  attorneys  and  ambassadors,  that  in  my  presence  and  his  sign 
here  their  names,  I  caused  this  pubhc  instrument  of  capitulations  to  be  written, 
as  it  is  done  on  these  six  leaves  of  fullscap  paper,  written  on  both  sides  inclos- 
ing this  one  which  contains  the  names  of  the  aforesaid  persons  and  my  sign; 
and  the  end  of  every  page  is  marked  with  the  flourish  of  my  name,  and  with 
that  of  the  said  Esteban  Baez,  and  so  I  set  here  my  sign,  that  is  such.  In  tes- 
timony of  truth  : —  Fernand  Alvarez.  And  I,  the  said  Esteban  Baez,  that  by 
authorization  of  the  said  King  and  Queen  of  Castile,  and  of  Leon,  given  to 
me  to  act  publicly  in  all  their  Kingdoms  and  Lordships,  together  with  the  said 
Fernand  Alvarez,  at  the  petition  and  requisition  of  the  said  ambassadors  and 
attorneys,  was  present  at  every  thing,  and  in  faith  and  surety  of  it,  I  signed 
it  here  with  my  public  sign,  which  is  such. 

Which  deed  of  contract  and  capitulation  and  concord  above  incor- 
porated, seen  and  understood  by  us  and  by  the  said  Prince  Don  Juan,  our 
Son,  we  approved,  commend  and  confirm,  and  we  grant,  ratify  and  promise 
to  have  and  keep  and  fulfil  all  the  above-mentioned  in  it  contained,  and  every 
thing  and  part  of  it,  really  and  effectively,  without  any  fraud,  artfulness, 
fiction  and  simulation,  and  not  to  go  nor  come  against  it,  nor  against  any  part 


24    

of  it,  at  any  time,  nor  in  any  form  whatever;  and  for  greater  surety,  we  and 
the  said  Prince  Don  Juan,  our  Son,  swear  unto  God  and  Holy  Maiy  and  the 
words  of  the  Sacred  Gospels,  in  whatever  part  they  most  largely  be  written,  and 
the  sign  of  the  Cross  upon  which  we  set  our  right  hands  in  presence  of  the  said 
Ruy  de  Sousa  and  Don  Juan  de  Sousa,  and  Licenciate  Arias  de  Almadana, 
ambassadors  and  attorneys  of  the  said  Most  Serene  King  of  Portugal,  our 
Brother,  to  have  it  so,  keep  and  fulfil,  and  every  thing  and  part  of  what  to  us 
concern,  really  and  effectively,  as  it  is  said,  by  us  and  by  our  heirs  and  suc- 
cessors, and  by  the  said  our  Kingdoms  and  Lordships  and  subjects  and  natives 
of  them,  upon  the  penalties  and  obligations,  bonds  and  resignations  contained 
in  the  said  contract  of  capitulations  and  concord  abovewritten  :  in  calification 
and  corroboration  whereof,  we  signed  in  this  our  letter  our  names  and  ordered 
it  to  be  sealed  with  our  lead  seal  hanging  in  colored  silk  threads.  Given  at 
the  city  of  Arevalo,  the  second  day  of  the  month  of  July,  year  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ's  Nativity,- one  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety  four. 

I,  THE  KING.— L  THE  QUEEN.— L  THE  PRINCE.— And  I,  Fer- 
NAND  Alvarez  de  Toledo,  Secretary  of  the  King  and  of  the  Queen,  our 
Lords,  caused  it  to  be  written  by  their  mandate. 


1681 


COLONIA    DEL    SACRAMENTO. 


FROVISIOITAIi  TREATY 

concerning  the  restitution  of  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento  and 
satisfaction  for    the  attack  carried  into  it  by  the  Gover- 
nor of  Buenos  Ayres ;  signed  the  7th  of  IKEay,  ratified 
by  Spain  the   25th  of  SSay  and  by  Portugal  the 
18th  of  June,  1681.     (*) 

In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity,  three  distinct  persons  and  only 
one  true  God: 

As  on  account  of  the  new  colony  that  with  the  name  of  Sacramento  the 
Governor  of  Rio  Janeiro  Don  Manuel  Lobo,  about  the  month  of  January  of 
last  year  of  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty,  founded  and  settled  on  the 
northern  coast  and  bank  of  the  River  Plate,  opposite  to  the  island  of  San 
Gabriel  (the  news  of  it  having  arrived  about  the  month  of  August  of  the  same 
year),  some  differences  upon  interests  and  rights  have  occured  which  were 
promoted  and  treated  in  a  friendly  manner. 

On  the  part  of  His  Catholic  Majesty,  arguing  upon  the  duty  of  repairing 


(*)  This  document  has  been  published  in  the  Collegou)  de  Tratados,  Convengoes,  Con- 
tratos  e  Actos  Publicos  celebrados  entre  a  Coroa  de  Portugal  e  as  mats  Potencias  desde  1640 
ate  ao presente  etc. — Lisboa,  Imprensa  Nacional — 1856.  V.  I  p.  479.  The  volumes  I,  II,  III 
and  VIII  of  this  work,  legalized  by  the  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  Portugal  and  cer- 
tified by  the  Consul  ol  the  United  States  of  America  at  Lisbon,  inasmuch  as  they  refer  to 
this  question,  are  presented  with  these  documents. 


—    26    — 

the  troublesome  action  caused  by  this  foundation  in  the  legitimate  rights  of 
quiet  and  pacific  possession  which  he  enjoyed,  since  nearly  two  centuries  ago, 
of  the  River  Plate,  its  navigation,  islands  and  northern  and  southern  banks 
and  all  other  adjacent  lands,  bringing  the  things  to  their  primitive  state  until 
with  more  exact  knowledge  the  rights  of  property  which  might  belong  to  either 
Crown  should  be  declared,  according  to  the  just  demarcation  agreed  in  the 
settlement  concluded  between  the  Catholic  Kings  and  that  of  Portugal  at  Tor- 
desillas  the  seventh  of' June,  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety  four  ; 

On  the  part  of  the  Most  Serene  Prince  of  Portugal,  satisfying  this  de- 
mand with  the  purpose  of  assuring  that  the  sincerity  and  good  faith  with 
which  on  his  part  he  had  acted  in  the  ocupation  of  that  place,  entitled  him  to 
keep  its  possession,  without  permitting  that  in  any  way  he  might  be  judged 
as  having  had  the  mind  of  troubling  or  overpassing  the  limits  of  demarcation 
of  His  Catholic  Majesty  by  occupying  any  part,  portion  or  place  which  to  his 
knowledge  did  belong  to  H.  C.  M's  possession  or  dominions,  but  to  perform 
a  licit  act  in  making  use  of  that  land  whose  situation  on  the  northern  bank 
and  coast  of  the  River  Plate  he  understood,  with  just  cause,  to  belong  to 
the  demarcation  of  his  Crown,  assuring,  in  demostration  of  so  pure  an  in- 
tention, his  ready  disposition  to  repair  whatever  injury  of  the  right  which 
on  the  part  of  His  Catholic  Majesty's  Crown  might  be  shown  to  have  resulted 
to  the  latter  from  this  Colony  without  altering  the  present  situation,  to 
which  efifect  he  would  agree  to  the  means  and  ways  which  both  Princes 
would  esteem  most  convenient  ; 

And  whereas,  the  affairs  being  in  this  state,  and  pending  this  friendly 
treaty  and  conference,  the  Most  Serene  Prince  of  Portugal  has  expresed  to 
His  Catholic  Majesty,  showing  resentment,  the  news  which  he  has  received 
that  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres  has  seized  said  Colony  on  the  sixth  of 
August  of  the  same  year,  proceding  by  ways  of  deeds,  causing  the  death  of 
a  part  of  the  garrison,  the  imprisonment  of  the  Governor  and  of  the  rest 
of  his  soldiers  and  neighbours,  and  the  seizure  of  the  artillery,  arms,  am- 
munitions and  war  stores,  availing  himself  to  this  end  not  only  of  the  men 
under  his  command,  but  of  a  great  number  of  Indians  of  the  obedience  of 
His  Catholic  Majesty,  by  all  this  violating  the  treaty  friendly  entered  upon 
with  notorious  excess,  as  the  purpose  of  reoccupying  this  territory,  consider- 
ing it  as  his  own  and  subject  to  his  jurisdiction,  could  never  redeem  the  act 
regulated  of  restitution  by  the  inmoderate  and  violent  ones  of  hostility. 

And  upon  this  incident,  reparation  of  this  injury  having  been  asked, 
and  proof  of  the  abuse  alleged  and  the  demand  made  that  the  one  and  the 
other  should  precede  the  course  of  the  conference,  though  altered  through 
so  violent  a  motive  to  be  reestablished,  in  order  that  one  and  the  other 
Crown  should  remain  in  possession  of  their  legitimate  rights,  by  the  just 
titles  of  their  own  dernarcation. 

And,  in  virtue  of  all  herein  said, after  mature  conference  and  deliberation, 
both  His  Catholic  Majesty  and  the  Most  Serene  Prince  of  Portugal  recognized 
that  to  none  of  the  said  reciprocal  actions  any  notice  or  intention  offending  the 
good  peace  and  friendship  which  are  maintained  between  both  Crowns,  has 


—    27    — 

concurred,  and  both  desiring  to  preserve  them  with  all  firmness,  sincerity  and 
good  correspondence,  they  have  agreed  and  adjusted  as  follows  : 

I  Article. — His  Cathohc  Majesty  shall  cause  such  a  demonstration  to  be 
made  by  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres,  as  it  will  compensate  the  transgres- 
sion by  the  manner  of  its  execution. 

II  Article. — All  arms,  artillery,  ammunitions,  tools  and  other  war  stores 
which  were  seized  at  the  fortress  and  Colonia  of  Sacramento,  shall  be  wholly 
restored  to  the  Governor  Don  Manuel  Lobo  or  to  the  person  that  His  High- 
ness might  send  in  his  place. 

ni  Article. — All  those  who  dwelled  in  the  Colonia  and  were  taken  out 
and  who  may  still  be  at  Buenos  Ayres  or  within  its  limits,  shall  be  restored  to 
the  same  Colonia,  and,  were  they  not  found  at  the  said  places,  as  many  Portu- 
guese people  will  be  sent  in  instead  of  them,  and  they  may  remain  in,  and 
inhabit  the  Colonia  until  the  termination  of  this  affair  ;  and  they  can  raise 
earthworks,  only  to  cover  their  artillery  and  the  roofs  of  their  dwellings, 
should  not  a  sufficient  number  of  the  old  buildings  of  that  place  being  left  to 
that  effect,  and  they  shall  not  raise  any  other  sort  of  new  fortification,  nor 
build  new  stone  or  mudwall  houses,  nor  any  other  sort  of  durable  and  perma- 
nent buildings. 

IV  Article. — The  number  of  people  to  be  restored  to  the  Colonia  shall  not 
be  increased  by  a  short  or  large  number,  nor  the  arms,  ammunitions  and  war 
stores  shall  be  augmented,  nor  any  kind  of  merchandise  shall  be  sent  to  it 
during  the  controversy  until  its  settlement. 

V  Article. — The  Portuguese  who  should  reside  at  the  referred  place  during 
the  time  which  has  been  declared,  shall  abstain  from  molesting,  soliciting,  ■ 
treating  and  trading  with  t^e  Indians  of  the  reductions  and  doctrines  who  are 
under  the  obedience  of  His  Catholic  Majesty,  nor  at  them  nor  with  them  shall 
they  make  any  change  or  violence,  either  by  agreement  or  by  force,  nor  in 
any  other  manner,  nor  shall  they  send  to  them,  or  to  their  doctrines  and 
reductions  any  other  priests  or  clergymen  under  any  pretext,  cause  or  reason. 

VI  Article. — In  order  that  whatever  cause  or  motive  of  dissatisfaction 
between  these  two  crowns  may  be  left  altogether  extirpated.  His  Highness 
shall  order  an  inquiry  about  the  excesses  which  have  been  committed  by  the 
inhabitants  of  San  Pablo  on  the  bordering  lands  and  dominions  of  His 
Majesty,  and  punish  them  severely,  causing  to  this  effect,  the  Indians,  catties, 
mules  and  other  things  which  had  been  seized,  to  be  restored  and  set  at 
liberty  ;  and  he  shall  forbid  that  henceforward  such  hostilities  be  executed  in 
detriment  of  the  good  peace  and  friendship  of  these  Kingdoms,  as  it  is  con- 
tained in  the  preceding  article. 

VII  Article. — The  residents  of  Buenos  Ayres  shall  enjoy  the  use  and 
advantage  of  the  same  place,  its  cattle,  wood,  hunting,  fishing  and  charcoal 
works,  as  before  the  town  was  built  in  it,  without  any  difference,  remaining  at 
the  same  place  all  the  time  they  should  like  together  with  the  Portuguese  in 
good  peace  and  friendship,  without  any  hinderance  whatever,  to  which  effect 
the  necessary  orders  shall  be  reciprocally  issued. 

VIII  Article. — The  port  and  creek  shall  be  made  use  of  as  before  by  the 


roHIVBR5ITT 


ships  of  His  Catholic  Majesty,  having  in  it  their  anchoring-place  and  free  stays; 
they  shall  cut  timber,  they  shall  make  their  careening  and  all  that  they  used 
to  make  in  it,  its  coast  and  fields  before  the  said  settlement,  without  any  limi- 
tation and  without  requiring  the  consent  or  leave  of  any  other  person,  whatever 
their  quality,  because  it  has  been  thus  accorded  by  both  princes. 

IX  Article. — The  prohibitions  of  the  trade  by  sea  and  by  land,  both  of 
the  Castilians  in  Brazil  and  of  the  Portuguese  in  Buenos  Ayres,  Peru  and  other 
parts  of  the  West  Indies,  shall  remain  in  their  full  force  and  vigor ;  and  the 
penalties  established  by  the  laws  of  either  kingdom  shall  be  iriemissibly  ap- 
plied upon  the  transgressors. 

\  X  Article. — Every  act  of  hostility  committed  by  both  parties,  after  the  6th  of 
August  of  the  last  year  of  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty,  shall  be  re- 
paired aad  reduced  to  the  terms  of  this  treaty  without  any  doubt  or  difficulty. 

XI  Article. — It  shall  be  licit  for  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres  to  reform 
and  destroy  the"  fortification  which  he  might  have  increased,  both  in  the  forts 
or  in  any  other  part ;  and  the  other  houses  and  buildings  which  would  have 
been  built  anew  from  the  day  which  he  occupied  that  place  to  the  time  of  this 
execution. 

XII  Article. — Let  all  the  aforesaid  be,  and  so  it  is  understood,  without  detri- 
ment or  alteration  of  the  rights  of  possession  and  property  of  either  Crown  but 
those  belonging  to  each  remaining  in  their  full  and  legitimate  value  and  per- 
manence, with  all  their  privileges  and  prerogatives  of  title,  cause  and  time, 
whereas  this  agreement  has  been  made  as  a  provisional  measure,  and  in  de- 
monstration of  the  good  friendship,  peace  and  concord  which  these  two  Crowns 
profess  to  each  other,  for  their  reciprocal  satisfaction,  during  the  time  of  this 
controversy  and  not  with  any  other  object  whatever. 

XIII  Article. — Commissioners  shall  be  in  an  equal  number  appointed 
by  both  parties  within  two  months  reckoned  from  the  day  which  the  ratifi- 
cations of  this  treaty  should  be  exchanged,  at  which  term  they  shall  meet 
for  the  conference  to  be  had  in  the  same  form  that  it  was  agreed  and  exe- 
cuted by  the  commissioners  of  the  Emperor  and  King  of  Portugal  the  past 
year  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-four  ;  and  from  the  day  that 
the  conference  should  begin  (the  accustomed  oaths  having  preceded  it),  to 
the  expiration  of  the  three  following  months,  they  shall  determine  through 
their  decision  the  rights  of  property  of  these  demarcations  ;  and  should  the 
said  commissioners  disagree,  this  declaration  and  determination  thereupon 
intrusted  to  His  Holiness  the  Highest  Pontift  that  is  or  should  be  at  that 
time,  so  that  within  a  year  reckoned  from  the  day  in  which  the  said  commis- 
sioners should  declare  their  disagreement.  His  Holiness  shall  dietermine  or 
decide  the  questioned  point ;  and  that  in  which  said  commissioners  should 
declare  to  have  agreed,  all  of  them  or  a  majority  of  them,  and  in  case  of  their 
disagreement  shall  have  been  declared  by  His  Holiness,  shall  be  kept, 
observed  and  fulfilled  inviolably  by  both  parties  without  taking  avail  of  cause, 
pretext  or  reason  in  contrary. 

XIV  Article. — The  reciprocal  cessation  of  all  movements  shall  continue 
as  well  as  the  other  military  actions  between   one  and  the  other  crown  which 


—    29    — 

were  accorded  to  be  made  from  the  day  of  the  project,  the  former  good  peace 
and  friendship  being  maintained. 

XV  Article. — The  contents  of  this  treaty  shall  be  fully  observed  by  the 
subjects  of  either  party  on  the  part  concerning  each,  without  contravening  it 
in  any  way,  and  against  those  which  would  transgress  directly  or  indirectly, 
both  Princes  shall  order  to  proceed  with  all  rigor,  and  mend  all  excess,  ful- 
filling to  this  respect  the  ninth  article  of  the  general  peace  between  these  two 
Crowns,  as  a  part  expresed  in  this  treaty. 

XVI  Article. — From  the  day  that  the  ratifications  of  this  treaty  should  be 
exchanged,  until  a  month  afterwards  the  necessary  orders  shall  be  delivered 
reciprocally,  by  duplicate,  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  contents  of  the  articles  of 
this  treaty. 

XVII  Article. — The  aforesaid  Catholic  King  and  Prince  of  Portugal 
promise  upon  their  faith  and  royal  word  not  to  do  anything  against  nor  in 
detriment  of  the  contents  of  this  provisional  treaty,  nor  to  consent  that  it  be 
made  directly  or  indirectly  ;  and  should  it  be  done,  to  repair  it  wihtout  any 
delay.  And  for  the  observance  and  surety  of  all  expressed  and  refered  to  in 
it,  they  bind  themself  in  due  form,  renouncing  all  laws  uses  and  customs  and 
any  other  rights  which  might  favor  them  and  proceed  in  opposition. 

All  which  above  mentioned  things  that  in  the  articles  of  this  Treaty  are 
referred,  were  accorded,  established  and  concluded  by  us  Don  Domingo 
Judice,  Duke  of  Jovenaso,  Don  Nuno  Alvarez  Pereira,  Duke  of  Cadaval, 
Don  Juan  Mascarucos,  Marquis  of  Fronteira,  Don  Fray  Manuel  Pereira, 
Secretary  of  State,  in  virtue  of  the  full  powers  which  in  it  are  inserted  and 
declared  in  the  name  of  His  Catholic  Majesty  and  of  the  Most  Serene  Prince 
of  Portugal;  in  faith,  surety  and  testimony  of  the  truth  whereof,  we  executed 
the  present  Treaty,  signed  with  our  hands  and  sealed  with  the  seal  of  our 
arms,  at  Lisbon,  the  seventh  day  of  the  month  of  May  of  the  year  one  thou- 
sand six  hundred  and  eighty-one. 

THE  DUKE  OF  JOVENASO, 
THE  MARQUIS  OF  FRONTEIRA, 

THE  DUKE  OF  CADAVAL, 
THE  BISHOP  FI^AY  MANUEL  PEREIRA 
Secretary  of  State. 


1701 


Treaty  of  Il/Iutual  Alliance  between  the  Sing  Don  Pedro  IZ  and 
Don  Felipe  V,  Kingr  of  Spain,  by  which  the  former  obliges 
himself  to  guaranty  the  testament  of  the  King  Don  Car- 
los IZ  respecting  the    succession  of  the  latter  to 
the  XMEonarchy  of  Spain^    signed  at  Iiisbon  the 
18th   of   June,    1701,   and  ratified   on  the 
part  of  Portugal  that  very  same  day,  and 
on  that  of  Spain  on  the  1st  of  July 
of  the  aforesaid  year.     {*) 

In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity,  His  Portuguese  Majesty  desiring 
to  demonstrate  to  the  Catholic  King  how  much  he  was  pleased  to  see  the  suc- 
cession of  Spain  devolved  on  His  Royal  Person,  and  the  great  regard  he  pro- 
fesses to  His  good  friendship,  and  how  much  he  endeavour  to  interest  himself  in 
His  conveniences  and  greater  security  of  His  Kingdoms  and  dominions;  — 
He  obliges  himself  by  this  new  Treaty  of  Alliance  to  guaranty  the  testament 
of  Don  Carlos  II,  Cathohc  King  of  Spain,  on  the  part  respecting  His  Ma- 
jesty's succession  and  possession  of  all  the  States  and  dominions  belonging  to 
the  said  King  Don  Carlos  II  ,  so  that  should  there  be  any  Prince  or  power 
that  would  declare  war  to  Castile  or  France  to  prevent  or  diminish  the  said 
succession,  His  Portuguese  Majesty  shall  refuse  his  ports,  both  of  this  Kingdom 
and  of  .all  his  dominions  to  the  subjects  and  ships, whether  inen  of  war  or  merchant 
vessels,  of  such  Princes  and  powers,  so  that  they  may  not  carry  into  any  trade 


(■•■)     This  treaty  is  published  in  the  Vol.  II,  p.  14  of  the  "  Co  He  f  do  de    Tratados"  etc. 
of  Portugal,  before  mentioned. 


_    32    — 

nor  have  intercourse  ;  rather,    those   which   should   resort  to   the   said   ports 
shall  be  treated  as  enemies  of  the  Crown  of  Portugal. 

II  Article. — And  as  the  convenant  for  the  introduction  of  negroes  into 
the  Indies,  in  which  the  Portuguese  have  employed  so  much  capital,  has 
undergone  great  losses  and  prejudices  through  the  vexations  done  to  them 
in  Indies  by  the  Ministers  of  the  Catholic  King,  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall 
be  obliged  to  cause  all  the  damages  that  on  the  said  account  should  have  re- 
sulted to  the  convenant  to  be  repaired,  and  to  order  that  henceforthe  the  con- 
ditions of  the  said  contract  be  punctually  observed. 

III  Article.  —  Should  any  war  happen  to  occur,  and  Portugal  should  be 
in  want  of  bread.  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  be  obliged  to  cause  the  prohibi- 
tion of  exporting  bread  from  the  Kingdom  of  Castile  to  Portugal  to  be  broken, 
and  He  shall  not  forbid  that  from  any  of  his  islands  and  dominions,  bread  be 
exported  to  the  said  Kingdom,  provided  it  be  oaded  in  ships  of  friendly  na- 
tions. 

IV  Article. —  And  as  for  the  sake  of  the  true  friendship  and  good  intel- 
ligence which  are  desired  to  continue  between  both  Crowns  the  damages 
which  can  be  reciprocal  must  be  avoided,  and  in  tha  Concordate  which  was 
made  between  the  Kings  of  Castile  and  of  Portugal  in  the  time  of  the  King 
Don  Sebastian  declaring  the  cases  in  which  the  transgressor  were  to  be  deh- 
vered  by  one  to  the  other  party,  and  the  restitution  of  the  fruits,  it  could  not 
comprise  the  tobacco,  which  did  not  then  exist,  and  which  has  afterwards 
been  introduced,  so  that  in  Portugal  as  well  as  in  Castile  its  monopoly  is  one 
of  the  principal  incomes  of  the  Crowns,  His  Cathohc  Majesty  shall  be  obliged 
to  cause  that  in  none  of  his  lands  of  the  Kingdoms  and  Princedoms  of  Spain 
may  the  tobacco  of  Portugal  be  introduced,  either  laboured  or  ground,  into 
the  said  Kingdoms  or  Princedoms  or  out  of  them  and  shall  order  the  des- 
truction of  all  the  manufacturies  that  should  there  be  of  Portuguese  tobacco 
at  his  said  Kingdoms  and  dominions,  as  well  as  those  which  would  be  newly 
established,  imposing  great  penalties  to  those  guilty  of  these  transgressions 
and  recomending  its  observance  and  performance  not  only  to  the  ministers 
of  justice,  but  also  the  war  officers  and  commanders.  And  His  Portuguese 
Majesty  obliges  himself,  in  the  same  manner,  not  to  consent  in  his  Kingdom 
any  manufactory  of  tobacco  for  its  introduction  into  Castile,  ordering  their 
destruction  and  preventing  them  in  the  above-mentioned  form. 

V  Article. —  Whereas  between  England  and  Portugal  there  are  some 
doubts  at  present  about  the  remainder  of  the  debts  for  the  reprisals  which 
were  made  in  Portugal  at  the  time  in  which  the  Palatine  Princes  Robert 
and  Maurice  took  refuge  in  the  said  Kingdom,  about  which  debts  England 
has  made  very  immoderate  estimates  and  pretends  that  Portugal  shall  pay 
them.  His  Catholic  Majesty  obliges  himself,  in  case  that  there  be  any  war,  not 
to  make  the  peace  or  truce  or  cessation  of  arms  with  the  Crown  of  England 
without  giving  Portugal  as  discharged  and  free  from  the  same  debts  of  re- 
prisals. And  should  there  be  no  war.  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  interpose 
his    authority  and    good    offices    so  efficaciously,  that  the    King   of  England 


-  33  — 

may  agree  to  the  settlement  that  was  being  treated,  accepting  the  thousand 
pounds  sterling  that  His  Portuguese  Majesty  had  offered  for  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  interested  persons,  giving  good  and  sure  consignation  and  ten 
thousand  pounds  paid  presently  in  ready  money,  as  it  had  been  promised, 
because  it  may  happen  that  the  Crown  of  England,  considering  itself  offended, 
plaintful  of  this  new  alliance,  may  not  be  willing  to  accept  the  settlement 
that  was  being  treated  and  will  try  to  be  paid  the  enormous  sums  which 
it  demands. 

VI  Article. —  If  on  account  of  this  same  debt  should  England  take  any 
reprisal  on  some  Portuguese  ships,  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  be  obliged 
to  cause  them  to  prompt  restitution,  partaking  in  the  endeavours  which  His 
Portuguese  Majesty  should  make  about  the  reprisal  made  to  him  for  this 
motive. 

VII  Article. —  And  as  in  case  of  war  the  King  of  England  may  not  pay 
to  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain  Dona  Catalina,  the  allowance  assigned  to  her 
by  that  Crown,  and  as  it  is  not  just  that  the  convenience  which  the  three 
allied  powers  may  desire  from  this  convention,  shall  fall  to  the  prejudice  of 
the  said  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  it  being  manifest  that  from  a  damage  thus 
caused  to  third  person  in  that  of  so  high  a  Princess,  it  results  to  the  same 
powers  an  obligation  not  only  natural  but  royal  to  repair  it ;  it  was  agreed 
and  adjusted  that  in  the  abovementioned  case  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  be 
obliged  to  pay  to  the  said  Queen  a  third  part  of  what  her  said  allowance 
shall  bring  her,  in  the  form  in  which  she  is  at  present  paid,  and  the  Crowns 
of  Castile  and  Portugal  the  other  two  third  parts,  one  each  Crown ;  so  that 
in  this  manner  Her  said  Britannic  Majesty  may  be  totally  undamaged  and 
her  allowance  paid,  each  of  the  three  Crowns  paying  her  a  part  equal  to 
the  other  two. 

And  as  on  account  of  this  alliance,  though  there  be  no  war,  Eng- 
land may  find  affected  pretexts  for  not  paying  to  the  said  Queen  of  Great 
Britain  the  aforesaid  allowance,  failing  in  the  obligation  stipulated  in  the  capi- 
tulations of  dowery,  and  as  in  this  case  the  same  aforesaid  reasons  concur : 
when  this  should  happen  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  also  be  obliged  to  pay  to 
the  said  Queen  a  third  part  of  her  said  allowance  in  the  aforesaid  manner, 
as  well  as  each  of  the  two  others  allied  Crowns,  another  equal  third  part,  until 
the  Crown  of  England  may  effectively  pay,  as  to  the  present,  the  same  allow- 
ance to  the  said  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  the  Catholic  King  partaking  to  this  end 
of  the  endeavours  that  the  Portuguese  Majesty    should  make  in  this  respect. 

VIII.  Article. — And  whereas  the  Island  of  Bombay  was  given  to  the 
King  Charles  1 1  of  England  by  the  capitulations  of  dowery  of  the  Queen  of 
Great  Britain,  allowing  the  Portuguese  inhabitants  to  keep  their  es- 
tates, England  took  them  against  the  dispositions  of  the  capitulations  and 
instructions  which  were  then  given  for  the  said  delivery,  and  moreover  they 
took  posession  of  the  Island  of  Mahim  that  was  not  given  nor  appertained  to 
that  of  Bombay  ;  should  there  be  any  war,  his  Catholic  Majesty  shall  not 
make  the  peace  or  truce  with  England  nor  cessation  of  arms  without  its  restor- 
ing to  the  Crown  of  Portugal  the  Island  of  Mahim  and  to  its  subjects  or  heirs 


—  34  — 

everything  that  was  taken  from  them,  and  all  the  rest  that  England  possesses 
in  opposition  to  the  capitulation. 

I  X  Article. —  And  as  the  same  England  and  Holland  were  much  dis- 
pleased in  the  past  war,  with  the  good  entertainment  that  the  French  cruissing 
ships  found  at  the  ports  of  Portugal,  carrying  to  them  the  prizes  which  they 
had  taken  of  said  nations,  and  could  now  in  revenge  of  this  alliance  find 
about  them  some  pretensions  against  Portugal  ;  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  be 
obliged  to  make  England  and  Holland  abandon  such  pretensions 
against  Portugal  and  save  it  from  any  attempt  that  those  nations  may  make 
about  the  said  prizes,  taking  part  in  the  war  that  Portugal  may  have  with  the 
same  nations  should  they  insist  upon  these  pretensions. 

X  Article. —  By  the  capitulations  which  were  done  with  the  States  of 
Holland,  Portugal  obliged  itself  to  pay  them  four  millions  of  cruzados  upon 
the  conditions  and  declarations  stipulated  in  the  same  treaty,  consigning  to 
them  the  payment  upon  the  duties  on  salt  of  the  village  of  Setulal,  that  the 
Dutch  ships  should  load,  which  sum  is  almost  satisfied.  And  as  in  the  treaty 
the  condition  exists  that  if  Portugal  should  give  over  the  payment  by  any  cause 
retaining  the  duties  of  the  said  salt,  it  shall  loose  all  that  it  may  have  paid  and 
begin  anew  to  pay  the  four  millions,  and  Portugal  refusing  the  ports  to  the 
said  Dutch  those  duties  cannot  be  collected  nor  the  payment  be  continued  ; 
His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  be  obliged  not  to  make  peace  nor  truce  or  cessation 
of  arms  with  Holland  but  after  its  acknowledging  the  payment  of  the  four 
millions,  surrendering  the  part  yet  due  to  them,  as  well  as  any  right  that  in 
virtue  of  the  capitulation  it  might  have  to  claim  full  payment.  And  as  Holland 
through  hatred  of  this  new  alliance,  should  there  be  no  war,  might  oppose 
difficulties  to  the  settlement  of  the  accounts,  asking  for  the  payment  of  a  larger 
sum  than  that  truly  owed  to  it,  in  such  case,  were  it  necessary.  His  Catholic 
Majesty  shall  interpose  his  offices  with  the  said  States,  and  shall  move  them 
to  act  in  justice  and  reason. 

X  I  Article, —  The  same  Dutch  shall  also  through  hatred  of  this  alliance, 
attempt  to  repeat  and  e'ntertain  some  pretensions  respecting  the  losses  which 
they  had  in  the  war  of  Brazil,  chiefly  about  the  artillery  which  was  left  at 
Recife  and  other  fortresses  of  Brazil,  from  which  they  were  expelled  by  the 
Portuguese :  in  which  case  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  be  obliged  to  cause 
that  said  Dutch  to  discontinue  in  any  attempt  that  they  would  do  to  this 
respect  ;  because  so  many  years  having  elapsed,  it  is  well  shown  that  they 
entertain  these  pretensions  in  revenge  of  their  displeasure,  and  not  because 
they  deemed  them  to  be  just.  And  in  case  of  war,  His  Catholic  Majesty 
shall  cause  that  said  Court  may  surrender  all  right  that  it  may  have  on  the 
subject,  as  they  are  to  yield  the  part  of  the  four  millions  owed  to  them. 

XII  Article. —  In  case  that  there  be  a  war  and  that  His  Portuguese 
Majesty  would  be  willing  to  treat  of  the  restitution  of  the  towns  of  Cochino  and 
Cananor,  His  Cathohc  Majesty  shall  be  obliged  to  cause  Holland  to  restore 
them,  not  making  peace  or  truce  with  it  nor  cessation  of  arms,  without  said 
restitution,  and  without  surrendering  any  right  that  it  may  have  against  Port- 
ugal for  the  expenses  that  it  made  with  the  fleet  that  took  said  towns   and 


—  35  — 

fortifications  with  which  it  assured  its  defence.  And  not  being  in  war  and 
His  Portuguese  being  Majesty  willing  to  treat  about  the  restitution  of  the  said 
towns  in  the  manner  of  the  capitulation  done  by  Don  Francisco  de  Mello, 
His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  interpose  his  efficacious  efforts  so  that  Holland 
may  accept  the  compensations  that  Portugal  is  to  offer  for  the  expenses  of  the 
fteet  and  fortifications. 

XIII  Article. —  If  there  be  any  war,  all  the  towns  that  the  Portuguese 
may  take  in  India  and  Coast  of  Africa  from  the  Dutch,  that  were  taken  by 
them  from  the  Crown  of  Portugal  or  any  others  that  they  may  possess,  shall 
be  left  to  the  said  Crown  of  Portugal  when  peace  be  made,  and  it  shall  not 
be  obliged  to  restore  them,  though  for  this  reason  the  peace  be  given  up,  even  if 
in  stipulations  made  with  the  Dutch  upon  them,  it  shall  be  declared  that  they 
shall  not  be  entitled  to  claim  nor  take  them  ;  and  that  His  Catholic  Majesty 
shall  be  obliged  to  guaranty  them  at  any  time. 

X  I  V  Article. —  And  in  order  to  maintain  the  firm  friendship  and  allian- 
ce that  are  intended  to  be  attained  by  this  treaty,  and  to  remove  every  motive 
opposition  to  this  purpose,  His  Cathohc  Majesty  cedes  and  resigns  any  right 
that  he  may  have  upon  the  lands  about  which  the  provisional  treaty  between 
both  Crowns  treats  dated,  the  seve  nth  day  of  Ma-^  of  the  year  of  one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty  one,  in  which  lands  the  Colonia  of 
Sacramento  is  situated  ;  which  treaty  shall  stand  without  effect,  and  the 
dominion  of  the  said  Colonia  is  to  remain  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal,  as  it 
presently  enjoys  it.  • 

XV  Article. — His  Catholic  Majesty  not  only  obliges  himself  to  keep 
inviolably  all  the  articles  of  this  treaty,  but  also  all  those  of  the  peace  con- 
cluded between  both  Crowns  by  the  treaty  adjusted  the  year  of  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  sixty  eight,  which  articles  are  herein  considered  as  expressed 
and  declared,  as  if  special  mention  of  all  and  each  of  them  were  herein 
made  ;  and,  were  it  deemed  necessary.  His  Cathohc  Majesty,  ratifies  anew 
and  imparts  new  vigor  to  said  treaty,  proclaiming  in  it  al  much  as  in  right  and 
in  his  royal  power  he  can  here  declare. 

XVI  Article. — In  virtue  of  the  reciprocal  conveniences  that  result  to  the 
Crowns  of  Castile  and  France  of  the  union  of  the  new  alliance,  that  by  this 
treaty  is  obtained  ;  The  Catholic  King  shall  be  obliged  not  only  to  keep  this 
treaty  with  him  concluded,  but  also  that  which  is  done  for  the  said  union  and 
alHance  with  the  Very  High  and  Very  Powerful  Prince  Louis  XIV,  Most 
Christian  King  of  France,  His  Cathohc  Majesty  acting  as  guarantee  of  said 
treaty,  that  it  may  be  inviolably  kept,  such  as  it  is  in  it  contained,  and  as  if 
it  should  have  been  concluded  with  His  Catholic  Majesty,  even  in  case  that 
most  special  declarations  might  be  needed  for  it. 

XVII  Article. — Should  war  break  out  with  any  Prince  or  Power  of 
Europe,  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  not  be  entitled  to  make  peace  or  truce,  or 
cessation  of  arms,  with  any  of  said  Princes  or  Powers,  without  the  Crown  of 
Portugal  partaking  of  it,  treating  of  its  conveniences  as  if  treated  of  his  own 
Kingdoms  and  Dominions,  so  that  they  may  be  adjusted  with  utility  and  ad- 
vantage for   the  said  Crown.     And  in  the  same  manner  Portugal  shall  not 


-36  - 

make  peace,  nor  truce,  or  cessation  of  arms  with  any  of  the  said  Princes  or 
Powers,  without  His  Catholic  Majesty  partaking  of  it,  and  treating  of  the 
conveniences  of  this  Crown,  as  of  its  own. 

XVIII  Article. — This  coalition  and  its  reciprocal  obligations,  shall  last 
and  have  effect  and  vigor  during  a  space  of  twenty  years. 

All  which  things  contained  in  the  eighteen  articles  of  this  treaty  were 
agreed  and  concluded  by  us,  the  aforesaid  Plenipotentiaries  of  Their  Catholic 
and  Portuguese  Majesties,  in  virtue  of  the  full  powers  which  were  given  us  by 
Their  Majesties  ;  in  faith  whereof  and  testimony  of  truth,  we  sign  the  present 
treaty  with  our  hands  and  affix  to  it  the  seal  of  our  arms.  At  Lisbon,  the 
eighteenth  day  of  the  month  of  June,  year  of  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  one. 

(  L.  S. )     MARQUIS  OF  ALEGRETE. 
(  L.  S.)  ROUILLO.  (  L.  S. )     COUNT  OF  ALVOR. 

(L.   S.  )     MENDO  DE  FOYOS  PEREIRA. 


17  13 


Act  of  guaranty  of  Anne,  Queen  of  Oreat  Britain,  for  the  conti- 
nuation of  the  armistice  and  conditions  of  the  fliture 
peace,  between  Portugal  and  Spain,   signed  at 
Hampton  Court  the  19th  August.  (  * ) 

Anne,  by  the  grace  of  God,  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  France  and  Ire- 
land, Defender  of  the  Faith,  etc.,  To  all  and  every  one  to  whom  the  present 
letters  should  come.  Greeting.  Whereas  the  indefatigable  cares  of  our 
Court  and  ourselves,  by  which  with  the  help  of  the  Divine  Providence  we 
have  labored  until  now  to  restore  the  tranquillity  to  all  Europe,  have  not  yet 
produced  such  efifect  that  the  Kings  of  Spain  and  Portugal  should  agree 
upon  the  conditions  of  peace,  on  account  principally  of  the  distance  of  the 
General  Congress  from  both  Courts;  and  having  to  doubt  that  for  this  motive 
the  affairs  of  the  pacification  between  the  said  Kings  may  be  deferred  and 
delayed  further  than  the  state  of  things  requires,  happening  in  the  meantime 
some  cases  of  war  noxious  and  dangerous  to  the  Kingdoms :  Therefore,  we, 
who  profess  an  equal  afTection  to  the  King  of  Portugal  and  to  that  of  Spain, 
esteem  that  we  must  interpose  as  mediator,  in  the  sure  hope  that  our  effort 
shall  obviate  so  much  eflfusion  of  Christian  blood,  as  well  as  whatever 
damages  that  may  befall  the  Kingdoms  of  Portugal  or  Spain  before  the 
present  war  may  come  to  an  end,  all  of  which  is  earnestly  desired  and  to 
themselves  shall  be  equally  agreeable;  Whereby,  the  Royal  Portuguese 
Majesty  promising  through  his  Ministers  Plenipotentiaries  present  at 
Utrecht,  that  he  was  willing  to  refrain  altogether  from  making  arms 
against  the  Kingdom  of  Spain  and  its  Provinces,  as  soon  as  the  peace 
is   adjusted;  We"  are  equally  willing  on  our   part   to  promise  also  that  the 


(*)      Colle^ao  de  Tratados,  etc.,  de  Portugal,  previously  referred  to. — Vol.  II,  Pag.  258. 


—  38  — 

Royal  Spanish  Majesty,  by  reason  of  the  friendship  that  we  with  him  main- 
tain, shall  do  the  same  thing  with  respect  to  Portugal  and  its  Provinces; 
so  that  ceasing  the  obstreperousness  and  desolation  of  the  arms,  the  minds, 
without  the  fear  of  any  loss,  may  be  more  inclined  to  accord  the  peace.  And 
though  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  King  of  Spain  may  accomplish  our  vows, 
nevertheless,  so  that  the  King  of  Portugal  may  firmly  persist  upon  his 
peaceful  purpose,  we  consider  just  to  certify  to  the  said  King,  through  these 
our  letters  of  promise  and  guaranty,  that  We  by  all  the  competent  means 
and  even  by  the  arms,  if  it  were  necessar}',  shall  fulfil  it,  so  that  if  it  should 
happen  to  the  Kingdom  of  Portugal,  or  to  any  of  its  Provinces,  within  or 
out  of  Europe,  to  be  occupied  by  the  Spanish  arms  before  the  peace  is 
made,  all  are  to  be  delivered  and  restored  at  its  conclusion.  We  also  pro- 
mise that  we  shall  work  to  the  end  that  not  only  the  colony  called  of 
Sacramento,  or  any  other  equivalent  indemnization,  to  the  King  of 
Portugal's  choice,  be  restored  and  delivered,  but  also  that  on  the  part  of 
Spain  the  Portuguese  subjects  be  satisfied  about  the  exactions  of  the  contract 
called  El  Asiento  ;  and  that  besides  this,  we  shall  procure  with  all  diligence, 
that  between  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  the  disputes  be  settled  equitably 
and  amicably,  after  peace  is  made,  about  the  goods  demanded  by 
the  Spaniards  in  Portugal,  and,  above  all,  that  which,  against  the  right  of 
war  or  peace,  may  have  been  practiced  by  any  of  the  two  nations,  especially 
with  respect  to  the  Spanish  vessels  apprehended  by  the  Portuguese  at  the 
beginning  of  this  war.  And  thus  with  amicable  intention  We  take  upon  us 
this  promise  and  guaranty  with  respect  to  the  said  articles  and  every  one 
of  them,  and  to  attain  it  We  oblige  ourselves  by  the  present  with  the  best 
and  Royal  faith.  For  a  greater  firmness  and  testimony  whereof,  we  caused 
our  large  seal  of  Great  Britain  to  be  affixed  to  the  present,  signed  with  our 
Royal  hand.  Given  at  our  Palace  of  Hampton  Court,  the  nineteenth  day 
of  the  month  of  August,  of  the  year  of  the  Lord  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  thirteen,  and  twelfth  of  our  reign.  H ANNE,  Queen. 


17  15 


TREATY    OF    UTRECHT. 


FEACE     AZVD     AI^ITV 

adjusted  between  Spain  and  Portugal  at  Utrecht,  the 
6th  of  February,   1715.  {*) 

In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity  Be  it  Known  to  all  men  present 
and  those  to  come,  that  the  greater  part  of  Christianity  being  afflicted  with 
a  long  and  bloody  war,  God  has  been  served  to  move  the  hearts  of  the  very 
high  and  very  powerful  Prince  Don  Felipe  V,  by  the  grace  of  God,  Catholic 
King  of  Spain,  and  of  the  very  high  and  very  powerful  Prince  Don  Juan  V, 
King  of  Portugal,  to  an  ardent  and  sincere  desire  of  contributing  to  the  uni- 
versal repose,  and  of  assuring  the  tranquillity  of  their  subjects,  renewing  and 
re-establishing  the  peace  and  good  correspondence  which  existed  before  be- 
tween the  two  Crowns  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  to  which  effect  Their  said 
Majesties  have  given  their  full  powers  to  their  Ambassadors  Extraordinary 
and  Plenipotentiary,  that  is  to  say  :  His  Cathohc  Majesty  to  the  Most  Excel- 
lent D.  Francisco  Maria  de  Paula  Tellez,  Giron,  Benavides,  Carrillo  y  Toledo, 
Ponce  de  Leon,  Duke  of  Osuna,  Count  of  Urefia,  Marquis  of  Pefiafiel, 
Grandee  of  Spain  of  first  class.  Lord  Chamberlain  of  His  Catholic  Majesty, 
Chief  Clerk  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Castile,  Chief  Key-bearer  of  the  Order  and 
Chivalry  of  Calatrava,  Knight-Commander  of  it  and  of  that  of  Usagre  in 
that  of  Santiago,  General  of  His  Majesty's  armies,  Lord  of  His  Chamber 
and  Captain  of  the  F"irst  Spanish  Company  of  His  Royal  Guards  of  Corps  ; 
and   His  Portuguese   Majesty  to  the  Most  Excellent  Juan   Gomez  de  Silva, 


{^)     "  Collecgao  de  Tratadosy  etc.,  of  Portugal,  previouly  referred  to,  Vol.  II,  p.  262. 


—  40  — 

Tarou,  Lord  of  the  towns  of  Parouca,  Lalim,  Lazarim ,  Penalva, 
Gulfar  and  their  dependencies,  Knight-Commander  of  Villacoba,  of  the 
Council  of  His  Majesty  and  General  Grand-Field-Master  of  his  armies,  and 
Don  Luis  de  Acuna,  Knight-Commander  of  Santa  Maria  of  Almendra  and  of 
His  Portuguese  Majesty's  Council,  who  having  come  to  Utrecht,  the  place  desig- 
nated for  the  Congress,  and  having  reciprocally  examined  their  full  powers, 
copies  of  which  shall  be  inserted  at  the  end  of  this  Treaty,  after  imploring 
the  Divine  help,  have  agreed  upon  the  following  articles  : 

I  Article. — There  shall  be  a  solid  and  perpetual  peace  and  a  true  and 
sincere  friendship  between  His  Catholic  Majesty,  his  descendants,  successors 
and  heirs,  all  his  states  and  subjects  on  one  part,  and  His  Portuguese  Majesty, 
his  descendants,  successors  and  heirs,  all  his  states  and  subjects  on  the  other  : 
which  peace  shall  be  firmly  and  inviolably  observed  both  by  land  and  sea, 
without  permitting  any  hostility  whatever  to  be  committed  between  both 
nations  in  any  part  and  under  any  pretext,  and  in  the  case,  not  to  be  expected, 
that  the  present  Treaty  be  transgressed  in  any  way,  this  shall  stand,  neverthe- 
less, in  all  its  vigor,  and  said  transgression  shall  be  repaired  bona  fide,  without 
delay  or  difficulty,  rigorously  punishing  the  transgressors  and  restoring  all  to 
its  former  state. 

II  Article. — In  consequence  of  this  peace,  all  acts  of  hostility  committed 
hitherto  shall  be  entirely  forgotten,  so  that  no  subject  of  the  two  Crowns  shall 
have  any  right  to  demand  satisfaction  for  the  damages  suffered  through 
the  ways  of  justice,  or  through  any  other  ;  nor  shall  they  be  entitled  to  ad- 
duce reciprocally  the  losses  sustained  during  the  present  war,  and  they  shall 
forget  everything  past  as  if  there  had  not  existed  any  interruption  of  the 
friendship  which  is  now  re-established. 

III  Article. — There  shall  be  amnesty  for  all  persons,  both  officers  and 
soldiers,  and  any  others  that  during  this  war  or  on  account  of  it,  should  have 
changed  of  service,  excepting  those  having  declared  for,  or  engaged  in 
the  service  of  a  Prince  other  than  His  Catholic  Majesty  or  His  Portuguese 
Majesty,  and  only  those  having  served  His  Catholic  Majesty  or  His 
Portuguese  Majesty  shall  be  comprehended  in  this  Article,  as  well  as  in  the 
XI  Article  of  this  Treaty. 

IV  Article. — All  prisoners  and  hostages,  of  either  part,  shall  be  promptly 
restored  and  set  at  liberty,  without  exception,  and  without  demanding  any- 
thing for  their  exchange,  nor  for  the  expense  made  by  them,  provided  that 
"they  satisfy  the  private  debts  that  may  have  incurred. 

V  Article. — The  towns,  castles,  cities,  places,  territories  and  lands  be- 
longing to  the  two  Crowns,  both  in  Europe  and  in  any  other  part  of  the  world, 
shall  be  restored  wholly  and  without  any  reserve  whatever  ;  so  that  the  limits 
and  boundaries  of  the  two  monarchies  shall  stand  in  the  same  state  in  which 
they  were  before  the  present  war.  And  it  shall  chiefly  be  restored  to  the 
Crown  of  Spain  the  towns  of  Albuquerque  and  La  Puebla  with  their  territories 
in  the  state  in  which  they  are  at  present,  without  His  Portuguese  Majesty  being 
entitled  to  claim  anything  from  the  Crown  of  Spain  for  the  new  fortifications 
which  have  been  built,    and  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal  the  castle  of  Noudar 


—  41  — 

with  its  territory,  the  island  of  Verdejo  and  the  territory  and  Colonia  of  Sacra- 
mento. 

VI  Article. — His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  not  only  restore  to  His  Portuguese 
Majesty  the  territory  and  Colonia  of  Sacramento,  situated  on  the  northern 
bank  of  the  River  Plate,  but  shall  also  cede  in  his  name  and  in  that  of 
all  his  descendants,  successors  and  heirs  all  the  action  and  right  that  His 
Catholic  Majesty  pretended  to  have  upon  said  territory  and  colony  performing 
the  said  cession  in  the  firmest  and  most  authentic  terms,  and  with  all  the 
clauses  required,  as  if  they  should  be  inserted  here,  so  that  the  said  territory 
and  colony  may  stand  comprehended  in  the  dominions  of  the  Crown  of  Por- 
tugal, its  descendants,  successors  and  heirs,  as  making  part  of  its  states,  with 
all  the  rights  of  sovereignty,  of  absolute  power  and  of  full  dominion,  without 
His  Catholic  Majesty,  his  descendants,  successors  and  heirs  ever  disturbing 
His  Portuguese  Majesty,  his  descendants,  successors  and  heirs  in  the  said  pos- 
session. In  virtue  of  this  cession,  the  provisional  Treaty  concluded  between 
the  two  Crowns,  the  7th  of  May,  1681,  shall  stand  without  any  effect  or  vigor 
whatever  ;  but  His  Portuguese  Majesty  obliges  himself  not  to  consent  that  any 
other  European  nation,  excepting  Portugal,  may  establish  or  trade  in  the 
said  colony  directly  or  indirectly,  under  any  pretext  ;  and  most  especially 
promise  %iot  to  lend  any  help  or  assistance  to  any  foreign  nation  whatever  in 
the  attempt  to  bring  commerce  into  the  lands  of  the  dominion  of  Spain, 
which  is  equally  forbidden  to  the  same  subjects  of  His  Portuguese  Majesty. 

VII  Article. — Although  His  Catholic  Majesty  cedes  since  now  to  His 
Portuguese  Majesty  the  said  territory  and  Colonia  of  Sacramento,  according 
to  the  tenor  of  the  preceding  article,  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall,  notwith- 
standing, be  entitled  to  offer  an  equivalent  for  said  colony  that  may  be  to 
the  pleasure  and  satisfaction  of  His  Portuguese  Majesty;  the  term  of  a  year 
and  a  half,  to  commence  from  the  day  of  this  Treaty,  being  fixed  for  the 
presentation  of  said  offer,  herein  declaring  that  were  this  equivalent  approved 
and  accepted  by  His  Portuguese  Majesty,  said  territory  and  colony  shall 
belong  to  His  Catholic  Majesty  as  if  he  had  never  restored  or  ceded  it,  but 
should  said  equivalent  not  be  accepted  by  His  Portuguese  Majesty,  His  said 
Majesty  shall  remain  in  possession  of  said  territory  and  colony  as  it  is 
declared  by  the  preceding  article. 

VIII  Article. — Orders  shall  be  issued  to  the  officers  and  other  persons 
commissioned  for  the  reciprocal  delivery  of  the  towns,  both  in  Europe  and 
America,  mentioned  in  the  fifth  Article.  And  in  regard  to  the  Colonia  of 
Sacramento,  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  not  only  send  his  orders  directly  to 
the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres  to  perform  the  delivery,  but  he  shall  also 
give  a  duplicate  of  said  orders,  with  so  precise  a  declaration  to  said  Gover- 
nor that  he  may  not  upon  any  pretext,  or  unforeseen  event,  defer  its  execu- 
tion, though  he  may  not  have  still  received  the  first  ones.  This  duplicate, 
as  well  as  the  orders  respecting  Noudar  and  the  island  of  Verdejo,  shall  be 
exchanged  with  those  of  His  Portuguese  Majesty  for  the  delivery  of  Albu- 
querque and  La  Puebla,  through  the  commissioners  that  for  this  purpose 
shall  meet  at  the  boundary  of  the  two  Kingdoms ;  and  the  delivery  of  said 


—  4?  — 

towns,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  shall  be  made  within  the  term   of  four 
months,  reckoned  from  the  day  of  the  reciprocal  exchange  of  the  said  orders. 

IX  Article. — The  towns  of  Albuquerque  and  La  Puebla  shall  be  restored 
in  the  same  state  in  which  they  are,  and  with  the  same  quantity  of  ammuni- 
tions of  war,  number  of  guns  and  caliber  of  these,  which  they  had  when 
they  were  taken,  according  to  the  inventories  which  of  them  were  made; 
and  the  guns,  ammunitions  of  war  and  victuals  which  would  be  found 
in  excess  in  the  said  towns,  shall  be  carried  to  Portugal.  All  what  has 
just  been  said  concerning  the  restitution  of  the  ammunitions  of  war  and  guns 
is  equally  understood  with  respect  to  the  castle  of  Noudar  and  the  Colon  ia 
of  Sacramento. 

X  Article. — The  inhabitants  of  the  said  towns  and  of  all  the  other  places 
occupied  during  the  present  war,  who  might  be  unwilling  to  remain,  shall 
be  at  liberty  to  retire  and  to  sell  and  dispose  of  their  movable  and  landed 
property  at  pleasure,  and  they  shall  enjoy  all  the  fruits  which  they  should 
have  cultivated  and  sown,  although  the  lands  and  messuages  be  transfered  to 
other  possessors. 

XI  Article. — The  goods  reciprocally  confiscated  on  account  of  the  pre- 
sent war,  shall  be  restored  to  their  former  possessors  or  to  their  heirs,  these 
paying  previously  for  all  useful  improvements;  but  they  shall  never  J^ave  the 
right  to  claim  from  the  persons  who  have  hitherto  enjoyed  said  goods,  the 
value  of  their  product  from  the  time  of  the  confiscation  until  the  day  of 
the  publication  of  the  peace.  And  in  order  that  the  restitution  of  said  con- 
fiscated property  may  be  executed,  the  interested  parties  shall  be  obliged  to 
appear  within  the  term  of  a  year  before  the  respective  courts,  where  said 
parties  shall  litigate  their  rights,  and  their  law-suits  shall  be  judged  within 
the  term  of  another  year. 

XII  Article. — All  the  pjizes  made  by  one  or  the  other  party  during  the 
conrse  of  the  present  war  or  in  consequence  of  it,  shall  be  judged  as  good 
ones,  and  there  shall  not  be  left  to  the  subjects  of  the  two  nations  any  right 
or  action  to  ask  at  any  time  that  said  prizes  to  restored  to  them,  on  account 
of  the  two  Majesties  acknowledging  the  reasons  which  there  have  been 
to  make  the  said  prizes. 

XIII  Article. — For  a  greater  security  and  validity  of  the  present  treaty, 
the  one  made  between  the  two  Crowns  the  thirteenth  day  of  Februar)\  one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty  eight,  which  stands  in  its  force  in  all  that 
would  not  be  revoked  by  the  present  treaty,  is  herein  confirmed,  and  the 
eighth  article  of  the  said  treaty  of  thirteenth  Ferbruar>',  one  thousand  six 
hundred  and  sixty-six  is  particularly  confirmed,  as  if  it  were  inserted  here 
word  for  word.  And  Their  Catholic  and  Portuguese  Majesties  reciprocally 
offer  to  give  their  orders  to  the  end  that  ready  and  complete  justice  be  rnade 
to  the  interested  parties. 

XIV  Article. — The  fourteen  articles  contained  in  the  treaty  of  settle- 
ment made  between  the  two  Crowns  the  eighteenth  day  of  June,  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  one,  are  hereby  also  confirmed,  these  articles  to 
stand  in  their  force  and  vigor,  as  if  they  were  inserted  here  word  for  word. 


—  43  — 

XV  Article. — In  virtue  of  all  that  was  stipulated  in  the  aforesaid  settle- 
ment of  the  Asiento  for  the  introduction  of  negroes,  His  Catholic  Majesty 
owes  to  the  persons  concerned  in  the  said  Asiento  the  sum  of  two  hundred 
thousand  escudos  that  said  persons  had  advanced  to  His  Catholic  Majesty, 
at  the  interest  of  eight  per  cent  from  the  day  of  the  loan  until  its  complete 
payment,  which  makes,  reckoning  from  the  seventh  day  of  July,  one  thou- 
sand six  hundred  and  ninety-six,  until  the  sixth  day  of  January,  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  fifteen,  the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  ninety-six 
thousand  escudos,  as  also  the  sum  of  three  hundred  thousand  cruzados, 
Portuguese  money,  which  reduced,  amount  to  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  escudos.  These  three  sums  are  reduced  by  the  present  treaty 
to  an  only  one  of  six  hundred  thousand  escudos,  that  His  Catholic 
Majesty  promises  to  pay  in  three  equal  and  consecutive  instalments  of 
two  hundred  thousand  escudos  each.  The  first  payment  shall  be  made 
on  the  arrival  of  the  first  fleet,  flotilla  or  galleons  which  shall  arrive  in  Spain 
after  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  the  present  treaty,  and  this  first 
payment  shall  be  applied  to  the  interests  due  for  the  advanced  capital  of  the 
two  hundred  thousand  escudos ;  the  second,  on  the  arrival  of  the  second 
fleet,  flotilla  or  galleons,  and  this  shall  be  for  the  advanced  capital  of  the 
two  hundred  thousand  escudos;  and  the  third,  on  the  arrival  of  the  third 
fleet,  flotilla  or  galleons  for  the  three  hundred  thousand  cruzados,  valued  in 
one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  escudos  and  the  rest  of  the  forty  thousand 
escudos  of  interest.  The  necessary  sums  for  these  three  payments  may  be 
carried  to  Portugal  in  coined  money  or  in  gold  or  silver  bars;  owing  to 
which,  the  advanced  sum  of  two  hundred  thousand  escudos  shall  not  bring 
interest  after  the  date  of  the  signing  of  the  present  treaty;  but  if  His 
Catholic  Majesty  does  not  pay  said  sum  on  the  arrival  of  the  second  fleet, 
flotilla  or  galleons,  the  advanced  two  hundred  thousand  escudos  shall  bring 
the  interest  of  eigth  per  cent  from  the  arrival  of  the  second  fleet,  flotilla  or 
galleons  until  the  full  payment  of  said  sum. 

XVI  Article. —  His  Portuguese  Majesty  cedes  by  the  present  Treaty 
and  promises  to  cause  to  be  ceded  to  His  Catholic  Majesty,  all  the  sums 
due  by  His  Catholic  Majesty  in  the  Spanish  Indies  to  the  Portuguese  Com- 
pany of  the  Asiento  for  the  introduction  of  negroes,  excepting  the  six  hundred 
thousand  escudos  mentioned  in  the  XV  Article  of  this  Treaty.  His  Port- 
uguese Majesty  also  cedes  to  His  Catholic  Majesty  what  the  aforesaid  con- 
cerned persons  may  claim  of  the  inheritance  of  Don  Bernardo  Francisco 
Marin. 

XVII  Article. —  Commerce  shall  be  generally  opened  between  the 
subjects  of  the  two  Majesties,  with  the  same  liberty  and  security  enjoyed 
before  the  present  war;  and  in  proof  of  the  sincere  friendship  that  they 
desire  not  only  to  reestablish  but  also  to  increase  between  the  subjects  of 
the  two  Crowns,  His  Catholic  Majesty  grants  to  the  Portuguese  nation,  and 
His  Portuguese  Majesty  to  the  Spanish  one,  all  the  advantages  in  commerce 
and  all  the  privileges,  liberties  and  exemptions  which  they  may  have 
hitherto  granted  and  shall  henceforward  grant  to  the  most  favored  and  most 


—  44  — 

privileged  nation  of  every  one  that  trades  in  the  lands  of  the  dominion  of 
Spain  and  Portugal,  which,  nevertheless,  is  not  to  be  understood  but  with 
regard  to  the  lands  situated  in  Europe,  on  account  that  the  commerce  and 
navigation  of  the  Indies  are  resen'ed  only  to  the  two  only  nations  on  the 
lands  of  their  respetive  dominions  in  America,  excepting  that  which  has 
been  lately  stipulated  in  the  contract  of  the  Asiento  of  Negroes  concluded 
between  His  Catholic  Majesty  and  His  Britannic  Majesty. 

XVni  Article. —  And  as  all  possible  reciprocal  damages  should,  in  the 
good  correspondence  that  is  herein  established,  be  prevented;  and  as 
in  the  agreement  made  between  the  two  Crowns  in  the  time  of  the  King 
Don  Sebastian,  of  glorious  memory,  specifying  the  cases  in  which  the 
criminals  must  be  delivered  from  one  and  the  other  party  and  the  restitution 
of  the  thefts,  tobacco  could  not  be  comprised,  it  being  unknown  when  the 
said  agreement  was  made,  although  it  is  now  imported  and  in  so  much  use 
both  in  Portugal  and  Spain  that  a  great  profit  is  drawn  out  of  its  monopoly, 
His  Catholic  Majesty  obliges  himself  to  cause  the  tobacco  of  Portugal  not 
to  be  imported  into  the  lands  of  the  Kingdom  of  Spain  nor  in  any  others  of 
his  dominions,  be  it  worked  or  ground  in  the  said  lands  or  Kingdoms  or  in 
any  other  part ;  and  to  give  his  orders  so  that  all  the  manufactories  of 
Portuguese  tobacco  which  would  be  found  in  the  Kingdoms  and  lands  of 
the  aforesaid  dominions  be  destroyed,  as  also  those  which  might  be  built;  all 
those  guilty  of  these  transgressions  being  subject  to  the  grave  penalties  to 
be  imposed  upon  them,  and  reccomendation  of  its  observance  and  execution 
to  be  made  not  only  to  officers  of  justice  but  also  to  officers  of  war.  And 
His  Portuguese  Majesty  equally  obliges  himself  to  cause  the  same  prohi- 
bition, and  under  the  same  circunstances  that  His  Catholic  Majesty,  to  be 
made  with  respect  to  the  tobacco  of  Spain  in  the  lands  of  Portugal  and  any 
others  of  his  dominions. 

XIX  Article.  —  The  ships  of  the  two  nations,  both  men-of-war  and 
merchant  vessels,  may  reciprocally  enter  into  the  ports  of  the  dominions  of 
the  two  Crowns  where  they  used  to  enter  in  the  past,  provided  that  in  the 
largest  ports  there  may  not  be  at  the  same  time  more  than  six  men-of-war, 
nor  more  than  three  in  the  minor  ports.  And  should  a  larger  number  of 
men-of-war  of  one  of  the  two  nations  arrive  before  some  port  of  the  other 
one,  those  shall  not  enter  it  without  the  permission  of  the  Governor  or 
of  the  Magistrate.  But  if  obliged  by  the  violence  of  the  storm  or  by  any 
other  pressing  necessity,  the  said  ships  should  come  to  enter  into  it  with- 
out having  asked  for  the  corresponding  permission,  they  shall  be  obliged  to 
give  thereupon  account  of  their  arrival,  and  they  shall  not  stay  there 
longer  than  they  were  permitted,  minding  very  much  not  to  cause  any 
damage  or  prejudice  to  the  said  port. 

XX  Article. —  Their  Catholic  and  Portuguese  Majesties  desiring  the 
prompt  accomplishment  of  this  treaty,  chiefly  for  the  tranquillity  of  their  sub- 
jects, it  has  been  agreed  that  it  shall  have  all  force  and  vigor  immediately 
after  the  publication  of  the  peace;  and  that  said  publication  shal  be  made 
in  the  places  of  the  dominions  of  the  two  Majesties  as  soon   as   possible: 


—  45  — 

and  if  aft:^-  the  suspension    of  arms  any  transgression  would   have  been 
committed,  a  satisfaction  of  it  shall  be  reciprocally  given. 

XXI  Article. —  If  on  account  of  any  accident  (which  God  forbid)  there 
would  be  any  interruption  of  friendship  or  rupture  between  the  Crowns  of 
Spain  and  Portugal,  in  such  case,  the  term  of  six  months  from  the  date  of 
tha  said  rup  ture  it  shall  be  granted  to  the  subjects  of  these  two  Crowns  to 
retire  and  sell  their  goods  and  effects  or  to  transport  them  where  they 
would  deem  it  better. 

XXII  Article. — And  as  the  late  Queen  of  England,  of  glorious  memory, 
had  offered  to  guaranty  the  execution  of  this  treaty,  and  its  firmness  and 
duration.  Their  Catholic  and  Portuguese  Majesties  accept  the  aforesaid 
guaranty  in  all  its  force  and  vigor  for  all  the  present  articles  in  general, 
and  for  each  one  in  particular. 

XXIII  Article. — The  same  Catholic  and  Portuguese  Majesties  shall 
also  accept  the  guaranty  of  all  the  other  Kingdoms,  Princes  and  Republics 
that  within  the  term  of  six  months  would  be  willing  to  guaranty  the 
execution  of  this  treaty,  upon  the  condition  that  this  be  to  the  satisfaction 
of  both  Majesties. 

XXIV  Article. — All  the  articles  abovewritten 'have  been  treated,  agreed 
and  stipulated  between  the  aforesaid  Ambassadors  Extraordinary  and 
Plenipotentiary  of  the  Kings  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  in  the  name  of  Their 
Majesties ;  and  they  promise,  in  virtue  of  their  full  powers,  that  said  articles 
in  general,  and  each  one  in  particular,  shall  be  inviolably  observed,  fulfilled 
and  executed  by  the  Kings  their  Lords. 

XXV  Article. — The  ratifications  of  the  present  treaty,  given  in  good 
and  due  form,  shall  be  exchanged  by  one  and  the  other  party  within  the 
term  of  fifty  days,  which  shall  begin  from  that  of  the  signing  or  sooner  if 
possible. 

In  faith  whereof,  and  in  virtue  of  the  orders  and  full  powers  that  we, 
the  undersigned,  have  received  from  our  Lords  the  King  of  Spain  and  the 
King  of  Portugal,  we  sign  the  present  treaty  and  affix  to  it  the  seals  of  our 
arms. — Done  at  Utrecht  the  sixth  of  the  month  of  February,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifteen.— THE  DUKE  OF  OSUNA.— COUNT  OF 
TAROUCA.— DON  LUIS  D'ACUNHA. 

By  the  present  separate  Article,  that  shall  have  the  same  force  and 
vigor  as  if  it  were  inserted  in  the  Treaty  of  peace  concluded  to-day  between 
Their  Catholic  and  Portuguese  Majesties,  and  which  it  must  be  ratified  as  the 
treaty  itself,  it  has  been  agreed  by  the  Ambassadors  Extraordinary  and 
Plenipotentiary  of  both  Majesties,  that  the  reciprocal  commerce  of  the  two 
nations  be  reestablished  and  may  continue  after  the  same  manner  and  with 
the  same  securities,  liberties,  exemptions,  franchises,  import  and  export 
duties,  and  all  the  other  dependencies,   as  it  was  done  before  the  present 


—  46  — 

war,  until  any  other  thing  be  not  settled,  and  the  agreement  upon  which 
the  commerce  between  the  two  nations  is  to  run  be  declared.  In  faith, 
whereof,  and  in  virtue  of  the  orders  and  full  powers  that  we,  the  under- 
signed, have  from  our  Lords  the  King  of  Spain  and  the  King  of  Portugal, 
we  sign  the  present  separate  Article  and  cause  the  seals  of  our  arms  to  be 
affixed  to  it. — At  Utrecht,  the  sixth  of  the  month  of  February,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifteen.— THE  DUKE  OF  OSUNA.— THE 
COUNT  OF  TAROUCA.— DON  LUIS  D'ACUNHA. 

Both  the  Treaty  and  this  Article  were  ratified  by  the  Catholic  King 
Don  Felipe  V,  at  "  Buen  Retire,"  the  second  of  March,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifteen ;  and  by  the  King  of  Portugal  Don  Juan,  at 
Lisbon,  the  ninth  of  the  said  month  and  year. 


Act  of  G-uaranty  of  G-eorg-e  I,  King  of  Great  Britain,  of  the 

Treaty  of  Peace  done  at  Utreclit,  the  6th  of  February, 

1715,  between  the  Crowns  of  Portugal  and  Spain, 

g-iven  the  3rd  of  IMEay  of  the  same  year. 

George,  by  the  grace  of  God,  etc.,  to  all,  and  each  one  who  these 
present  letters  should  see,  Greeting.  Whereas  the  Most  Serene  King  of 
Portugal  has  notified  us,  that  peace  is  established  between  Him  and  the 
Most  Serene  King  of  Spain,  by  a  Treaty  concluded  at  Utrecht  on  the  sixth 
day  of  the  month  of  February  last  ;  and  has  also  invited  us,  that, 
pursuant  to  what  the  late  Queen  Anne,  of  pious  memory,  our  Most  Dear 
Sister  and  Cousin,  undertook,  we  would  engage  our  promise  and  guaranty 
for  the  performance  of  the  said  Treaty,  and  all  and  each  of  the  articles 
thereof.  And,  whereas  Joseph  da  Cunha  Brochado,  Ambassador  Extra- 
ordinary, and  Counsellor  of  the  said  Most  Serene  King  of  Portugal,  has,  on 
the  part  of  his  Master,  delivered  to  us  a  copy  in  due  form  of  the  said 
Treaty,  the  guaranty  or  engagement  for  the  performance  of  which  is  desired 
of  us,  written  in  the  Portuguese  language,  and  being  word  for  word  as  here- 
under follows : 

(^Here  is  inserted  the  Treaty  of  the  6th  of  February,  lyi^,  between  the 
Crowns  of  Portugal  and  Spain.) 

We,  following  the  steps  of  our  Royal  Ancestors,  and  being  unwilling 
to  decline  any  offices  by  which  the  peace  between  the  said  Kings  may  be 
promoted,  do,  therefore,  most  readily  engage  in  the  preservation  of  the 
Treaty  now  established,  gladly  taking  this  occasion  to  satisfy  His  Royal 
Majesty  of  Portugal  of  our  friendship  and  sincere  regard  for  his  person  and 
interests,  agreeable  to  the  most  strict  concord  which  has  always  existed 
between  the  British  and  Portuguese  Crowns.  We,  therefore,  have  made 
ourselves  the  guarantee  and  security  of  the  said  Treaty  of  Peace,  as  by  these 


—  47  — 

presents,  in  the  most  due  and  ample  form,  we  do  make  ourselves  guarantee 
and  security,  thereof,  engaging  and  promising  upon  our  Royal  word,  to 
take  care  (as  far  as  in  us  lies)  that  the  said  Treaty,  with  all  and  each  of  its 
articles  and  clauses,  shall  be  sacredly  and  inviolably  observed  according 
to  their  genuine  sense,  and  that  nothing  shall  be  done  in  anywise  contrary 
thereunto ;  and  that  we  will  be  always  ready  to  enter  into  all  such  reason- 
able measures  as  shall  appear  most  necessarily  effectual  for  preserving  the 
same  from  all  violation. 

In  witness  whereof,  we  have  caused  our  great  seal  of  Great  Britain   to 
be  affixed  to  these  presents,   signed  with  our  Royal  hand. — Given  at  Our 
Palace  of  St.  James,    on   the  third  day  of  May,   in  the  year  of  Our  Lord 
one   thousand    seven    hundred    and    fifteen,    and    first    of    Our    Reign — 
GEORGE,  R. 


1750 


TREATV  OF  LIMITS 

of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  possessions  in  America, 

concluded  between  the  most  Serene  Kings  of 

Spain  and  Portugal  at  IWIadrid, 

the  13th  of  January.   ( * ) 

In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity :  the  Most  Serene  Kings  of  Spain 
and  Portugal,  efficaciously  wishing  to  consolidate  and  strengthen  the  sin- 
cere and  cordial  friendship  which  binds  them,  have  deemed  it  as  the  fittest 
means  to  secure  so  worthy  an  object,  the  withdrawing  of  every  pretext  and 
the  removal  of  the  difficulties  which  can  hereafter  alter  it  and  chiefly  those 
which  can  occur  on  account  of  the  boundaries  of  both  Crowns  in  America, 
whose  conquests  have  been  advanced  and  entertained  with  doubt  and  incerti- 
tude, the  true  boundaries  of  those  dominions,  not  having  been  ascertained  up 
to  the  present,  nor  the  place  where  the  boundaryline  which  was  to  be  the  in- 
alterable principle  of  the  demarcation  of  both  Crowns,  was  to  be  drawn. 
And  considering  the  insuperable  difficulties  which  would  arise  if  this  line 
should  be  marked  without  the  required  practical  knowledge,  they  have  resolv- 
ed to  examine  the  reasons  and  doubts  which  on  both  parties,  occur  and, 
in  consequence  of  them,  to  conclude  an  agreement  with  reciprocal  satisfact- 
ion and  convenience. 

On  the  part  of  the  Crown  of  Spain  it  was  adduced,  that  the  line  North- 
South,  having  to  be  imagined  at  the  distance  of  370  leagues  to  the  West  of 
Cape  Verde  Islands,  according  to  the  treaty  concluded  at  Tordesillas  the 


(*)     Collection  of  Argentine  Treaties,  V.  Ill,  App.  p.  XXXI,  and  following — Collection  of  Treaties 
of  Portugal,  etc.,  accompanying  this  document,  V.  Ill,  p.  8,  and  following. 


—  5°  — 

seventh  day  of  June,  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety-four,  all  the 
land  which  should  lie  within  the  370  leagues  from  the  aforesaid  islands  to 
the  place  where  the  line  was  to  be  traced  out,  belongs  to  that  of  Portugal, 
and  nothing  more  on  this  part,  because  from  it  to  the  West  the  180  degrees 
of  the  demarcation  of  Spain  are  to  be  counted,  and  although,  not  having 
been  declared  from  which  one  among  the  isles  of  Cape  Verde  the  370  leagues 
must  be  counted,  the  doubt  arises,  awakening  special  interest  from  the  fact 
that  all  these  isles  are  situated  east-west  with  a  difference  of  four  and  half 
degrees,  it  is  also  true  that  even  in  case  that  Spain  should  yield  and  agree 
to  begin  reckoning  from  the  island  further  West  (called  of  St.  Antonio)  the 
370  leagues  shall  scarcely  reach  the  city  of  Para  and  the  other  Portuguese  colo- 
nies or  captaincies  formerly  founded  on  the  coasts  of  Brazil ;  and  as  the  Por- 
tuguese Crown  has  occupied  both  banks  of  the  river  Maraiion  or  Amazons  up 
the  river  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Jabri,  which  flows  into  it  by  its  southern 
bank,  it  now  clearly  appears  that  said  Crown  has  introduced  itself  through 
all  the  distance  from  said  city  to  the  mouth  of  that  river,  the  same  being 
the  case  through  the  interior  of  Brazil,  by  this  crown's  intemations  up  to 
Cuyaba  or  Mattogrosso. 

As  regards  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento,  Spain  adduced  that  according  to 
the  most  accurate  maps,  the  place  where  the  line  was  to  be  imagined  did 
not  by  much  reach  the  mouth  of  the  River  Plate,  and  consequently  the 
said  colony  with  all  its  terpitory  lies  to  the  West  of  it  and  within  Spain's 
demarcation,  the  new  right  of  Portugal's  Crown  to  its  retention  in  virtue  of 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  stipulating  its  restitution  for  an  equivalent,  not  being 
an  obstacle ;  and  although  the  Court  of  Spain  offered  it  within  the  time  de- 
signated by  the  VII  Article,  Portugal  did  not  admit  it,  in  consequence  of 
which  the  term  was  extended,  the  equivalent  having  been  tendered,  as  it  was , 
the  non-admission  being  more  the  fault  of  Portugal  than  that  of  Spain. 

On  the  part  of  the  Crown  of  Portugal  it  was  adduced  that  the  1 80 
degrees  of  its  demarcation,  having  to  be  reckoned  from  the  line  to  the  East, 
the  other  180  degrees  to  the  West  remaining  for  Spain,  both  nations  agree- 
ing to  make  their  discoveries  and  colonies  on  the  180  degrees  of  their 
respective  demarcation ;  it  appears,  however,  according  to  the  most  exact 
and  recent  observations  of  astronomers  and  geographers,  that,  reckoning 
the  degrees  to  the  West  of  the  above  mentioned  line,  the  Spanish  dominion 
extends  on  the  Asiatic  end  of  the  South  Sea  many  more  degrees  than  the 
180  of  its  demarcation  and  consequently  it  has  occupied  a  much  larger 
extension  than  that  which  can  imply  any  excess  attributed  to  the  Portuguese, 
wherefore  they  shall  perhaps  have  settled  in  South  America  to  the  West  of 
the  same  line  and  the  beginning  of  the  Spanish  demarcation. 

It  was  also  adduced  that,  by  the  deed  of  sale,  with  the  clause  of  retro- 
venta,  agreed  upon  by  the  attorneys  of  both  Crowns,  of  Zaragoza,  of  the 
twenty-second  day  of  April,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-nine, 
the  Crown  of  Spain  sold  to  that  of  Portugal  all  that,  by  any  cause  or  right, 
might  belong  to  it  to  the  West  of  another  meridian  line  imagined  by  the 
Velas'  Islands  situated  on  the  South  Sea,  at   17  degrees  from  the  Maluco, 


—  51  — 

with  the  declaration  that  should  Spain  consent  and  not  forbid  to  its  subjects 
the  navigation  of  the  aforesaid  line  to  the  West,  the  fact  of  retro-venta 
would  thereupon  become  extinguished  and  void,  and  that  whenever  any 
subject  of  Spain,  either  through  ignorance  or  necessity  should  go  into  it 
and  discover  some  islands  and  lands,  all  the  territory  thus  discovered  was 
to  belong  to  Portugal.  That,  notwithstanding  this  covenant,  the  Spaniards 
went  afterwards  to  discover  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  in  fact  they 
established  themselves  therein  a  little  before  the  union  of  both  Crowns, 
which  was  performed  inj  580,  on  account  of  which  the  disputes,  by  this  infrac- 
tion aroused,  between  both  nations,  ceased,  but  having  afterwards  separated, 
it  followed  from  the  conditions  of  the  deed  of  Zaragoza,  a  new  title  for 
Portugal  to  claim  the  restoration  or  the  equivalent  of  all  that  the  Spaniards 
had  occupied  to  the  West  of  the  aforesaid  line  in  opposition  to  that  agreed 
by  the  said  deed. 

As  regards  the  territory  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  River  Plate,  it 
adduced  that,  on  account  of  the  settlement  of  the  Cplonia  of  Sacramento,  a 
dispute  about  boundaries  arose  between  both  Crowns,  that  is  to  say,  whether 
the  land,^  on  which  that  town  was  founded,  was  to  the  East  or  West  of  the 
boundary  line  determined  at  Tordesillas,  and  pending  the  decision  of  the 
question,  while  a  provisional  treaty  was  concluded  at  Lisbon,  the  seventh 
day  of  May,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty-one,  in  which  it  was 
agreed  that  the  mentioned  town  should  remain  in  possession  of  the  Portu- 
guese, and  that  in  the  questioned  lands  they  should  enjoy  its  use  and 
advantages,  in  common  with  the  Spaniards;  that  by  Article  VI  of  the  peace 
celebrated  at  Utrecht  between  both  Crowns,  the  sixth  day  of  February,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifteen.  His  Catholic  Majesty  resigned  all  the 
title  and  right  which  he  could  have  to  the  territory  and  colony,  the  afore- 
said provisional  treaty  being  thus  declared  as  cancelled  in  virtue  of  this 
cession;  that  all  the  territory  in  dispute  to  be,  in  consequence  of  said 
cession,  delivdlred  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal ;  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres 
atempted  to  consider  the  mere  delivery  of  the  town  as  sufficient  fulfilment, 
alleging  that  by  territory  he  only  understood  that  part  of  it  comprised 
within  cannon-shot  from  the  town,  reserving  to  the  Crown  of  Spain  all 
the  remaining  land  in  dispute,  on  which  the  town  of  Montevideo  and 
other  settlements  were  afterwards  founded ;  that  this  interpretation  by  the 
Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres,  was  openly  contrary  to  the  agreement,  being 
evident,  that  on  account  of  a  cession,  the  Crown  of  Spain  should  not  stand 
in  a  position  better  than  it  enjoyed  before,  as  to  the  object  ceded ;  that  both 
nations,  having  remained,  in  virtue  of  the  provisional  treaty,  in  possession 
and  in  a  position  of  mutual  help  in  those  lands,  there  is  no  more  violent  in- 
terpretation than  the  supposition  that  they,  through  His  Catholic  Majesty's 
cession,  did  exclusively  belong  to  his  Crown;  that  that  territory,  being  an 
appurtenance  of  Portugal  by  a  title  apart  from  the  boundary  line,  determined 
at  Tordesillas,  it  is  of  justice  that,  in  consequence  of  the  siettlement  of  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  which  His  Catholic  Majesty  resigned  the  rights  derived 
from  the  former  demarcation,  that  territory,   independent  of  all  questions 


—  52  — 

as  to  the  line,  should  be  entirely  ceded  to  Portugal,  including  everything 
lately  built  on  it,  as  if  made  on  foreign  ground.  Finally,  that  even  sup- 
posing that  by  the  VII  Article  of  the  aforesaid  treaty  of  Utrecht,  His  Cath- 
olic Majesty  reserved  his  liberty  to  propose  an  equivalent  to  H.  M.  F.  M's 
satisfaction  for  the  mentioned  territory  and  colony,  as  the  term  appointed  to 
offer  it  expired  many  years  ago,  every  pretext  and  motive  even  of  bare  ap- 
pearance to  delay  the  delivery  of  the  said  territory  has  ceased. 


These  reasons  seen  and  examined  by  both  Most  Serene  Monarchs, 
with  the  objections  made  by  both  parties,  proceeding  with  that  bona  fide  and 
sincerity  which  become  Princes  so  just,  friends  and  relatives,  wishing  to 
maintain  their  subjects  at  peace  and  tranquillity  and  acknowledging  the  dif- 
ficulties and  doubts  which  will  always  make  troublesome  this  dispute,  were 
it  to  be  judged  after  the  demarcation  accorded  at  Tordesillas,  either  because 
it  was  not  declared  from  which  of  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  was  to  begin  the 
reckoning  of  the  370  leagues,  either  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  pointing 
out  on  the  coasts  of  South  America  the  two  points  to  the  South  and  North 
whence  the  line  was  to  commence,  as  well  as  on  account  of  the  moral  im- 
possibility of  establishing  with  accuracy  through  the  middle  of  the  said  Amer- 
ica a  meridian  line,  as  on  account  of  many  other  obstacles,  almost  insuperable, 
which  shall  prevent  the  conservation,  without  controversy  or  excess,  of  a  de- 
marcation regulated  by  meridian  lines  ;  and  considering  at  the  same  time  that 
the  above-mentioned  obstacles  were  perhaps,  in  former  times,  the  chief  motive 
of  the  excesses  which  both  parties  denounced,  and  of  the  many  disorders  that 
'  disturbed  the  quietness  of  their  dominions,  they  have  resolved  to  put  an  end 
to  all  past  and  future  disputes  and  to  forget  and  not  to  use  all  titles  or  rights 
which  might  belong  to  them  in  virtue  of  the  said  treaties  of  Tordesillas, 
Lisbon  and  Utrecht,  as  well  as  of  the  deed  of  Zaragoza  or  any  other  fact  or 
argument  apt  to  bear  upon  the  division  of  their  dominions  by  a  meridian  line  ; 
and  it  is  their  wish  that  this  subject  shall  not  be  further  argued  upon,  the 
boundaries  of  both  monarchies,  to  be  fixed  by  the  present  treaty,  their  mind 
being  that  this  treaty  shall  carefully  contrive  two  ends,  the  first,  and  the  chief 
one,  being  to  fix  the  boundaries  of  both  dominions,  using  for  boundaries,  to 
avoid  all  confusion  and  dispute,  the  best  known  places,  such  as  the  river, 
sources  and  their  course,  and  the  most  remarkable  mountains  ;  the  second  end 
being  that  each  party  is  to  keep  what  it  actually  holds,  excepting  the  mutual 
cessions  to  be  opportunely  stated  which  shall  be  executed  by  mutual  agree- 
ment. And  in  order  that  the  boundaries  may  remain  as  far  as  possible  less 
subject  to  controversies,  and  to  decide  upon  and  mark  out  the  boundaries,  the 
Most  Serene  Kings  have  given  to  their  ministers  on  one  and  the  other  party, 
the  full  necessary  powers  which  will  be  inserted  at  the  end  of  this  treaty,  viz. , 
H.  C.  M.  to  H.  E.  Sefior  Don  Jose  de  Carvajal,  of  Lancaster,  Lord  of  the 
Chamber  in  exercise,  State  Minister  and  Senior  of  this  Council,  Governor  of 
the  Supreme  Council  of  Indies,  President  of  the  Board  of  Commerce  and 
Coins,  and  General  Superintendent  of  the  Post  Department  and  Post-offices  in 


—  53  — 

Spain  and  its  possessions  ;  and  H.  M.  F.  M.  to  H.  E.  Seiior  Don  Tomas  de 
la  Silva,  ofTellez,  Viscount  of  Villanueva  de  Cerveira,  of  the  Council  of  H. 
M.  F.  M.  and  that  of  War,  Maestre  de  Campo,  General  of  his  army  and  his 
Ambassador  Extraordinary  at  the  Court  of  Madrid,  who  after  having  deliberated 
upon  and  treated  the  affair  with  due  circunspection  and  disquisition,  well  in- 
structed about  the  mind  of  both  Most  Serene  Kings,  their  Masters,  and  follow- 
ing their  orders,  they  have  agreed  upon  the  contents  of  the  following  articles  : 

I  Article. — The  present  treaty  shall  be  the  only  basis  and  rule  to  be 
henceforth  followed  for  the  division  and  boundary  of  the  dominions  in  all 
America  and  Asia,  and  in  virtue  thereof,  any  right  and  title  which  might 
be  adduced  by  both  Crowns  on  account  of  the  Bull  of  Pope  Alexander  the 
VI,  of  happy  memory,  shall  remain  as  void  as  well  as  the  treaties  of 
Tordesillas,  Lisbon  and  Utrecht,  the  deed  of  sale  drawn  at  Zaragoza,  and 
whatever  treaties,  agreements  and  promises,  which  inasmuch  as  they  con- 
cern the  line  of  demarcation,  shall  be  of  no  value  and  effect  as  if  they 
have  not  been  agreed  upon,  the  rest  of  the  treaties  reniaining  in  full  force  and 
vigor;  the  question  to  as  the  above-mentioned  line  to  be  for  the  future 
dismissed,  and  all  argument  based  on  it  to  be  descountenanced  in  the  decision 
upon  the  boundaries  that  might  occur,  the  frontiers  prescribed  in  the  present 
articles  being  the  only  and  invariable  rule,  by  no  means  subject  to  contro- 
versies. 

II  Article. — The  Philippine  Islands  and  the  adjacent  ones  which  are 
possessed  by  the  Crown  of  Spain  shall  belong  for  ever  to  it,  notwithstanding 
whatever  pretension  that  might  be  adduced  on  the  part  of  the  Crown  of  Por- 
tugal, upon  the  basis  of  the  decisions  of  the  aforesaid  Treaty  of  Tordesillas, 
nor  the  stipulations  contained  in  the  deed  drawn  at  Zaragoza,  on  the  twenty- 
second  day  of  April,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-nine,  the  Crown 
of  Portugal  being  forbidden  to  claim  any  part  of  the  price  which  was  paid  for 
the  sale  recorded  by  that  deed,  in  consequence  whereof  H.  M.  F.  M.  in  His 
name  and  that  of  his  heirs  and  successors,  makes  the  most  ample  and  formal 
resignation  of  whatever  right  and  title  he  may  derive  from  the  aboved-men- 
tioned  principles,  or  from  any  other  source,  to  the  aforesaid  islands,  as  well  as 
to  the  restitution  of  the  amount  paid  in  virtue  of  said  deed. 

III  Article. — It  will  hkewise  belong  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal  all  the 
territory  now  under  its  name,  along  the  river  Maranon  or  Amazons  and  the 
land  on  both  banks  of  said  river  up  to  the  places  to  be  later  mentioned,  as 
well  as  all  that  it  now  occupies  in  the  district  of  Mattogrosso  and  from  this  place 
towards  the  East  and  Brazil,  notwithstanding  whatever  prentension  that  might  be 
adduced  on  the  part  of  the  Crown  of  Spain,  as  the  fulfilment  of  the  decision  of 
the  aforesaid  Treaty  of  Tordesillas,  to  which  effect  H.  C.  M.  in  his  name,  and 
that  of  his  heirs  and  successors,  formally  yields  and  resigns  every  right  and 
title  which  in  virtue  of  said  treaty,  or  on  any  other  basis,  may  have  to  the  re- 
ferred territories. 

IV  Article. — The  boundaries  of  the  dominions  of  both  monarchies  shall 
begin  from  the  bar  on  the  sea  coast,  laid  by  the  stream,  following  at  the  foot 
of  Castillos  Grandes  Mountain,  from  the  slope  of  which  the  frontier  shall  con- 


—  54  — 

tinue  following  on  a  right  line  the  highest  ground  or  summits  of  the  mountains 
the  springs  of  which  descend  on  one  side  to  the  coast  running  to  the  North  of  said 
stream  or  to  Lake  Merin  or  of  the  Mine,  and  on  the  other  to  the  coast,  running 
to  the  South  or  the  River  Plate,  so  that  the  summits  of  the  mountains  may 
serve  as  boundary  to  the  dominion  of  both  Crowns,  and  thus  the  frontier  shall 
continue  until  it  finds  the  main  source  and  head  springs  of  the  River  Negro, 
going  on  along  them  up  to  the  principal  source  of  the  River  Ybicui,  down  the 
stream  of  this  river  to  i^^s  outlet  in  the  Uruguay,  by  its  eastern  bank,  remaining 
for  Portugal  all  the  springs  descending  to  the  above-mentioned  lake  or  the  Rio 
Grande  de  San  Pedro  to  be  owned  by  Portugal,  and  those  descending  to  the 
rivers,  flowing  into  that  of  the  River  Plate,  to  be  owned  by  Spain. 

V  Article. — It  shall  ascend  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ybicui  through  the 
waters  of  the  Uruguay  until  it  finds  the  mouth  of  the  River  Pepiri  or  Pequiri, 
which  flows  into  the  Uruguay  on  its  western  bank,  and  shall  continue  up  the 
stream  of  the  Pepiri  to  its  principal  source,  from  which  it  shall  continue  through 
the  highest  ground  to  the  main  head  spring  of  the  nearest  river  which  flows 
into  the  Grande  of  Curitiba,  otherwise  called  Yguazu,  through  the  waters  of  the 
said  river  nearest  to  the  source  of  the  Pepiri,  and  afterwards  through  the 
waters  of  the  Yguazu  or  Rio  Grande  of  Curitiba,  the  line  shall  continue  up  to 
where  the  said  Yguazu  flows  into  the  Parana  on  its  eastern  bank,  and  from 
this  mouth  shall  continue  up  the  Parana  to  the  place  where  the  River  Ygurei 
joins  it  on  its  western  bank. 

VI  Article. — From  the  mouth  of  the  Ygurei,  it  shall  continue  up  the 
stream  until  it  finds  its  main  source  and  from  this  it  shall  follow  in  a  right 
line  through  the  highest  ground  the  main  spring  of  the  nearest  river  that 
flows  into  the  Paraguay  by  its  western  bank,  which  may  be  the  one  called  Co- 
rrientes,  and  shall  descend  with  the  waters  of  this  river  until  its  entrance 
into  the  Paraguay,  from  the  mouth  of  which  it  shall  ascend  through  the 
main  channel,  left  by  the  Paraguay  in  dry  weather  and  thence  through  its 
waters  until  it  find  the  swamps  formed  by  this  river,  known  as  the  Xarayes 
Lake,  and  passing  across  this  lake  up  to  the  mouth  of  River  Jauru. 

VII  Article. — From  the  mouth  of  the  river  Jauru,  on  the  western  side, 
the  frontier  shall  continue  in  a  right  line  up  to  the  southern  bank  of  the  river 
Guapore,  opposite  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Sacar6,  which  flows  into  the  said 
Guapore  by  its  northern  bank  ;  but  should  the  Commissioners  to  be  appointed 
for  the  settlement  of  the  boundaries  on  this  part  find  on  surveying  the  ground 
between  the  rivers  Jauru  and  Guapore,  some  other  rivers  or  natural  boundaries 
through  which  the  line  on  that  place  might  be  more  easily  determined,  and 
with  greater  accuracy,  with  the  permanent  exception  of  the  navigation  of  the 
Jauru,  which  is  to  belong  exclusively  to  the  Portuguese,  and  the  route  usually 
traveled  from  Cuyaba  to  Mattogrosso,  the  two  high  contracting  parties  consent 
and  approve  that  it  be  thus  settled,  without  regard  to  the  larger  or  minor  por- 
tion of  land  which  might  remain  to  one  or  the  other.  From  the  place  to  be 
marked  out  as  the  end  of  the  line  on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Guapore,  as  it 
has  been  explained,  the  frontier  shall  descend  all  along  the  current  of  the 
river  Guapore  until  it  leaves  behind  the  point  of  its  confluence  with  the  river 


—  55  — 

Mamore,  which  has  its  source  in  tbe  province  of  Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra,  and 
crosses  over  the  Mission  of  the  Mojos,  forming  together  the  river  called  de  la 
Madera,  which  drains  into  the  Maraiion  or  Amazons  by  its  southern  bank. 

VIII  Article. — It  shall  descend  through  the  waters  of  these  two  rivers 
already  joined  until  the  spot  placed  at  equal  distance  from  the  aforesaid  river 
Maraiion  or  Amazons  and  the  mouth  of  the  above-mentioned  Mamore  ;  and 
from  said  spot  it  shall  continue  by  a  line  eastwest  until  it  finds  the  eastern 
banks  of  the  river  Jabari,  which  drains  into  the  Maranon  by  its  southern  bank 
and  descending  by  the  waters  of  the  Jabari  from  where  it  flows  into  the 
Maranon  or  Amazons  it  shall  continue  down  the  stream  of  this  river  up  to  the 
most  western  mouth  of  the  Japura,  which  drains  into  it  by  its  northern  bank. 

IX  Article. — The  frontier  shall  continue  along  the  river  Japura  and 
through  the  rest  of  the  rivers  that  may  flow  into  it  and  running  nearer  to  the 
north  until  it  finds  the  summit  of  the  ridge  lying  between  the  river  Orinoco 
and  the  Maranon  or  Amazons,  and  it  shall  continue  over  the  summits  of  these 
mountains  towards  the  East  until  the  end  of  the  dominion  of  both  monarchies. 
The  persons  appointed  by  boths  Crowns  to  settle  the  boundaries,  according  to 
is  prescribed  by  the  present  article  shall  pay  particular  attention  to  mark  out 
what  the  frontier  on  this  part  ascending  up  the  stream  from  the  most  western 
mouth  of  the  Japura,  in  order  that  the  settlements  which  the  Portuguese  may 
have  at  present  on  the  banks  of  this  river  and  that  of  the  Negro  may  be  left 
covered,  as  well  as  the  communication  or  channel  which  they  make  use  of  bet- 
ween these  two  rivers  ;  not  leaving  any  cause  for  the  Spaniard,  under  any  pre- 
text or  interpretation,  to  enter  into  them  or  into  the  said  channel,  neither  the 
Portuguese  to  ascend  towards  the  Orinoco  or  extend  toward  the  provinces 
settled  by  Spain,  nor  on  the  uninhabited  places  which  are  to  belong  to  it, 
according  to  the  present  articles,  to  which  effect  the  boundary  shall  be  marked 
out  by  the  lakes  and  the  rivers,  making  the  boundary  line  as  straight  as  pos- 
sible to  the  North,  without  regard  to  the  larger  or  minor  portion  of  ground 
which  may  remain  to  one  or  the  other  Crowns,  provided  that  the  expressed 
purposes  be  attained. 

X  Article. — All  the  islands  that  might  be  found  to  exist  in  any  of  the  rivers 
through  which  the  line  is  to  pass,  according  to  what  has  been  prescribed  by 
the  preceding  article  shall  belong  to  the  dominion  to  which  they  should  be 
nearer  in  dry  weather. 

XI  Article. — At  the  same  time  that  the  Commissioners  appointed  by  both 
Crowns  are  marking  out  the  boundaries  on  the  whole  frontier  they  shall  note  all 
observations  required,  each  to  draw  a  map  of  the  whole  of  it,  from  which 
the  number  of  copies  which  may  be  deemed  necessary  shall  be  drawn,  signed 
by  all,  to  be  kept  by  both  Courts  ;  should  any  dispute  occur  in  future  on  ac- 
count of  some  infraction,  in  which  case,  and  in  any  other,  they  shall  be  had 
as  authentic  and  they  shall  avail  as  full  proof,  and  to  make  the  least  doubt 
impossible,  the  aforesaid  Commissioners  shall  put  names  by  common  agree 
ment  to  the  rivers  and  mountains  that  may  not  have  it,  marking  it  all  in  the 
map  with  all  possible  details. 

XII  Article. — In  attention  to  the  common   convenience  of  both   nations 


-  56  - 

« 

and  to  avoid  all  sorts  of  disputes  in   future  the  mutual  cessions  contained  in 
the  following  articles  have  been  settled  and  adjusted. 

XIII  Article. — H.  M.  F.  M.  in  His  name  and  that  of  His  heirs  and  suc- 
cessors give  up  for  ever  to  the  Crown  of  Spain  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento  and 
all  its  adjacent  territory  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  River  Plate  up  to  the 
boundaries  declared  in  the  IV  Article,  and  the  towns,  ports  and  settlements 
which  are  comprised  on  the  same  place,  as  well  as  the  navigation  of  the  said 
River  Plate,  which  will  wholly  appertain  to  the  Crown  of  Spain  ;  and  in 
order  that  it  may  have  effect  H.  M.  F.  M.  resigns  all  the  right  and  action 
which  was  reserved  to  His  Crown  by  the  provisional  treaty  of  the  seventh 
day  of  May,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty-one,  and  the  possession, 
right  and  action  to  which  he  is  entitled  and  might  fall  to  his  share  in  virtue  of 
Articles  V  and  VI  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  of  the  sixth  of  February,  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  fifteen,  or  by  any  other  agreement,  title  or  source. 

XIV  Article. — H.  C.  M.  in  His  name  and  that  of  His  heirs  and  successors 
give  up  forever  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal  all  that  on  the  part  of  Spain  is  occu- 
pied, or  that  by  any  title  or  right  may  belong  to  him  on  any  part  of  the  lands 
that  by  the  present  articles  are  declared  as  appertaining  to  Portugal  from  the 
Castillos  Grandes  mountains  and  their  southern  slope  and  sea  shore  up  to  the 
head  spring  and  main  source  of  the  river  Ybicui,  as  it  also  cedes  all  the  towns 
and  settlements  that  may  have  been  made  on  the  part  of  Spain,  on  the  corner 
of  land  comprised  between  the  northern  bank  of  the  river  Ybicui  and  the 
eastern  of  the  Uruguay,  and  those  which  may  have  been  founded  on  the  east- 
ern bank  of  the  river  Pepiri  and  the  town  of  Santa  Rosa,  or  any  other  town, 
whatever  that  may  have  been  founded  on  the  part  of  Spain  on  the  eastern 
bank  of  the  river  Guapore.  And  H.  M.  F.  M.  cedes,  in  the  same  manner,  to 
Spain  all  the  land  lying  from,  the  western  mouth  of  the  river  Japura,  placed  at 
the  middle  between  the  same  river  and  the  Maranon  or  Amezons  and  all  the 
navigation  of  the  river  Yza  ;  and  all  that  follows  from  this  last  river  to  the 
west,  with  the  town  of  San  Cristobal,  and  any  other  that  on  the  part  of  Portu- 
gal could  have  been  founded  on  that  portion  of  land,  the  mutual  deliveries  to 
be  made  under  the  following  conditions  : 

XV  Article. — The  Colonia  of  Sacramento  shall  be  delivered  on  the  part 
of  Portugal  without  taking  out  of  it  but  the  artillery,  arms,  gun-powder  and 
ammunitions  and  vessels  in  the  service  of  the  said  town,  the  inhabitants  be- 
ing free  to  remain  or  to  move  to  other  lands  of  the  Portuguese  dominions 
with  their  effects  and  movable  property,  all  lands  to  be  sold  before  removing. 
The  Governor,  officers  and  soldiers  shall  also  take  with  them  all  their  effects 
and  shall  have  the  same  liberty  of  selling  their  landed  property. 

XVI  Article. — The  missioners  shall  leave  the  towns  or  villages  which 
H.  C.  M.  cedes  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river  Uruguay,  carrying  with  them 
their  movable  property  and  effects,  and  taking  with  them  the  Indians  to  settle 
on  other  lands  of  Spain  ;  and  the  aforesaid  Indians  are  also  allowed  to  carry 
all  their  movable  goods  and  their  arms,  gun-powder  and  ammunition,  this  be- 
ing the  way  in  which  the  town  shall  be  delivered  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal 
with  all  its  houses,  churches  and  buildings,  and  the  ownership  and  posses- 


-  57  — 

sion  of  the  land.  Those  which  are  ceded  by  Their  C.  and  M.  F.  Majesties  6n 
the  banks  of  the  rivers  Pequiri,  Guapore  and  Maraiion,  shall  be  delivered 
under  the  same  stipulations  as  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento,  as  it  is  prescribed  by 
Article  XIV  and  the  Indians  of  both  parties  shall  have  the  same  hberty  to 
leave  or  to  remain  in  the  same  manner  and  under  conditions  equal  to  those 
prescribed  for  the  inhabitants  of  that  tow^n,  saving  that  those  which  should 
leave,  will  lose  their  landed  property. 

XVII  Article. — In  consequence  of  the  frontier  and  boundaries  determined 
by  the  preceding  articles,  the  Castillos  Grandes  mountain  with  its  southern  slope 
shall  remain  for  the  Crown  of  Portugal,  and  it  shall  be  entitled  to  fortify  it 
maintaining  there  a  guard,  but  it  is  not  authorized  to  settle  it,  both  nations 
keeping  the  right  to  the  common  use  of  the  bar  or  creek  therein  formed  by 
the  sea,  referred  to  in  Article  IV. 

XVIII  Article. — The  navigation  of  that  part  of  the  rivers  through  which 
the  frontier  is  to  pass  shall  be  common  to  both  nations,  and,  generally,  where 
both  banks  of  the  rivers  may  appertain  to  one  of  the  two  Crowns,  the  naviga- 
tion shall  be  exclusively  its  own,  the  same  thing  to  be  understood  of  the  part 
of  the  said  rivers,  being  common  to  both  nations  where  the  navigation  be  so, 
and  exclusive  where  the  said  navigation  belong  to  one  of  them.  And  with 
respect  to  the  summit  of  the  ridge  of  mountains  which  is  to  serve  as  boundary 
between  the  Maranon  and  Orinoco,  all  the  springs  falling  to  the  Orinoco,  shall 
belong  to  Spain,   and  to  Portugal  those  running  to  the  Marafion  or  Amazons. 

XIX  Article. — Along  the  whole  frontier  the  trade  between  nations  is  for- 
bidden and  will  be  treated  as  smuggling,  the  laws  of  both  Crowns  on  the 
subject,  remaining  in  full  force  and  vigor  ;  besides  this  prohibition,  nobody 
shall  pass  from  the  territory  of  one  of  the  nations  to  that  of  the  other  by  land 
or  sea,  nor  sail  on  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the  river  not  belonging  exclusively  to 
his  nation  or  common  to  them,  upon  any  pretext  or  motive,  without  first 
obtaining  leave  from  the  Governor  or  superior  of  the  place  where  he  is  going, 
the  case  excepted  in  which  he  should  be  sent  by  the  Governor  of  his  territory 
to  treat  of  any  affair,  in  which  case  he  shall  take  with  him  a  passport  ;  the 
transgressors  will  be  punished,  with  this  distinction  ;  if  they  be  aprehended 
in  foreign  territory  they  shall  be  put  into  prison  and  shall  remain  in  it,  for  the 
time  willed  by  the  Governor  or  superior  which  caused  them  to  be  apprehended  ; 
but  if  they  be  not  seized,  the  Governor  or  superior  of  the  territory  where  they 
should  enter,  shall  institute  legal  procedings,  with  the  justification  of  the  per- 
sons and  of  the  transgression  and  with  it  he  shall  require  from  the  judge  the 
transgressor's  punishment  under  the  same  form  ;  those  sailing  on  the 
rivers  through  which  the  frontier  runs  who  might  be  obliged  to  set  foot  on  the 
foreign  territory  for  any  urgent  necessity,  are  excepted  from  the  aforesaid  pen- 
alties, provided  that  they  prove  their  allegation  ;  and  in  order  to  prevent  all 
occasion  of  discord,  it  is  declared  ilicit  to  raise  any  kind  of  fortification  on  the 
rivers  of  common  navigation  or  on  its  banks,  nor  to  place  register  ves- 
sels or  artillery  or  to  establish  force  which  in  any  way  may  hinder  the  free  and 
common  navigation.  It  will  neither  be  licit  for  any  of  the  parties  to  visit, 
register  nor  oblige  the  vessels  of  the  opposite  bank  to  go  to  theirs  and  they 


-  58  - 

shall  only  have  authority  to  prevent  and  punish  the  subjects  of  the  other  nation 
should  they  arrive  to  their  banks,  excepting  the  case  of  indispensable  necessity 
as  it  has  been  stated. 

XX  Article. — In  order  to  avoid  some  prejudices  which  are  likely  to  occur, 
it  was  agreed  that  on  the  mountains  where,  according  to  the  preceding  articles, 
the  boundary  be  fixed  along  their  summits,  it  will  not  be  licit  for  any  of  the  two 
powers  to  build  fortifications  over  the  said  summits,  nor  to  allow  their  subjects 
to  build  town  on  them. 

XXI  Article. — War  being  the  principal  source  of  abuse  and  the  cause  of 
altering  the  best  concerted  rules.  Their  G.  and  M.  F.  M.  wish  that  should  war 
break  out  (which  Lord  forbids)  between  both  Crowns,  those  subjects  of  both, 
established  in  all  South  America,  shall  keep  the  peace,  both  living  as  if  there 
were  no  such  a  war  between  their  sovereigns,  without  showing  to  each  other 
the  least  hostility  neither  by  themselves  nor  together  with  their  allies.  And 
the  promoters  and  leaders  of  whatsoever  invasion,  trifling  as  it  may  be,  shall 
be  irremissibly  punished  with  capital  penalty,  and  whichever  prize  they  may 
make  shall  be  fully  restored  bona  fide.  And  likewise  neither  of  both  nations 
shall  permit  the  free  use  of  their  ports,  and  less  the  passage  through  their  ter- 
ritories of  South  America  to  the  other's  enemies,  when  they  may  attempt  to 
avail  themselves  of  them  in  order  to  hostilize  it,  though  it  occur  at  a  time 
when  both  nations  might  be  at  war  in  another  region.  The  aforesaid  conti- 
nuity of  everlasting  peace  and  good  neighborhood  shall  not  only  exist  in  the 
lands  and  islands  of  South  America  between  the  neigboring  subjects  of  both 
monarchies,  but  also  in  the  rivers,  ports  and  coasts  and  in  the  ocean  sea  from 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  island  of  San  Antonio,  one  of  the  Cape  Verde, 
towards  the  South,  and  from  the  meridian  which  passes  by  its  western 
extremity  towards  the  West ;  so  that  to  no  man-of-war,  corsair  or  any  other 
vessel  of  either  Crown  be  it  licit  ever,  within  the  aforesaid  terms,  to  fall  upon, 
insult  or  cause  the  least  damage  to  the  vessels  and  subjects  of  the  other,  and 
of  whichever  attempt  that  in  opposition  should  be  committed,  a  prompt  satis- 
faction shall  be  given, 'fully  restoring  what  should  have  been  seized,  and 
severely  punishing  the  transgressors.  And  further,  neither  of  both  nations 
shall  admit  in  their  ports  and  lands  of  said  South  America,  vessels  or  friendly 
or  neutral  traders  knowing  that  they  intend  to  introduce  their  commerce 
into  the  lands  of  the  other  and  to  transgress  the  laws  with  which  both  mo- 
narchs  govern  those  dominions.  And  for  the  exact  observance  of  all  that 
has  been  mentioned  in  this  article,  both  Courts  shall  make  the  most  efficient 
recommendations  to  their  respective  Governors,  Commanders  and  Justices, 
it  being  understood  that  even  in  the  case  (which  it  is  not  to  be  expected) 
that  there  should  be  any  incident  or  negligence  against  what  has  been 
promised  or  stipulated  in  this  article,  such  a  negligence  or  incident  will  not 
be  an  obstacle  to  the  everlasting  and  inviolable  observance  of  all  the  rest 
that  by  the  present  treaty  is  settled. 

XXII  Article. — In  order  to  determine  with  greater  precision  and  with- 
out affording  occasion  to  the  least  future  doubt,  in  regard  to  the  places 
through  which  the  line  is  to  pass  on  some  parts  which  are  distinctly  named 


—  59  — 

and  especified  in  the  preceding  articles,  as  well  as  to  declare  to  which  of 
both  dominions  are  to  belong  the  islands  which  might  be  found  in  the  rivers 
to  be  used  as  frontier,  both  Majesties  shall  appoint  as  soon  as  possible  intel- 
ligent Commissioners,  who,  while  surveying  the  whole  line  may  fix  with 
utmost  precision  and  clearness,  places  through  which  the  demarcation  is  to 
run  in  virtue  of  the  stipulations  of  this  treaty,  setting  landmarks  on  the 
places  which  they  should  deem  convenient  and  that  on  which  they  should 
agree  shall  ever  be  valid  in  virtue  of  the  approbation  and  ratification  of  both 
Majesties,  but  in  case  that  they  would  not  agree  on  any  place,  they  shall 
impart  knowledge  to  the  Most  Serene  Kings  in  order  to  decide  the  doubt 
on  just  and  convenient  terms,  it  being  understood  that  what  the  said  Com- 
missioners should  leave  unsettled,  shall  not  impair  in  any  way  the  vigor  and 
observance  of  the  present  treaty  which,  independent  of  this,  shall  remain 
firm  and  inviolable  in  its  clauses  and  determinations,  serving  in  future  as 
a  fixed,  everlasting  and  inalterable  rule  for  the  boundaries  of  the  dominion 
of  both  Crowns. 

XXIII  Article. — The  day  in  which  the  mutual  delivery  of  the  Colonia 
of  Sacramento  and  adjacent  territory  and  of  the  lands  and  towns  comprised 
in  the  cession  that  Her  Catholic  Majesty  makes  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
river  Uruguay,  will  be  agreed  upon  between  both  Majesties,  such  day  not  to 
be  further  than  a  year  after  the  signing  of  this  treaty,  to  which  effect  His 
Catholic  and  Most  Faithful  Majesty  shall  give,  after  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty,  the  necessary  orders  to  be  exchanged  by  the  said  plenipotentiaries, 
and  with  regard  to  the  delivery  of  the  rest  of  the  towns  or  villages  which 
are  ceded  by  both  parties,  it  shall  be  performed  at  the  time  in  which  the 
Commissioners  appointed  in  its  consequence  may  arrive  to  the  places  of 
their  situation,  to  investigate  and  establish  the  boundaries,  those  which 
are  to  go  to  those  places  to  be  dispatched  sooner. 

XXIV  Article. — It  is  declared  that  the  cessions  contained  in  the  pre- 
ceding articles  shall  not  be  reputed  as  a  corresponding  equivalent  to  one 
another,  but  they  are  made  with  respect  to  the  total  of  what  was  disputed 
and  adduced,  or  to  what  was  reciprocally  ceded,  and  to  those  conveniences 
and  advantages  which  at  present  resulted  to  both  parties  and  to  this  effect 
the  concord  and  determination  of  boundaries  which  has  been  expressed,  was 
reputed  just  and  convenient  to  both,  and  as  such  they  are  acknowledged  and 
approved  by  Their  Majesties,  in  their  name  and  that  of  their  heirs  and  suc- 
cessors, resigning  every  other  pretension  in  opposition  to  it,  and  in  the  same 
manner  promising  that  at  no  time  and  upon  no  cause,  that  which  is  settled 
and  agreed  in  these  articles,  shall  be  disputed  either  under  a  pretext  of 
damage  or  any  other,  shall  they  pretend  another  compensation  or  equivalent 
of  their  mutual  rights  and  referred  cessions, 

XXV  Article. — For  a  further  security  of  this  treaty  both  high  contract- 
ing parties  agreed  to  give  to  each  other  guaranty  for  all  the  frontier 
and  adjacencies  of  their  dominions  in  South  America,  as  it  has  already 
been  expressed,  obliging  themselves  to  help  and  succor  each  other  against 
whatever  attack  or  invasion,   until  He  may  effectively  rest  in  the  peaceful 


6o  — 


possession  and  free  and  full  use  of  that  which  He  was  intended  to  be  bereft 
of;  and  this  obligation,  with  regard  to  the  sea  coasts  and  neighboring 
countries,  on  the  part  of  Her  Most  Fairhful  Majesties,  shall  extend  up  to 
banks  of  the  Orinoco  on  both  sides  and  from  Castillos  to  Magellan's  Strait, 
and  on  that  of  Her  Catholic  Majesty  it  shall  extend  to  the  borders  of  both 
banks  of  the  river  Amazon  or  Maranon,  and  from  the  mentioned  Castillos 
to  the  port  of  Santos,  But  with  regard  to  the  interior  of  South  America, 
this  obligation  shall  be  indefinite,  and  in  any  case  of  invasion  or  insurrection 
both  Crowns  shall  help  and  succor  each  other  until  affairs  may  reach  a 
peaceful  settlerrient. 

XXVI  Article,  —This  treaty  with  all  its  clauses  and  determinations 
shall  be  in  everlasting  vigor  between  both  Crowns,  so  that,  in  the  case 
(which  God  forbid)  that  war  be  declared,  it  shall  remain  firm  and  invariable 
during  the  same  war  and  after  it,  without  ever  being  possible  to  repute  it  as 
interrupted  or  in  need  of  revalidation,  and  it  shall  at  present  be  approved, 
confirmed  and  ratified  by  both  Most  Serene  Kings,  and  its  ratifications  ex- 
changed within  a  month  from  its  date,  or  sooner  if  it  were  possible. 

In  faith  whereof,  and  in  virtue  of  the  orders  and  full  powers  which  we 
the  aforesaid  plenipotentiaries,  have  received  from  our  masters,  we  sign  the 
present  treaty  and  we  seal  it  with  the  seal  of  our  arms.  Given  at  Madrid, 
the  thirteenth  day  of  January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty. — 
JOSE  DE  CARVAJAL  Y  LANCASTER.— VISCOUNT  TOMAS  DE  LA 
SILVA  Y  TELLEZ. 


1751 


Treaty   by    which   the   IMEinisters  Plenipotentiaries    of  Their 
IMEost  Faithflil  and  Catholic  IMEajesties  adjusted  and  de- 
termined the  instructions  which  were  to  guide  the 
Commissioners  of  the  two  Crowns  in  the  demar- 
cation of  their  respective  boundaries  in 
South  America,  in  execution  of 
the  treaty  of  boundaries.  ( * ) 

In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity  :  The  Most  Serene  Kings  of  Por- 
tugal and  Spain  having  happily  concluded  the  treaty  of  boundaries  of  their 
dominions  in  America,  signed  at  Madrid  the  thirteenth  day  of  January  of  the 
year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  and  duly  ratified  ;  and  desiring 
that  the  frontier  be  established  v^'ith  the  greatest  details  and  precision,  so  that 
henceforth  there  may  be  no  room  nor  motive  for  the  least  dispute,  they  agreed 
by  the  XXII  Article  of  the  said  treaty,  that  Commissioners  be  appointed  by 
both  parties;  in  order  to  adjust  with  the  greatest  clearness  the  places  through 
which  the  line  and  demarcation  are  to  run  according  to  what  is  expressed  in 
the  said  treaty  and  article  :  and  afterwards,  in  virtue  of  the  too  large  extent  of 
land  which  is  to  be  conveyed  and  marked  out,  they  agreed  that  two  parties  of 
Commissioners  should  go,  one  through  the  river  Maraiion  or  Amazons  and  the 
other  through  the  River  Plate,  whose  powers  have  been  issued  and  which 
shall  be  inserted  at  the  end  of  this  instruction,  appointing  each  on  his  part  per- 
sons of  confidence,  intelligence  and  zeal,  so  that  concurring  with  those  of  the 
other  part  they  may  establish  the  boundaries  in  the  adjusted  form.  And  wish- 
ing that  it  be  performed  with  the  union  and  good  faith  which  correspond  to  the 


(*)    Coleccion  de  Tratados  etc.  de  la  Republtca  Argentina  previously  referred  to  Vol.  Ill, 
Appendix,  p.  47. 


—    62    — 

sincerity  of  their  intentions,  they  resolve  to  instruct  the  said  Commissioners  of 
w  hat  they  are  to  execute,  in  the  practice  of  the  cases  that  can  be  obviated, 
also  giving  them  the  rules  so  that  they  may  by  themselves  decide  those  which 
should  not  be  foreknown,  to  which  effect,  we,  the  undersigned  Ministers  of 
Their  Most  Faithful  and  Cathohc  Majesties,,  making  use  of  the  full  powers 
which  have  been  conferred  upon  us,  for  the  principal  treaty,  its  execution  and 
fulfilment,  well  instructed  of  the  intentions  of  the  Most  Serene  Kings,  our 
masters,  have  agreed  upon  the  present  articles,  that  the  Commissioners  of  the 
two  Crowns  who  are  to  go  through  the  River  Plate  shall  wholly  and  thor- 
oughly observe. 

r  Article. — The  Portuguese  Commissioners  shall  go  to  some  of  the  places 
of  the  district  of  Rio  Grande  of  San  Pedro  ;  and  the  Spanish  ones  shall  sail 
directly  for  Buenos  Ayres.  As  soon  as  one  of  the  Commissions  arrive  to  its 
destination,  they  shall  give  notice  of  their  arrival  to  the  other,  advising  it  of 
the  time  at  which,  more  or  less,  they  can  be  ready  to  pass  over  to  Castillos 
Grandes,  which  shall  be  the  place  for  the  conferences,  regulating  their  journey 
according  to  the  news  which  would  be  communicated  to  them  in  reply.  And 
considering  that  the  Commissioners  of  both  parties  shall  not  arrive  at  the  same 
time  but  by  chance,  and  that,  on  account  of  there  being  no  communication 
among  those  colonies,  it  being  very  difficult  for  one  Commission  to  hear 
from  the  other,  the  first  to  arrive  shall  advise  the  Governor  of  the  place  where 
the  other  is  to  go,  so  that  he  shall  notify  the  latter,  and  these  may  advise  the 
former  in  the  manner  determined  by  this  article. 

II  Article. — At  the  same  time  the  Portuguese  shall  forward  the  orders  of 
His  Most  Faithful  Majesty  to  the  Governor  of  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento,  in 
order  to  prepare  tbe  evacuation  of  that  town  and  its  post  and  settlements  on 
the  River  Plate,  and  the  Spaniards  shall  transmit  to  the  Governor  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  to  the  Provincial  of  the  order  of  Jesuits  of  the  province  of  Paraguay  and 
to  the  Superior  of  their  Misiones  on  the  banks  of  the  Uruguay  and  Parana,  the 
orders  which  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall  address  to  them,  to  the  end  of  prepar- 
ing the  evacuation  of  the  territory  and  towns  of  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river 
Uruguay  with  all  possible  brevity,  the  ones  and  the  others  endeavoring  to  get 
beforehand  approximate  notice  of  the  time,  at  which  the  one  and  the  other 
evacuation  shall  be  ready,  to  agree  afterwards  upon  the  day  in  which  the 
mutual  deliveries  are  to  be  made. 

III  Article. — Each  party,  before  departing  from  its  first  destination  for 
Castillos  Grandes,  shall  take,  on  its  territory,  notice  of  the  escorts,  Indians  of 
service,  provisions,  arms,  war  stores,  and  ammunitions  which  may  be  taken 
thereof,  and  in  what  time,  so  that  the  Commissioners  of  both  parties  meeting 
afterwards  may  regulate  the  number  and  quantity  that  they  may  need  and  the 
place  and  manner  of  conducting  them,  which  shall  be  performed  by  the  Gov- 
ernors in  virtue  of  the  advice  to  be  communicated  to  them  by  the  chief  Com- 
missioner of  their  nations,  to  which  effect  Their  Majesties  shall  send  them  the 
corresponding  orders,  detailing  that  which  is  to  be  taken  out  for  the  general 
necessities  and  the  places  where  it  is  to  be  found,  as  well  as  that  which  is  to 


6^  — 


be  sent  to  the  Governors  with  a  certified  account,  by  which  the  amount  of  the 
principal  and  of  its  conduction,  is  to  be  justified,  in  order  that  the  settlement 
of  the  boundaries  once  ended  the  account  of  what  might  have  been  supplied  by 
each  of  the  parties  may  be  made  and  the  excess  paid  in  ready  money. 

IV  Article. — As  soon  as  the  Commissioners  meet  at  Castillos  Grandes, 
they  shall  cause  a  wooden  house  or  a  tent,  to  be  raised  on  land  of  both  domi- 
nions, according  to  the  stipulation  in  the  treaty,  which  hoyse  or  tent  will  be 
used  for  the  conferences.  There  will  be  two  opposite  entrances,  so  that  the 
Commissioners  of  each  nation  shall  enter  by  the  land  pertaining  to  his  Sov- 
ereign :  there  will  be  a  round  table  with  two  chairs  for  the  principal  Commis- 
sioners, the  back  of  each  chair  to  face  the  entrance  of  each  one  of  them.  In 
case  that  for  the  brief  despatch  of  the  matter  to  be  treated  in  this  house,  the 
principal  Commissioners  should  be  willing  to  admit  the  seconds  and  thirds  to 
the  conferences,  they  are  empowered  to  do  it,  in  which  case  the  number  of 
chairs  shall  be  increased  in  the  same  manner,  the  table  being  placed  so  that 
the  Commissioners  shall  face  each  other,  with  the  principals  in  the  middle. 

V  Article. — In  these  conferences  and  in  all  others  visits  of  courtesy  and 
upon  the  ceremonial  of  which,  doubts  might  occur  as  to  preference,  they  shall 
not  give  occasion  to  disputes  nor  complaints,  endeavoring  rather  to  agree  as 
if  they  were  vassals  of  the  same  Sovereign,  having  in  mind  that  the  honor  of 
both  Crowns,  is  not  touched  by  these,  but  that  they  have  as  onl}  object  the 
principal  end,  which  is  the  execution  of  the  treaty. 

VI  Article. — In  case  that,  from  the  investigation  to  be  made  by  the  Com- 
missioners as  to  the  time  about  which  the  evacuation  of  the  towns,  villages 
and  settlements  ceded  by  both  parties  shall  be  prepared,  as  they  are  advised 
of  by  the  II  Article  of  this  instruction,  it  should  result  that  the  appointment 
of  a  fixed  day  to  effect  it  could  not  be  made  with  sufficient  certainty,  each  of 
the  Commissioners  shall  send  to  the  territory  which  is  ceded  to  him  and  is  to 
belong  to  his  Sovereign,  according  to  the  treaty,  some  persons  to  examine  if 
all  is  ready  and  prepared  for  the  delivery  ;  and,  this  information  presented, 
they  shall  appoint  the  fixed  day  in  which  it  is  to  be  performed  by  either  party, 
giving  sufficient  time  and  issuing  the  necessary  orders  so  that  the  respective 
inhabitants  may  gather  their  pending  crops  and  remove  the  goods  which  they 
might  wish  to  take  with  them. 

VII  Article. — And  whereas  the  two  Most  Serene  Monarchs  desire  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  lands  to  be  reciprocally  delivered  may  receive  the  least 
possible  damage  in  those  things  which  they  would  not  or  could  not  take  away 
with  them,  the  chief  Commissioners  shall  agree  upon  the  most  convenient 
manner,  so  that  the  same  persons  which  are  intrusted  with  investigating  whether 
the  mutual  deliveries  are  being  prepared,  as  it  is  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
article,  may  take  for  their  just  price  that  which  they  would  esteem  useful  for  the 
service  of  one  and  the  other  Crown  ;  the  value  of  that  taken  on  one  side  being 
compensated  by  that  taken  on  the  other  and  the  excess  being  paid  by  the 
Crown  which  should  appear  as  the  debtor,  to  which  effect  the  lists  of  that  which 
would  have  been  taken  by  both  parties  shall  be  compared;  and  it  shall  be  of  ac- 
count of  the  Crowns  to  pay,  their  amount  to  their  own  subjects.     And  consider- 


—  64   — 

ingthat  in  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento  and  in  the  other  settlements  of  the  River 
Plate  which  the  Crown  of  Portugal  is  to  deliver,  there  shall  be  many  more 
moveable  goods  of  difficuh  transportation  than  in  the  towns  of  the  river  Uru- 
guay which  is  to  deliver  that  of  Spain,  and  that  the  latter  or  the  greater  part  of 
them  shall  not  be  useful  for  the  service  of  His  Cathohc  Majesty,  the  chief  Com- 
missioners of  Spain  shall  give  notice  in  Buenos  Ayres  and  Montevideo,  so  that 
those  willing  to  buy  what  the  residents  of  the  colony  and  those  of  the  said 
settlements 'should  like  to  sell  them,  for  prices  which  they  would  agree,  may 
concur. 

The  commercial  goods  which  may  be  found  shall  be  excepted,  notwith- 
standing, of  this  sale  between  countrymen,  their  owners  wishing,  therefore,  to 
sell  them,  they  shall  be  appraised  and  taken  on  the  part  of  His  Catholic  Ma- 
jesty for  the  just  and  current  prices,  without  any  one's  interference  in  these 
sales  ;  the  arms,  artillery  and  war  ammunitions  which  the  two  Crowns  may 
have  in  the  ceded  dominions,  according  to  what  is  stipulated  in  the  XV  and 
XVI  Articles,  shall  also  be  e.xcepted  of  this  disposition. 

Vni  Article. — The  chief  Commissioners  shall  despatch  three  parties  of 
under-commissioners,  astronomers,  engineers  and  geographers  with  their 
chaplains,  surgeons,  escorts  and  service  men  which  they  would  agree,  accord- 
ing to  the  country  which  they  are  to  pass,  each  Commissioner  appointing  those 
to  travel  on  his  part,  so  that  those  of  both  nations  may  ga  together  to  survey 
the  frontier  from  Castillos  Grandes  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Jauru  according 
to  the  treaty  and  to  this  instruction.  Each  party  shall  take  with  it  two  copies 
of  the  treaty  printed  in  both  languages,  a  chart  of  the  part  of  the  boundaries 
to  be  surveyed  by  the  party  and  passports  signed  by  the  two  Commis- 
sioners. 

IX  Article. — The  first  party  shall  survey  from  Castillos  Grandes  to  the 
draining  of  the  River  Ybicui  into  the  Uruguay,  as  it  is  prescribed  in  the  IV 
Article  of  the  treaty.  The  second  shall  survey  the  boundary  running  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Ybicui  to  the?place  which  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Parana  lies 
opposite  to  the  mouth  of  the  River  Ygurei,  according  to  the  V  Article.  The 
third  shall  survey  the  bounds  which  may  lie  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ygurei  to 
the  River  Jauru  in  the  manner  set  out  in  the  VI  Article. 

X  Article. — And  whereas  in  some  charts  the  name  and  situation  of  the 
River  Ygurei,  pointed  out  to  serve  as  frontier  on  the  western  bank  of  the 
Parana  appear  changed,  it  is  declared  that  the  first  river  carrying  much 
water  which  would  flow  into  the  Parana  on  the  western  bank  upwards  of  the 
great  fall  of  the  said  Parana  is  to  serve  as  frontier. 

And  though  this  river  may  not  be  called  Ygurei  it  shall  be  used  as 
boundary  under  the  name  it  might  have,  or  a  name  shall  be  put  to  it  by  com- 
mon consent ;  and  from  its  mouth  shall  the  third  party  proceed  to  mark  out 
the  boundaries  up  to  the  mouth  of  the  River  Jauru,  as  it  has  been  said. 

XI  Article. — ^When  this  third  party  should  reach  the  mouth  of  the  river 
which  is  supposed  to  be  the  Ygurei,  it  shall  leave  on  it  a  sign  as  visible  as  pos- 
sible, either  heaping  stones  or  cutting  trees  to  a  certain  height  in  order  that  the 
Commissioners  of  the  second  party,  on  following  the  frontier  along  the  opposite 


-  65  - 

bank  of  the  Parana,  may  know  by  that  sign  that  the  work  on  the  part  which 
they  are  charge  of,  is  ended. 

XII  Article. — The  third  party  which  is  to  leave  this  monument  and  to 
go  against  the  stream  of  that  river  which  shall  be  had  as  the  Ygurei,  on  reach- 
ing its  principal  source,  shall  search  for  the  most  neighboring  springs  which 
may  run  towards  the  Paraguay,  or  those  of  which  the  river  that  in  the  several 
charts  is  seen  with  the  name  of  Corrientes,  is  formed,  or  any  other  which  may 
flow  out  from  that  place,  and  down  the  stream,  from  these  springs,  and  the 
sam^  party  shall  mark  out  the  frontier  until  the  Paraguay  ;  and  it  is  declared 
that  this  river,  believed  to  be  the  River  Corrientes,  is  not  the  one  known  by 
this  name  which  drains  into  the  River  Plate,  upwards  of  the  city  of  Santa  Fe, 
between  the  Rivers  Arias  and  Santa  Lucia,  but  a  different  one  which  to  the 
Noith  of  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn  drains  into  the  River  Paraguay,  and  which 
according  to  the  manuscript  chart  which  shall  be  delivered  to  the  Portuguese 
Commissioner,  runs  from  the  southern  bank  of  the  River  Tepau. 

XIII  Article. — The  three  referred  parties  shall  have  for  their  destinations, 
the  first  from  the  shores  of  Castillos  Grandes  ;  the  second  sailing  up  the  River 
Ygurei  ;  the  third  sailing  by  the  Rivers  Plate  and  Parana  up  to  the  Salto 
Grande. 

XIV  Article. — As  regards  the  proceedings  of  the  evacuation  and  delivery 
of  the  towns  which  the  Catholic  King  has  ceded  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal  on 
the  eastern  bank  of  the  River  Uruguay,  and  to  the  evacuation  and  delivery 
which  this  Crown  is  to  make  of  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento  and  other  ports  and 
settlements  of  the  River  Plate,  they  shall  observe  accordingly  the  stipulations 
of  the  XV  and  XVI  Articles  of  the  referred  treaty.  And  whereas  in  the  XVI 
Article  of  the  same  treaty  it  was  stipulated  that  the  missioners  and  Indians  of 
the  towns  of  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Uruguay  were  to  evacuate  them  totally 
in  order  to  found  villages  in  other  lands  of  the  Spanish  dominion,  they 
shall  endeavor  to  have  this  evacuation  effected  before  the  day  of  the 
deliveries. 

The  chief  Commissioners  shall  agree  upon  a  fixed  term  during  which  they 
may  remain  in  the  towns  ceded,  so  that,  the  term  being  ended,  they  be  obliged 
to  leave  before  the  actual  delivery  of  the  colony,  to  which  effect  the  Commis- 
sioner shall  procure  the  reports  he  may  require  from  the  Provincial  Father  of 
the  Jesuits  of  Paraguay  or  from  the  Superior  of  both  missions. , 

XV  Article. — The  inhabitants  of  the  colony  which  at  the  time  of  the 
delivery  of  said  town  and  in  its  evacuation  were  willing  to  move  to  any  place 
of  the  dominions  of  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty,  they  shall  enjoy  free  passage 
through  the  dominions  of  the  Crown  of  Spain,  giving  them  passports  and  all 
the  aid  that  they  may  request,  provided  they  pay  the  expenses  they  may  make. 

The  inhabitants  which  after  the  said  day  of  delivery  shall  remain  in  the 
colony,  shall  be  considered  henceforth  as  subjects  of  Spain. 

XVI  Article. — The  said  Commissioners  shall  formulate  a  regulation 
which  must  be  observed  by  the  three  parties  and  it  shall  contain  all  the  prac- 
tical cases  which  may  occur,  determining  the  distribution  of  the  provisions, 
fiunting  and  fishing,  building  of  the  huts,    camps,   sentinels,   marches  and 


—  66  — 

other  operations  to  which  the  Commissioners  of  both  nations  are  to  concur 
with  the  assembled  Commissions. 

The  economical  management  of  the  party  of  each  nation  shall  be  kept 
separately  under  the  charge  of  the  Commissioner  which  would  be  appointed  to 
command  it. 

In  the  case  of  war  with  the  barbarous  Indians  both  escorts  shall  be  com- 
manded by  the  week  commander  to  be  designated  according  to  XVIII 
Article. 

XVII  Article. — The  officer  commanding  each  escort  shall  have  under 
his  charge  the  military  government  of  the  soldiers  of  his  nation  ;  he  shall 
take  care  of  every  thing  concerning  the  discipline,  the  two  escorts  to  be 
lodged  and  to  march  separately. 

As  to  the  privilege  of  side  during  the  march  and  to  the  other  points  of 
military  honor,  about  which  disputes  of  preference  may  arise,  the  com- 
manding officers  shall  dispose  the  service  of  the  escorts  on  the  most  honor- 
able post  by  turns,  to  be  reheved  every  day. 

XVIII  Article. — In  the  case  of  war  with  the  Indians,  the  two  escorts 
shall  be  commanded  by  the  w^eek  Commander,  Portuguese  or  Spanish,  the 
absolute  command  (only  in  the  case  of  war  or  a  well  founded  suspicion  of 
it)  to  be  the  Commander  of  any  of  the  two  escorts  which  may  be  in  week 
service  by  turn,  and  the  troops  shall  occupy  the  post  which  may  fall  to  them 
in  lot  by  daily  turn  as  it  has  been  said,  and  lots  shall  be  drawn  to  know 
which  Commander  and  escort  shall  begin  the  turn  from  the  first  day  of  their 
meeting. 

XIX  Article.^ — To  prevent  difficulty  in  the  practice  of  what  has  been 
determined  in  the  preceding  article.  Their  Majesties  shall  procure  that  the 
Commander  of  the  escorts  be  of  the  same  rank,  forbidding  that  either  of 
them  may  base  argument  upon  the  previous  day  of  his  commission,  nor 
under  another  pretext,  pretend  the  command  of  the  two  escorts,  but  they 
are  precisely  to  serve  by  turn,  as  it  has  been  said.  Nevertheless,  as  in  the 
case  of  death  or  by  any  other  accident,  it  may  happen  that  the  Commander 
of  one  party  be  of  an  inferior  rank  to  that  of  the  Commander  of  the  other, 
Their  Majesties  desire  that,  were  this  to  happen,  what  is  determined  in  this 
instruction  be  literally  observed,  the  Commander  of  higher  rank  not  failing 
to  act  as  second,  although  the  turn  may  fall  to  the  one  of  less  rank, 
and  to  consider  that  both  are  of  equal  command  title,  though  they  may 
be  unequal  in  rank, 

XX  Article. — It  is  declared  that  whatever  is  here  said  about  the  gov- 
ernment and  military  command  of  the  escorts,  and  the  turn  in  the  case  of 
war,  that,  according  to  the  preceding  articles  shall  fall  upon  their  Com- 
manders, shall  be  for  the  case  in  which  the  general  Commissioner  of  the 
party  be  not  a  military  man,  because,  should  he  be  such,  he  shall  have  the 
powers  determined  in  the  said  articles  and  the  Commander  of  the  escort 
shall  be  at  his  orders.  It  is  also  declared  that  the  chief  Commissioner  of 
Spain  must  issue  passports  with  safe  conduct  to  the  parties  which  are  to 
pass  through  the  dominions  of  this  Crown,  ordering  them  to  be  assisted  in 


all  that  they  may  need  ;  and  that  those  excusing  themselves  or  causing  in- 
jury, shall  be  severy  punished,  to  which  effect  His  Catholic  Majesty  shall 
issue  the  proper  orders. 

XXI  Article. — With  respect  to  transgressions,  procedings  will  be  in- 
stituted with  the  following  difference:  on  those  committed  between  indivi- 
duals of  one  of  the  two  nations,  a  legal  ivestigation  shall  be  ordered  with 
the  assistance  of  the  Commissioners  of  both  nations,  and  it  shall  be  remitted 
to  the  two  chief  Commissioners  for  their  resolution  and  to  the  end  that  they 
may  order  the  application  of  the  corresponding  penalty.  If  the  transgres- 
sion were  a  misdemeanor,  the  Commissioners  of  the  respective  part  shall 
punish  it,  imposing  on  the  transgressors  the  penalty  of  ordinance,  or  oth- 
erwise, an  arbitrary  one.  And  in  order  that  there  be  no  doubt  nor  objec- 
tion, both  Most  Serene  Kings  grant  to  their  chief  Commissioners  all  the 
authority  which,  by  law,  may  be  required  and  which  they  shall  exercise 
over  all  the  members  of  the  party  and  subalterns  of  the  expedition,  both  on 
criminal  and  civil  affairs,  in  all  cases  on  which  processes  can  be  instituted 
during  the  said  expedition, said  Commissioners  being  empowered. once  assem- 
bled, to  impose  and  cause  to  execute  even  the  capital  penalty,  without  admitting 
resource  or  appeal  in  the  cases  which  should  require  an  immediate  punish- 
ment as  warning,  and  of  which  they  may  and  must  notify  the  principal  Com- 
missioners in  each  party.  But,  all  are  herein  advised,  should  any  case 
occur  of  criminal  or  civil  procedings  between  individuals  of  both  nations  be 
brought  to  their  decision,  to  depose  all  natural  affection  and  to  judge  with 
the  same  impartiality  to  natives  and  foreigners,  only  attending  to  justice, 
and  the  peace  of  the  parties  and  to  the  success  of  the  enterprise ;  Their  Ma- 
jesties being  unwilling  to  consider  a  different  course  as  good  service. 

XXII  Article. — Should  the  transgression  be  committed  between  indi- 
viduals of  one  nation  its  Commissioner  shall  punish  it  with  the  assistance  of 
the  adjoint  judges  appointed  near  him  by  the  chief  Commissioner.  And 
were  the  transgression  in  military  law,  the  respective  Commander  shall 
punish  it,  in  case  the  Commissioner  were  not  a  military  man. 

XXIII  Article. — In  order  that  the  Commissioners  of  each  party  may 
have  a  fixed  rule  for  their  government,  the  chief  Commissioners  shall  en- 
close in  the  above-mentioned  regulation  a  section  of  penal  laws  determining 
the  punishment  to  be  imposed  to  all  persons  guilty  of  wounding,  murdering, 
or  injurying  another  by  deed  or  word,  according  to  the  degree  of  guilt.  And 
before  the  departure  of  the  parties,  said  penalties  shall  be  published,  as  well 
as  the  duty  of  its  severe  execution,  devolving  upon  the  Commissioners. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  said  Commanders  shall  be  secretely  advised,  not 
to  cause  the  application  of  capital  or  any  other  corporal  penalty,  but  in  case 
that  they  would  not  find  any  other  resource  than  a  ready  execution  to  avoid 
disorder  or  disturbance  between  both  nations,  bearing  in  mind  that  in  so 
distant  deserts  there  cannot  be  a  more  powerful  motive  of  inducing  the 
minds  to  any  grave  excess  than  that  of  seeing  one's  comrades  put  to  death. 
They  shall,  therefore,  recommend  very  particularly  to  the  Commissioners  of 
the  parties  that  in  all  those  cases  in  which  immediate  punishment  be  not 


—  68  — 

indispensable  to  act  with  the  delinquents  as  determined  in  XXI  Article. 

XXIV  Article. — Notwithstanding  what  is  determined  in  the  preceding 
articles,  it  is  the  will  of  their  Majesties  that,  should  the  chief  Commissioners 
observe  that  any  of  the  referred  providences  for  the  government  of  the  parties, 
remitment  of  the  criminals,  and  punishment  of  the  transgressions  might  have 
in  practice  any  inconvenience,  owing  to  the  character  and  situation  of  the 
countries,  they  shall  resolve  that  which  they  may  esteem  most  proper  to  re- 
press the  excesses  and  to  preserve  the  peace  and  union  so  much  desired 
by  their  Majesties,  to  which  effect  they  grant  them  all  the  necessary 
powers. 

XXV  Article. — The  following  points  shall  be  included  in  the  aforesaid 
ordinance  :  That  the  Commissioners,  geographers  and  other  expert  members 
of  each  party  shall  note  the  direcdons  and  distances  of  their  course,  the 
natural  conditions  of  the  country,  the  inhabitants  and  their  habits,  the  animals, 
plants,  fruits  and  other  products,  the  rivers,  lakes,  hills  and  other  circum- 
stances worthy  of  mentioning,  putting  by  common  agreement  names  to  those 
which  would  not  have  them,  in  order  that  they  may  be  pointed  out  in  the 
charts  with  all  clearness  and  they  shall  try  that  their  work  be  not  only  accur- 
ate concerning  the  demarcation  of  the  line  and  geography  of  the  country,  but 
also  profitable  with  respect  to  the  progress  of  the  sciences,  natural  history  and 
physical  and  astronomical  observations. 

XXVI  Article. — That  the  care  of  recording  all  the  referred  notes  be  dis- 
tributed among  several  persons  of  both  nations  according  to  their  skill  and 
inclinations  with  the  end  that  they  be  made  with  the  greater  accuracy  and 
with  less  labor. 

XXVII  Article. — That  daily,  at  noon,  the  geographers  and  astronomers 
of  both  nations  shall  take  the  altitude  of  the  sun  and  note  the  variations  of  the 
compass,  and  that  at  night,  when  the  time  and  other  circumstances  may  allow 
it,  they  shall  make  the  astronomical  observations  required  to  determine  the 
longitudes  and  verify  the  other  positions  of  the  earth. 

XXVIII  Article. — That  in  all  places  of  the  frontier  not  marked  by  rivers 
or  by  summits  of  mountains  and  falls  of  water  which  were  declared  in  the 
treaty,  they  shall  set  the  landmarks  or  signs  which  they  may  consider  more 
available  and  durable,  so  that  at  no  time  it  may  be  doubted  of  the  situation  of 
the  boundary  line,  whether  raising  mounds  of  earth  or  stone,  or  placing  the 
labored  landmarks  to  be  sent  them,  in  the  places  which  they  may  esteem  con- 
venient for  a  greater  clearness.  And  when  they  should  ascend  through  rivers 
along  which  the  line  is  fixed  by  the  treaty,  on  finding  two  branches  which 
may  join  the  same  river  they  shall  always  continue  up  the  stream  through 
that  which  would  carry  more  water.  And,  in  the  same  manner,  where  the 
line,  according  to  the  treaty,  were  pointed  out  by  some  river  which  is  to  be 
followed  down  the  stream,  should  it  happen  that  this  be  divided  into  two 
branches,  the  frontier  shall  be  continued  through  the  branch  which  would 
carry  more  water. 

XXIX  Article. — That  every  day  at  the  leisure  hours  they  assemble  and 
compile  said  remarks  into  two   diaries  which  are  to  be  remitted  to  the  two 


_  69  -      ■ 

Courts,  signed  and  certified  by  the  Commissioners,  astronomers  and  geogra- 
phers of  both  nations. 

XXX  Article. — That  these  astronomers  and  geographers  shall  proceed 
every  day  to  build  by  common  agreement  the  chart  mentioned  in  Article  XI 
of  the  Treaty,  including  the  region  through  which  the  line  may  pass  and  all 
that  they  should  come  to  observe,  or  upon  what  they  should  have  information 
worthy  of  credit  ;  but  they  shall  mark  on  the  chart,  by  means  of  a  line,  what 
they  would  have  examined  by  themselves,  from  that  which  they  happened  to 
know,  by  conjectures  or  from  report,  bearing  in  mind  that  everything  con- 
cerning the  frontier  is  to  be  surveyed  by  themselves.  Of  this  chart,  two  origi- 
nals shall  be  daily  worked  on,  without  ever  delaying  this  duty  for  the  next 
day  ;  and  each  party  having  ended  its  survey,  the  copies  which  shall  be 
agreed  upon  by  the  chief  Commissioners,  shall  be  drawn,  signed  and  certified 
by  the  Commissioners,  astronomers  and  geographers  of  both  nations,  that 
they  may  be  remitted  to  both  Courts  with  the  object  expressed  in  the  said 
Article  XI.  And  in  order  that  these  charts  be  more  intelligible  and  clear,  the 
chief  Commissioners  shall  care  that  all  be  drawn  out  in  a  same  scale  and 
foot,  so  that  the  space  of  an  inch  of  the  royal  foot  of  Paris  may  contain  the 
twentieth  part  of  a  degree  of  the  circle  of  the  equator,  which  is  reputed,  more 
or  less,  of  two  thousand  nine  hundred  Paris  fathoms,  six  thousand  five  hun- 
dred Spanish  yards  and  twenty-six  thousand  palms  or  two  thousand  six  hun- 
dred Portuguese  fathoms.  The  same  thing  has  been  advised  to  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  northern  part,  so  that  the  demarcations  of  one  party  may  corre- 
spond with  those  of  the  other  one. 

XXXI  Article. — That  the  Commissaries  avoid  disputes  about  the  survey, 
especially  if  they  be  over  affairs  of  scant  importance  and  rather  resolve  be- 
tween them  the  doubts  which  should  occur,  because  it  is  not  the  intention  of 
their  Majesties  that  any  part  of. the  work  be  left  imperfect  without  a  very 
urgent  motive,  nor  they  are  to  insist  over  any  small  portion  of  land,  provided 
that  the  line  be  left  traced  through  the  natural  limits  more  visible  and 
durable. 

But  should  they  fail  absolutely  to  agree,  on  account  of  the  extreme  im- 
portance of  the  point  in  question,  separate  charts  shall  be  drawn  out,  of  the 
disputed  place,  with  written  and  detailed  notes  of  their  reasons  for  doubt 
signed  by  the  Commissioners,  astronomers  and  geographers  of  both  parties, 
which  charts  shall  be  remitted  to  the  two  Courts  for  the  friendly  adjust- 
ment of  the  point  in  question  ;  and,  notwithstanding  this,  the  commission 
shall  proceed  to  establish  the  frontier  in  the  remainder. 

XXXII  Article, — Besides  the  referred  instructions,  the  chief  Commis- 
sioners shall  include  in  the  regulation  all  others  deemed  by  them  convenient 
for  the  most  suitable  expedition  of  the  commissions  and  in  order  that 
friendship,  union  and  good  government  be  maintained  between  them  ;  the 
allotted  survey  once  ended,  each  Commissioner  shall  point  out  to  those  of 
his  nation  the  way  through  which  they  are  to  retire. 

XXXIII  Article. — They  shall  pay  the  greatest  attention  to  the  storing 
and  transportatinn   of  the  provisions,  so  that  these  may  be  punctually  fur- 


—  70  — 

nished  to  the  said  commissions,  at  the  time  and  places  which  may  be  deter- 
mined. 

XXXIV  Article. — The  two  chief  Commissioners  shall  jointly  survey 
and  mark  out  the  place  on  the  sea  shore  where  the  division  of  the  two 
dominions  begin,  placing  there  one  of  the  labored  landmarks  destined  to 
that  object.  From  the  said  landmark,  as  a  fixed  point,  they  shall  proceed 
to  survey  and  mark  out  also  in  the  same  manner  to  the  northern  slope  of 
the  hill  of  Castillos  Grandes,  sur\eying  it  and  placing  if  it  were  necessary 
other  of  the  mentioned  landmarks,  in  the  places  which  they  may  deem  it  " 
fit,  to  the  summits  of  the  hills  by  which  they  shall  be  guided,  mindless  of 
the  direction,  from  the  highest  places  where  the  springs  of  the  waters 
descending  from  the  said  hills  flow  out,  namely:  on  the  side  of  the  domin- 
ions of  Portugal  to  the  banks  of  Lake  Merim  ;  and  on  that  of  the  domin- 
ions of  Spain  to  the  banks  of  the  River  Plate.  They  shall  in  the  same  man- 
ner proceed  to  survey  and  mark  out  personally,  all  the  rest  of  the  line  to 
be  followed,  until  the  last  spot  of  easy  access,  where  they  might  believe  it 
necessary  to  accompany  the  first  party.  And  as  the  creek  of  Castillos 
Grandes  is  to  be  used  in  common  by  both  nations,  they  shall  cause  it  to 
be  sounded,  surveying  and  noting  not  only  its  capacity,  but  also  the  islands 
or  banks  of  the  same  creek  with  all  accuracy  and  minuteness. 

XXXV  Article. — If  it  were  compatible  with  the  practice  and  execution 
of  what  in  this  instruction  is  recommended  to  the  chief  Commissioners,  that 
the  one  appointed  by  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty  pass  to  receive  personally 
from  the  Spaniards  the  eastern  territory  of  the  river  Uruguay,  and  that  the 
Commissioner  appointed  by  His  Catholic  Majesty  pass  to  receive  from  the 
Portuguese  the  Colony  and  the  settlement  of  the  River  Plate,  they  shall 
perrorm  it  in  this  manner,  trusting  its  government  to  the  person  which  Their 
Majesties  should  appoint,  and  in  defect  of  this  appointment  leaving  it  pro- 
visionally in  charge  of  the  one  they  may  like.  And  if  they  could  not  go 
personally,  they  shall  send  some  one  of  their  confidence  that  he  may  in 
in  their  name  receive  the  said  towns  and  settlements.  At  all  events  they 
shall  try  to  accomplish  their  commission  at  Castillos  Grandes,  and  they  shall 
determine  by  common  agreement  the  place  of  the  two  dominions  they  may 
deem  the  fittest  where  they  shall  establish  their  residence  and  live  together 
to  remit  the  provisions  and  decide  over  the  events  and  incidents  which 
should  arise  in  the  parties,  advising  them  of  the  place  where  they  must 
reside. 

XXXVI  Article. — And,  whereas,  it  is  not  possible  to  execute  the 
reciprocal  deliveries  in  the  term  of  one  year,  fixed  by  Article  XXIII  of  the 
Treaty,  on  account  of  the  indispensable  delay  in  the  despatch  of  this  expedi- 
tion, and  having  in  mind  the  many  preparations  necessarily  preceding  the 
execution  of  the  said  reciprocal  deliveries,  Their  Majesties  resolved  to  extend 
the  said  term  during  all  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-one, 
by  means  of  a  formal  act  signed  by  the  ministers  of  the  two  Crowns  and 
ratified  by  both  Sovereigns.  They  nevertheless  desire  that  they  be  executed 
before  if  it  were  possible.     And  if  bv  anv  events  on   sea  or  land  the  deliv- 


—  71  — 

eries  failed  to  be  made  during  all  the  referred  year  Their  Majesties  grant  to 
the  chief  Commissioners  the  faculty  of  extending  only  for  the  indispensable 
time  to  execute  them  ;  because  it  is  their  mind  that  nothing  may  suspend 
the  execution  of  the  treaty. 

XXXVII  Article. — The  vessels  to  carry  the  Commissioners  shall  be  at 
the  orders  of  the  chief  among  them,  and  after  the  said  deliveries  be  executed 
they  shall  choose  one  to  bear  the  news,  and  with  it  they  shall  send  the 
prisoners  to  the  two  Courts,  or  shall  vary  this  disposition  according  to  the 
orders  to  be  communicated  to  them  ;  and  the  work  being  concluded  they  shall 
all  retire  to  their  destination.  All  that  is  contained  in  this  instruction  shall  be 
executed  according  to  its  stipulation,  and  shall  be  now  approved,  confirmed 
and  ratified  by  the  two  Most  Serene  Kings,  the  exchange  of  ratifications  to  be 
made  within  the  term  of  one  month  or  before,  if  possible.  It  is  declared  that 
if  said  Commissioners  should  find  any  difficulty  in  any  of  the  points  of  this 
instruction,  or  should  find  a  way  of  carrying  them  to  execution  with  more 
facility,  or  should  find  the  practice  of  any  or  some  of  them  inconvenient,  in 
all  and  in  any  of  these  cases  they  shall  resolve  and  act  as  they  should  deem  it 
proper,  provided  that  the  principal  purpose  be  obtained,  which  is  that  of  exe- 
cuting the  treaty  with  sincerity  and  good  faith,  without  interpretation  or  excuse 
as  it  becomes  the  service  of  their  Majesties. 

In  faith  whereof,  and  by  virtue  of  the  orders  and  powers  which  we  have 
from  the  Kings  our  Masters,  we  sign  the  present  instruction  and  afifix  to  it  the 
seal  of  our  arms. 

Madrid,  seventeenth  of  January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty- 
one. 

VISCOUNT  TOMAS    DA  SILVA   TELLES, 
JOSE  DE  CARVAJAL  Y  LANCASTER. 


Separate  articles  of  the  Treaty  concluded  and  signed  the  se- 
venteenth of  January  of  this  present  year  of  1751, 
about  the  instructions  of  the  respective 
Commissioners  which  are  to  pass 
to  South  America.   (*) 

Madrid,  17th  January,  1751. 

I  Article. — Whereas  it  is  deemed,  in  the  religion,  good  faith  and  recipro- 
cal friendship  which  have  been  the  inviolable  rules  of  the  two  contracting 
Majesties,  that  the  delivery  and  guaranty  of  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento  and 
its  adjacencies  depending  only  on  the  obedience  of  a  Governor  which  must 


(*)    Coleccion  de  Tratados  de  la  Republtca  Argentina  etc.  previously  referred  to  Vol.  Ill, 
Appendix,  p.  LXI. 


—    72       ■ 

comply  without  hesitation  nor  reply  to  the  orders  by  him  received,  and  the 
deliver)'  and  security  of  the  territory  and  villages  of  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Uruguay,  depending  on  the  cooperation  of  so  many  and  so  numerous  armed 
Indians,  that  through  a  prejudice  whatever  might  resist  said  delivery,  shielding 
their  resistance  under  their  persuasion  of  the  necessary  appeal  to  the  Court ; 
all  these  considerations  being  deemed  of  justice,  to  the  end  that  the  treaty  of 
boundaries  and  cessions  be  in  this  part  executed  as  inviolably  as  its  nature  and 
the  intention  of  the  two  august  contracting  parties  may  require  it.  His  Catholic 
Majesty  shall  threaten  both  his  chief  Commissioner  and  the  Governor  of  Bue- 
nos Ayres  and  Montevideo  and  all  the  other  officers  and  subjects  which  he 
has  on  those  parts,  and  all  other  Indians,  with  his  royal  indignation,  were  they 
remiss  in  the  said  delivery  and  peaceful  security  of  the  villages  and  territories 
ceded  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal  ;  and  in  the  case  that  they  should  not  cause  to 
evacuate  and  should  not  evacuate  or  deliver,  in  good  faith,  without  delays, 
excuses  or  interpretations,  all  the  said  territory  and  its  villages  in  the  day  to 
be  appointed  to  that  effect,  so  that  there  may  estabUsh  and  fix  perpetually  the 
subjects  of  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty. 

II  Article. — To  the  same  purpose  His  Catholic  Majesty  also  commands 
to  the  said  chief  Commissioners,  Governors  _  and  officers  of  his  dominions  at 
that  part,  that  without  reply  on  their  part,  nor  entertaining  any  reply,  excuse 
or  delay  whatever,  they  may  make  use  of  the  effective  means,  and  even  of 
the  force  of  the  arms,  if  it  were  necessary,  in  order  that  in  accordance  with  the 
chief  Commissioners  and  officers  of  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty,  they  may  cause 
to  evacuate  the  said  villages  and  territory,  all  this  to  be  performed,  in  peace 
and  just  title,  towards  the  subjects  or  His  Most  Faithful  Majest)',  that  are  to 
settle  and  perpetuate  themselves  there  in  the  above  referred  manner. 

III  Article. — And  in  order  that  every  pretext  of  doubts  to  this  respect  in 
America,  may  cease.  His  Catholic  Majesty  herein  decisively  commands  to  his 
said  Commissioners,  Governors  and  officers  that  should  the  Indians  and  inha- 
bitants of  the  villages  and  territories,  oppose  such  difficulties  to  its  ready  eva- 
cuation that  even  said  Commissioners,  Governors  and  Spanish  officers  should 
consider  them  worthy  of  being  submitted  to  the  decision  of  His  Catholic  Ma- 
jesty, in  this  case  even  they  are  obliged  to  make  evacuate  said  villages  and 
territory,  and  place,  the  subjects  of  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty  in  peaceful  and 
perpetual  possession  of  all  in  the  aforesaid  manner. 

IV  Article. — These  separate  articles  shall  also  form  part  of  the  treaties 
themselves  to  which  they  are  to  be  adjoined,  and  they  shall  be  approved,  con- 
firmed and  ratified  by  the  two  respective  Monarchs  at  the  same  time. 

In  faith  whereof  and  in  virtue  of  the  orders  and  full  powers  that  we  the 
undersigned  have  received  from  our  masters  the  Most  Faithful  King  of  Portu- 
gal and  the  CathoUc  King  of  Spain,  we  have  celebrated  and  sign  the  present 
four  separate  articles,  so  that  at  all  time  and  in  every  case  they  may  form  a 
part  of  the  treaty  itself.  Signed  by  us  the  undersigned  in  this  same  day, 
and  to  which  we  affix  the  seal  or  our  arms.  Done  at  Madrid  the  seventeenth 
day  of  January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  an  fifty-one. — VISCOUNT 
TOMAS  DA  SILVA.— JOS^  DE  CARVAJAL  Y  LANCASTER. 


—  12,  — 

Treaty  extending  the  term  for  the  deliveries  stipulated  by  the 
Treaty  of  Boundaries  celebrated  the  13th  of  Janu- 
ary, that  it  may  be  extended  to  all  the 
present  year.     (*) 

Madrid,  17th  January,  1751. 

Whereas,  it  has  not  been  possible  to  conclude  the  agreements  required 
in  conformity  with  the  XXIII  Article  of  the  treaty  of  limits  celebrated  in  this 
Court  the  thirteenth  of  January  last  between  the  Most  Serene  Kings,  our 
Lords,  to  have  the  reciprocal  deliveries  of  the  territory  and  Colonia  of  Sacra- 
mento, and  of  its  adjacencies  ceded  by  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty  to  the  Crown 
of  Spain,  and  of  the  territory  and  towns  ceded  by  His  Catholic  Majesty  to  the 
Crown  of  Portugal  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Uruguay,  executed  within  the 
term  of  a  year,  but  on  the  contrary,  it  is  deemed  indispensable  that  a  further 
extension  of  time  shall  be  needed  for  its  easy  execution,  without  great  damage 
to  the  inhabitants  ;  we  the  undersigned,  in  virtue  of  the  powers  to  that  end 
received  from  said  Most  Serene  Kings  our  Lords  and  which  we  reciprocally 
communicated  and  acknowledged,  we  agree  and  adjust  that  the  term  be  ex- 
tended during  all  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-one,  so  that 
within  it  all  the  deliveries  may  be  performed  ;  it  being  well  understood  that  the 
Commissioners  of  both  Crowns  and  other  persons  which  are  to  concur  in  the 
execution  of  the  said  deliveries,  must  do  whatever  may  lie  in  their  power  to 
avoid  delays  and  attain  the  end  before  the  term  granted  ;  the  intention  of  Their 
Majesties  being  that  the  said  deliveries  be  performed  as  soon  as  possible. 

This  convention  shall  be  ratified  by  the  Most  Serene  Kings  our  Lords  with- 
in the  term  of  three  weeks  reckoned  from  this  date,  or  before,  if  possible,  and 
it  shall  punctually  be  observed  by  both  parties.  In  faith  whereof  \Ve  sign  and 
affix  to  it  the  seal  of  our  arms. 

Done  at  Madrid,  the  seventeenth  day  of  January  in  the  year  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifty-one.— VISCOUNT  TOMAs  DA  SILVA  TELLES.— 
JOS£  DE  CARVAJAL  Y  LANCASTER. 


Treaty  as  to  the  facts  of  the  Geographical  charts  which  are 
to   govern   the   Commissioners    entrusted   with   the 
survey  of  the  boundaries.   {**) 

Madrid,  17th  January,  1751. 
We,    the   undersigned.    Ministers   Plenipotentiaries  of  their  Most  Faithful 
and  Catholic  Majesties,  in  virtue  of  the  full  powers  which  we  have  communi- 


(,*)  Coleccion  de  Tratados  de  la  Repnblica  Argentina,  etc.,  previously  referred  to. 
Vol.  Ill,  Appendix  pag.  Lxiv. 

(*■'*)  Coleccion  de  Tratados  de  la  Republica  Argentina,  etc,,  previously  referred  to. 
Vol.  Ill,  Appendix  pag.  LXVII. 


—   74   — 

cated  and  acknowledged  reciprocally  to  our  satisfaction,  declare  that,  whereas 
we  have  been  guided  by  a  manuscript  geographical  chart  to  formulate  this 
treaty  and  the  instructions  for  its  execution,  a  copy  of  this  chart  is  therefor 
to  be  furnished  to  every  party  of  Commissioners  of  each  Sovereign  for  their  gui- 
dance, all  of  them  signed  by  us,  as  the  boundaries  are  explained  by  it,  and  ac- 
cording to  it,  we  likewise  declare  that  though,  which,  according  to  the  reports 
we  have  from  both  Courts,  we  deem  everything  marked  out  on  said  chart  as 
very  probable,  and  also  agreeing  that  some  of  the  territories  marked  out  have 
not  been  surveyed  by  persons  now  existing,  and  that  others  were  drawn  out 
from  charts  raised  by  trustworthy  surveyors,  but  possibly  wanting  the  skill  for 
the  correct  drawing  of  their  observations,  the  result  of  which  is  apt  to  be  some 
evident  deviations  of  places,  both  in  the  situation  of  the  mountains,  as  in  the 
source  and  courses  of  the  rivers  and  even  in  the  names  of  some  of  them,  be  it 
because  each  nation  of  America  used  to  give  them  different  ones,  or  on  some 
other  account,  the  contracting  Sovereigns  desire  and  agree  that  whatever 
variation  thare  may  exist,  may  not  prevent  the  course  of  the  execution,  but 
that  it  be  continued  in  everything  according  to  the  mind  and  intention  of  their 
Majesties  manifested  in  the  treaty,  and  especially  in  the  Articles  VII,  IX,  XI 
and  XXII,  according  to  which  all  is  to  be  punctually  executed.  And  we,  the 
said  Ministers  Plenipotentiaries,  thus  declare  it  in  the  name  of  our  Sovereigns 
and  in  virtue  of  their  orders  and  full  powers  we  signed  it. 

This  declaration  shall  be  ratified  at  the  same  time  and  term  than  that 
extending  the  term  and  the  instructions  and  a  copy  of  it  shall  be  given  to  the 
Commissioners  of  both  Sovereigns.  Done  at  Madrid  the  seventeenth  of 
January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-one. 

VISCOUNT  TOMAS  DA  SILVA  TELLES, 
JOSE  DE  CARVAJAL  Y  LANCASTER. 


Supplement  and  Declaration  of  the  Treaty  of  17th  of  January, 
by  which  the  instructions  of  the  Commissioners  which 
are  to  pass  to  South  America,  shall  be  governed.  {*) 

Madrid,  17th  Aprils  175 1. 

Whereas  it  was  found  that  the  abovewritten  treaty  required  additions 
and  explanations  in  order  to  avoid  all  future  difficulties  and  obstacles  likely 
to  arise  in  the  survey  of  so  vast  countries,  which  is  to  be  practised  in  places 
so  remote  that  it  shall  not  be  easy  to  occur  to  the  rectitude  and  forethought 


(*)      Coleccibn  de   Tratados  de  la  RepublUa   Argentina,  etc.,  previously  referred  to 
Vol.  Ill,  App.  Pag.  LXIX. 


—  75  — 

of  the  two  contracting  Majesties :  The  two  said  respective  Plenipotentiaries 
moreover  agreed  by  common  consent  that  the  treaty  abovewritten  should  be 
amplified  and  illustrated  by  the  under-expressed  articles,  so  that  they  may 
form  an  integral  part  of  the  same  treaty,  as  follows : 

I  Article. — With  respect  to  the  IV  Article  it  is  herein  established  that 
the  conferences  shall  only  be  between  the  two  chief  Commissioners,  without 
the  intervention  of  the  second  and  third  Commissioners  of  any  of  both  par- 
ties. 

II  Article. — It  is  added  to  the  same  IV  Article  of  the  said  treaty  that 
the  interview  that  the  two  said  chief  Commissioners  may  celebrate  the  first 
time  in  the  wooden  house  or  tent  therein  mentioned,  shall  coincide  with 
the  first  visit  between  them. 

III  Article. — The  III  Article  of  the  same  treaty  is  declared  to  be  of  the 
same  tenor : — The  two  respective  chief  Commissioners  shall  pay  the  greatest 
attention  to  the  supply  of  provisions,  transportation,  servants  and  other 
preparations  for  the  parties  of  the  sub-commissioners,  afterwards  treated 
of,  informing  themselves  carefully  of  the  places  and  of  the  time  at  which  it 
may  be  convenient  to  remit  them,  making  the  necessary  preparations,  so 
that  the  least  failing  be  not  felt  as  to  this  matter,  and  that  all  be  ready  at 
the  first  notice,  and  it  be  remitted  as  agreed  in  their  conferences.  And 
they  shall  give  the  necessary  orders  to  the  Governors,  the  Commanders-in- 
chief,  their  subordinates,  so  that  they  may  have  ready  the  Indian  soldiers 
and  negroes  of  service,  which  are  to  accompany  the  said  parties,  appointing 
by  common  consent  the  same  two  chief  Commissioners,  the  respective  num- 
ber of  the  men  of  war  and  service,  arms,  war  stores,  which  are  to  be  sent  as 
escort  and  for  convenience  of  each  of  the  above-mentioned  parties,  as  it  is 
determined  in  the  VIII  Article  of  the  same  above-written  treaty. 

IV  Article. — It  was  agreed  that  the  XVIII,  XIX  and  XX  Articles  of 
the  said  above-written  convention  be  reduced  for  greater  brevity  and  clear- 
ness to  the  precise  following  terms :  Among  the  persons  to  compose  each 
of  the  respective  parties,  the  two  chief  Commissioners  shall  appoint  the  one 
to  command  the  whole  of  it,  bearingin  mind  the  rank  of  their  Commissions, 
in  case  that  express  appointment  from  each  of  the  two  contracting  Majesties 
with  respect  to  each  one  has  not  been  made.  In  case  of  death  or  hinderance 
they  shall  also  appoint  by  turn  the  officers  to  substitute  one  another  in  the 
command  of  the  referred  parties. 

And  considering  that  the  two  Commissioners  appointed  to  the  second 
and  third  place  by  the  two  respective  Monarchs  must  go  in  the  second  and 
third  parties  as  chief  ones.  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty  and  His  Catholic 
Majesty  bestow  on  their  chief  Commissioners,  Gomes  Freire  de  Andrade  and 
Marquis  de  Val  de  Lirios,  all  the  power  and  necessary  authority  to  appoint 
in  the  said  two  parties  the  first  and  second  Commissioners,  were  they  not 
individually  appointed  by  both  or  by  any  of  the  said  Majesties,  said  Gomes 
Freire  de  Andrade  and  Marquis  de  Val  de  Lirios,  demanding  from  the  Gov- 
ernors and  officers  of  the  respective  dominions  of  America  the  remission  to 
their  orders  of  those  persons  they  may  consider  as  most  able  and  experi- 


-  76  - 

enced,    these   being   forbidden   to   excuse   themselves  under  any  pretext. 

V  Article. — The  XXXV  Article  of  the  said  above-written  convention 
was  also  explained  and  reduced  to  the  terms  contained  in  the  following 
words : 

In  case  that  it  were  compatible  with  the  practice  and  execution  of  the 
affairs  contained  in  these  orders,  and  that  the  two  chief  Commissioners 
should  be  disengaged  at  the  time  of  the  deliveries  of  the  eastern  territorj^ 
of  the  Uruguay  and  of  its  settlements,  and  of  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento  and 
of  its  adjacencies,  they  shall  proceed  personally  to  receive  them,  one  and 
the  other  party  appointing  the  Governors  they  may  choose,  provided  that 
Their  Most  Faithful  and  Catholic  Majesties  had  not  expressly  appointed 
them. 

And  should  they  be  unable  to  proceed  in  person  to  said  places,  they 
shall  send  persons  of  their  confidence,  so  that  the  acts  of  deliver}^  be  per- 
formed through  them,  and  the  government  of  said  places  to  remain  in  them 
inasmuch  as  Their  Majesties  should  not  otherwise  provide  with  respect  to 
said  governments. 

Nevertheless,  the  said  two  chief  Commissioners  shall  in  all  cases  en- 
deavor to  discharge  themselves  both  in  the  affair  of  the  three  said  parties  as 
in  all  what  they  are  to  execute  in  Castillos  Grandes,  and  to  change  their  resi- 
dences ;  that  is  to  say.  Gomes  Freire  de  Andrade  first  to  the  Colonia,  and 
afterwards  to  the  towns  which  would  be  ceded  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal, 
on  the  eastern  territory  of  the  Uruguay,  and  the  Marquis  de  Val  de  Lirios 
to  Buenos  Ayres,  Santa  Fe,  Corrientes,  or  Misiones  which  the  fathers  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus  have  on  that  part,  in  order  that  the  two  chief  Commis- 
sioners may  be  better  enabled  to  provide  upon  all  liable  events  and  acci 
dents,  and  to  remit  the  provisions  necessary  to  the  parties,  to  which  they 
shall  always  advise  of  the  places  of  their  residences,  so  that  in  any  contin- 
gency they  may  recur  to  them. 

Therefore  the  two  mentioned  Ministers  Plenipotentiaries,  in  use  of 
their  full  powers,  agreed  and  signed  at  Madrid  the  seventeenth  of  April,  of 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-one. 

VISCOUNT  TOMAS  DA  SILVA  TELLES. 

JOSE  DE  CARVAJAL  Y  LANCASTER. 


Declaration    signed  at  SSadrid,  dated  the    12tb   July,  by  the 

Plenipotentiaries  of  Their  IWIost  Faithful  and  Catholic 

IMEajesties   on   the   margins  of  the  geographical 

chart  which    served    for  the   adjustment  of 

the  Treaty  of  Boundaries  of  the  conquests 

of  13th  of  January,  1750.     {*) 

From  the  third  evidence  of  the  analytical  and  demonstrative  compendium 
of  the  notorious  errors  of  deed  with  which  the  Governors  of  Buenos  Ayres  pre- 


(*)      Colecci6n  de  Tratados  de  la  Repiiblica   Argentina,   etc.,    previously   referred   to. 
Vol.  III.,  Appendix,  page  LXXll. 


—  77  — 

tended  to  excuse,  before  the  Court  of  Madrid  the  violences,  the  hostilities  and 
lastly  the  war  that  the  General  Don  Juan  Jose  de  Vertiz  declared  against  the 
Portuguese  Governors  of  the  South  of  Brazil,  in  the  manifesto  published  by  him 
the  fifth  day  of  January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-four,  the  fol- 
lowing appears  : 

That  at  the  beginning  of  the  conferences  that  preceded  the  adjustment 
and  conclusion  of  the  Treaty  of  Boundaries  of  the  conquests,  the  two  Ministers 
Plenipotentiaries,  Tomas  da  Silva  Telles,  Ambassador  of  the  Most  Faithful 
King  and  Don  Josede  Carvajaland  Lancaster,  Minister  of  State  of  the  Catholic 
King  accorded  that  it  would  be  impracticable  to  proceed  in  the  serious  affair  of 
their  commission,  before  they  should  examine  and  reduce  to  a  demonstrative 
chart  what  countries  were  until  then  occupied  by  the  subjects  of  each  of  the 
two  Crowns,  so  that  according  to  the  demonstrations  of  the  same  chart  they 
should  negotiate  and  conclude  that  which  each  of  these  should  deliver  and  re- 
ceive :  That  in  fact  the  said  chart  had  been  drawn  by  engineers,  geographers 
and  skillful  and  well  informed  persons  of  both  nations  :  That  with  it,  before 
them,  the  said  Plenipotentiaries  had  continued  their  conferences  :  That  the 
same  chart,  having  been  by  both  well  examined  and  compared,  it  was  by  com- 
mon agreement  approved  and  agreed  to  by  the  same  respective  Plenipoten- 
tiaries, to  serve  as  guide  and  basis  to  the  said  Treaty  of  Boundaries,  the  con- 
clusion of  which  was  its  object  :  That  the  said  chart  was  legalized  and  per- 
petuated by  the  said  two  Plenipotentiaries  with  the  declarations  on  its  margin 
written  in  Portuguese  and  Spanish  by  the  two  respective  Secretaries  :  That  the 
said  declarations  were  signed  by  the  said  Plenipotentiaries  and  provided  with 
the  seals  of  their  arms,  for  perpetual  memory  of  the  authenticity  of  the  said 
chart,  and  to  be  kept  in  the  archives  of  the  two  contracting  Monarchs  :  That 
finally  two  duplicates  must  undoubtedly  exist  among  the  papers  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  State  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  Lisbon,  as  well  as  other  two  exchanged 
with  them  must  be  found  in  possession  of  the  respective  Secretary  of  State  of 
the  Court  of  Madrid. 


Declaration  IMEade  in  the  Portuguese  Language. 

This  geographiacal  chart  which  is  to  be  kept  in  the  Royal  Archives  of  Por- 
tugal, as  well  as  another  one  like  it,  which  is  to  be  kept  in  the  Royal  Archives 
of  Spain,  is  the  one  which  served  to  the  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  His  Most 
Faithful  Majesty  for  adjusting  the  treaty  for  the  fixing  of  the  boundaries  in 
South  America,  signed  the  thirteenth  day  of  January,  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  ;  and  as  on  the  same  chart  a  red  line  appears,  pointing  out 
and  passing  over  the  places  through  which  the  demarcation  is  to  be  made, 
which  line,  because  of  its  being  previous  to  the  Treaty  of  boundaries,  after- 
wards adjusted,  does  not  agree  with  it  inasmuch  as  it  passes  from  the  foot 
of  the  hill  of  Castillos  Grandes  to  find  the  springs  of  the  River  Negro  and 
following  it  along  until  entering  into  the  River  Uruguay,  instead  of  serching 
out  the  source  of  the  River  Ybicui,  according  to  the  said  treaty,  it  is  declared 


—  78  - 

that  the  said  line  only  serves  inasmuch  as  it  may  be  in  conformity  with  the 
said  treaty ;  and  in  order  that  at  any  time  it  may  thus  appear,  we  the  under- 
signed, Ministers  Plenipotentiaries  of  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty  and  His 
Catholic  Majesty,  sign  and  seal  with  our  arms. 

Madrid  twelfth  day  of  July,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty -one. 

VISCOUNT  tomAs  da  SILVA  TELLES, 
JOSE  DE  CARVAJAL  Y  LANCASTER. 


Declaration  IMIade  in  the  Spanish  Language. 

This  geographical  chart  is  a  faithful  and  exact  copy  of  the  first  one 
upon  which  the  Treaty  of  Boundaries  signed  the  thirteenth  day  of  January, 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty,  was  stipulated  and  adjuested.  And 
because  on  the  said  chart  a  red  line  is  found  pointing  out  and  passing 
through  the  places  through  which  the  demarcation  is  to  be  made,  it  is  de- 
clared that  the  said  line  only  serves  inasmuch  as  it  agrees  with  the  said 
treaty,  and,  in  order  that  at  all  time  it  may  thus  appear,  we  the  Ministers 
Plenipotentiaries  of  Their  Catholic  and  Most  Faithful  Majesties  sign  and 
seal  it  with  the  seal  of  our  arms. 

At  Madrid  the  twelfth  day  of  July,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
fifty-one. 

VISCOUNT  TOMAs  da  SILVA  TELLES, 
JOSE  DE  CARVAJAL  Y  LANCASTER. 


1761 


Treaty  concluded  between  the  Crowns  of  Spain  and  Portugal, 

and  signed  at  the  Fardo  the  12th  of  February,  1761, 

in  order  to  annul  the  treaty  of  Boundaries  which 

was  stipulated  in  the  year  1750.  (*) 

In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity:  The  Most  Serene  Kings  of 
Spain  and  Portugal,  having  observed  after  a  series  of  successive  experiences 
that  in  the  execution  of  the  Treaty  of  Boundaries  in  Asia  and  America, 
concluded  between  the  two  Crowns,  signed  at  Madrid  the  thirteenth  of  Jan- 
uary, one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty,  and  ratified  in  February  of  the 
same  year,  such  and  so  great  difficulties  have  been  found  that,  besides  their 
being  unknown  at  the  time  of  the  stipulations,  it  has  not  only  been  impos- 
sible to  obviate  them  to  this  date  on  account  of  their  happening  in  coun- 
tries so  distant  off  and  so  little  known  at  the  two  Courts;  but  it  was 
unavoidable  that  these  should  depend  upon  the  reports  of  the  many  em- 
ployees of  one  and  the  other  party  to  this  respect,  the  discrepancies  of 
which  have  never  been  brought  to  a  possible  agreement,  but  have  shown 
that  the  said  Treaty  of  Boundaries,  substantially  and  positively  stipulated 
to  establish  a  perfect  harmony  between  both  Crowns  and  an  unalterable 
union  among  their  subjects,  has,  on  the  contrary,  given  many  frequent 
motives  since  the  year  1752,  and  would  give  in  future  to  controversies  and 
disputes  in  opposition  to  those  laudable  purposes.  Acting  upon  this  clear 
understanding  of  the  case,  the  two  Most  Serene  Kings,  by  mutual  consent, 
and  preferring  to  all  and  any  other  interests  that  of  causing  to  cease  and 
remove  even  the  remotest  occasion  of  altering,  not  only  the  mutual   har- 


(*)  "  Coleccion  de  Tratados,  etc.,  de  la  Republica  Argentina,"  previously  referred  to, 
Vol.  Ill,  Appendix,  p.  LXXIX,  and  "  Collecgao  de  Tratados,  etc.,  de  Portugal,  etc.,  etc., 
Vol.  Ill,  p.  127. 


—  8o  — 

mony  and  good  correspondence  which  the  ties  of  their  intimate  friendship 
and  close  relationship  require,  but  also  the  conservation  of  the  most  friendly 
union  among  their  respective  subjects;  after  many  and. very  serious  confer- 
ences haviftg  been  held  about  this  important  matter,  and  after  having  been 
examined  with  the  greatest  care  everything  concerning  it,  they  authorized 
with  all  full  necessary  powers,  namely:  His  Catholic  Majesty  to  Don 
Ricardo  Wall,  Knight-Commander  of  Pena  Usenda  of  the  Order  of  Santia- 
go, Lieutenant-General  of  His  Royal  Armies,  of  his  Council  of  State,  his 
first  Secretary  of  State  and  of  the  Despatch,  provisional  Secretary  of  the 
War  Department,  and  his  General  Superintendent  of  Post  Offices  and  Mails 
within  and  out  of  Spain ;  and  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty  to  Don  Jose  da 
Silva  Pesanha,  of  his  Council,  his  Ambassador  and  Plenipotentiary  at  this 
Court  of  Madrid,  both  of  which,  after  having  reciprocally  exhibited  and 
exchanged  their  powers,  well  instructed  of  the  true  intentions  of  the  two 
Most  Serene  Kings,  their  Lords,  and  according  to  their  Royal  orders, 
agreed  upon  and  concluded  by  common  consent  the  following  articles : 

I  Article. — The  aforesaid  Treaty  of  Boundaries  in  Asia  and  America 
between  both  Crowns,  signed  at  Madrid  the  thirteenth  of  January,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty,  with  all  the  other  treaties  or  conventions 
which  as  a  consequence  of  it  were  eventually  adjusted  to  settle  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  respective  Commissioners  hitherto  employed  in  the  demarcations 
of  the  above-mentioned  boundaries,  and  all  that  in  virtue  of  them  may  have 
been  performed,  are  given  and  remain  in  consequence  of  the  present  one, 
annulled,  abrogated  and  cancelled  as  if  they  had  never  existed  or  been  exe- 
cuted; and  everything  concerning  the  boundaries  of  America  and  Asia  is 
restored  to  the  terms  of  the  treaties,  facts  and  conventions  which  had  been 
celebrated  between  the  two  contracting  Crowns  before  the  said  year  of  1750; 
so  that  only  the  treaties,  facts  and  conventions  celebrated  before  the  year 
1750  stand  henceforward  in  their  force  and  vigor. 

II  Article. — After  this  treaty  be  ratified,  the  said  Most  Serene  Kings 
shall  cause  authentic  copies  of  it  to  be  issued  to  all  their  respective  Com- 
missioners and  Governors  on  the  boundaries  of  the  dominions  of  Amdrica, 
declaring  before  them  said  Treaty  of  Boundaries,  signed  the  thirteenth  of 
January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty,  with  all  the  conventions 
which  of  it  and  on  account  of  it  followed,  as  cancelled,  abrogated  and  an- 
nulled; ordering  them  that  giving  as  null,  and  causing  to  cease  all  the  opera- 
tions and  acts  respecting  its  execution,  to  overthrow  the  monuments  erected  in 
its  consequence,  and  to  evacuate  immediately  the  lands  occupied  under  its 
shelter,  or  on  pretext  of  the  said  treaty;  demolishing  the  rooms,  houses  or 
fortresses  which  on  account  of  it  would  have  been  made  or  raised  up  by  either 
party,  and  declaring  to  them  that  from  the  very  day  of  the  ratification  of  the 
present  treaty  henceforth,  the  other  treaties,  pacts  and  conventions  stipulated 
between  the  two  Crowns  before  the  year  1750  shall  only  serve  them  as  rules 
to  conduct  themselves,  because  all  are  herein  renewed  and  restored  to  their 
primitive  and  due  force,  as  if  the  said  treaty  of  thirteenth  of  January,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty,  with  all  others  derived  from  it,  had  never 


existed;  and  these  orders  are  to  be  given  in  duplicate  by  each  Court  to  the 
other  for  their  guidance  and  most  ready  fulfilment. 

Ill  Article. — The  present  treaty  and  what  by  it  is  pacted  and  contracted, 
shall  have  perpetual  force  and  vigor  between  both  aforesaid  Most  Serene 
Kings,  all  their  successors,  and  between  both  Crowns  ;  and  it  shall  be  ap- 
proved, confirmed  and  ratified  by  Their  Majesties,  the  respective  ratifications 
being  exchanged  within  a  month's  term,  reckoned  from  the  date  of  the  pres- 
ent one  or  sooner  if  it  were  possible. 

In  faith  whereof,  and  in  virtue  of  the  orders  and  full  powers  that  we  the 
aforesaid  Plenipotentiaries  received  from  the  said  Most  Serene  Kings,  our 
Lords,  signed  the  present  treaty  and  affixed  to  it  the  seal  of  our  arms,  at  the 
Pardo,  the  twelfth  of  February,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-one. 

DON  RICARDO  WALL. 
JOSE   DE  SILVA  PESANHA. 


1763 


Convention  for  the  suspension  of  hostilities,  and  of  Boundaries 
in  America  concluded  between  the  G-overnor  of  the  Pro- 
vince of  San   Pedro,  Colonel   Ignacio    Eloy  de    IVEadu- 
reira  and  the  Spanish  G-eneral  Don  Pedro  Ceballos,  at 
the  town  of  Rio  Qrande,  the  6th  of  August.  ( * ) 

We  Antonio  Pinto  Carneiro,  Captain  of  Dragoons  in  the  service  of 
His  Most  Faithful  Majesty,  by  virtue  of  the  powers  that  have  been  confer- 
red to  me  by  my  Governor,  Colonel  Ignacio  Eloy  de  Madureira  and  Don 
Jose  de  Molina,  infantry  Captain  in  the  service  of  His  Catholic  Majesty,  by 
virtue  of  the  powers  that  my  General  the  most  excellent  Don  Pedro  Ceba- 
llos has  given  me, 

Having  assembled  in  consequence  of  the  suspension  of  hostilities  ac- 
corded by  Their  Most  Faithful  and  Catholic  Majesties  in  November  of  last 
year,  in  order  to  agree  and  declare  the  boundaries  of  either  party  in  this  fron- 
tier, until  our  respective  Courts,  acquainted  with  this  agreement,  shall  not 
take  any  other  decision,  in  order  to  avoid  every  motive  of  discord  between 
both  nations,  we  have  agreed,  in  the  name  and  with  the  approval  of  the 
chiefs,  upon  the  following  articles : 

I.  That  no  hostility  whatever  shall  be  practised  by  one  or  the  other 
party,  and  that  the  usual  good  correspondence  between  friendly  nations 
shall  be  observed. 

n.  It  shall  not  be  permitted  upon  any  motive  or  pretext  that  the 
thieves  or  vagabonds  that  would  steal  cattle  in  the  jurisdiction  of  one  na- 
tion, may  take  refuge   in  the  other,  but  rather  be  restored  to  the  injured 


(*)Coilecfiio  de  Tratados  de  Portugal,  etc.,  previously  referred  to,  Vol.  III.,  p.  202. 


party  that  should  demand  them,  in  order  that  justice  may  punish  them  in 
accordance  with  their  transgression  : 

III.  The  cattle  farm  called  de  la  Tratada,  placed  at  four  leagues  from 
that  of  del  Tesorero  on  the  northern  side  of  this  river,  shall  be  the  limit 
from  which  the  Spaniards  are  to  pass  farther,  the  posts  and  farms  in  the 
mouth  of  the  river  are  to  be  maintained  by  them,  as  well  as  its  bank,  on  one 
and  the  other  side  up  to  the  place  called  del  Tesorero  inclusive,  where  they 
have  a  guard,  and  on  the  part  of  the  Portuguese  the  one  established  at  the 
post  of  de  la  Tratada,  from  which  their  patrols  shall  only  pass  half  a  league 
to  the  mentioned  farm  del  Tesorero. 

IV.  Although,  this  post  of  Rio  Grande  being  under  the  exclusive 
dominion  of  Spain,  no  other  nation  can  trade  in  it ;  nor  any  vessel  go  in  or 
out,  without  the  permission  of  the  Spanish  Governor ;  nevertheless,  as  there 
are  two  Portuguese  brigs  up  the  river  from  before  the  amnesty,  they  shall 
be  permitted  to  leave  for  their  destination;  this  permission  not  to  serve  as 
precedent : 

V.  In  faith  that  the  present  convention  shall  be  observed  by  one  and 
the  other  party,  the  two  above-mentioned  Captains,  by  virtue  of  the  powers 
of  our  respective  chiefs,  signed  two  of  the  same  tenor  at  the  town  of  Rio 
Grande,  the  6th  August,  1763. 

ANTONIO  PINTO  CARNEIRO. 
D.  JOSE  DE  MOLINA. 


1777 


FRBLIMIZVARir    TRZSATIT 

About  the  boundaries  of  the  countries  of  South  America,  belong- 
ing to  the  Crowns  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  by  which  the 
places  through  which  the  boundary  line  of  their 
dominions  is  stipulated.  ( * ) 

San  Ildefonso,   ist  October,  1777. 

Don  Carlos,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  King  of  Castile,  of  Leon,  of  Aragon, 
of  the  two  Sicilies,  of  Jerusalem,  of  Navarre,  of  Granada,  of  Toledo,  of  Valen- 
cia, of  Galicia,  of  Mayorca,  of  Seville,  of  Sardinia,  of  Cordoba,  of  Corsica,  of 
Murcia,  of  Jaen,  of  the  Algarves,  of  Algeziras,  of  Gibraltar,  of  the  Canary  Is- 
land, of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Indies,  islands  and  main  lands  of  the 
Ocean  Sea  ;  Archduke  of  Austria,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  of  Brabant  and  of  Milan; 
Count  of  Hapsburg,  of  Flanders,  of  the  Tyrol  and  of  Barcelona  ;  Lord  of 
Biscay  and  of  Mohna,  etc.  Whereas  to  put  an  end  to  the  discords  which 
have  ocurred  between  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  Nations  on  account  of 
the  boundaries  of  the  dominions  of  both  powers  in  South  America,  twenty-five 
preliminary  articles  have  been  adjusted  and  signed,  at  the  Royal  Residence 
of  San  Ildefonso,  the  first  day  of  the  present  month  of  October  of  the  year 
of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven,  by  my  Minister  Pleni- 
potentiary Don  Jose  Monino,  Count  of  Floridablanca,  and  by  the  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  of  the  Most  Faithful  Queen,  Don  Francisco  de  Souza 
Coutinho,  which  articles  are  to  serve  as  basis  and  foundation   of  the  definitive 


(*)      Coleccid?i  de   Tratados  de  la  Republica    Argentina,   etc.,  previously   referred  to. 
Vol.  Ill,  Appendix  pag.  Lxxxlll. 

Collefao  de  Tratados,  etc.,  de  Portugal,  Vol.  Ill,  Page  ccxxx. 


—  86  — 

treaty,  which,  in  accordance  with  them,  is  to  be  formed,  prescribing  the 
Hmits  of  the  possessions  belonging  to  both  Crowns  on  that  part  of  the  world  ; 
the  tenor  of  the  said  preliminary  treaty  being  word  for  word  as  follow  : 

In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity:  Having  the  Divine  Providence 
stimulated  the  august  hearts  of  Their  Catholic  and  Most  Faithful  Majesties 
to  the  sincere  desire  of  bringing  to  one  end  the  disagreement  about  the 
boundaries  of  their  dominions  in  America  and  Asia,  between  the  Crowns  of 
Spain  and  Portugal  and  their  respective  subjects  for  a  lapse  of  nearly  three 
centuries  ;  in  order  to  attain  this  important  purpose  and  to  establish  perpetually 
the  harmony,  friendship  and  good  undestanding  which  befit  the  close  relation- 
ship and  exalted  qualities  of  so  high  Princes,  the  reciprocal  love  which  they 
profess  to  each  other,  and  the  interest  of  the  nations  that  they  happily  govern, 
they  have  resolved,  agreed  and  ajusted  the  present  preliminary'  treaty  which 
shall  serve  as  basis  and  foundation  to  the  definitive  one  of  boundaries  which 
is  to  be  committed  to  writing  in  due  time  with  the  details,  exactness  and 
neccessary  information,  by  means  of  which,  new  disputes  and  their  conse- 
quences may  be  for  ever  pre\ented  and  obviated.  With  the  object  therefore 
of  attaining  such  an  important  purpose  H.  M.  the  Catholic  King  appointed  as 
his  Minister  Plenipotentiary,  the  Most  Excelent  Don  Jose  Monino,  Count  of 
Floridablanca,  Knight  of  the  Royal  Order  of  Carlos  III,  of  Council  of  State 
of  H.  M.  and  his  first  State  and  Despatch  Secretary  General  Superintendent  of 
land  and  maritime  Post  Offices  and  of  the  Post  and  General  Post  Office  Revenue 
of  Spain  and  the  Indies;  and  on  the  part  of  H.  M.  the  Most  Faithful  Queen,  the 
Most  Excelent  Don  Francisco  Inocencio  de  Souza  Coutinho,  Knight  Com- 
mander of  the  Order  of  Christ,  of  H.  M.  F.  Majesty's  Council  and  her  Ambas- 
sador near  H.  C.  M.  was  appointed  Minister  Plenipotentiary,  both  of  which 
plenipotenciaries  having  exchanged  their  full  powers  and  found  them  in  good 
and  due  form,  agreed  upon  the  following  articles,  according  to  the  orders  and 
intentions  of  their  sovereigns: 

I  Article. —  There  shall  be  a  perpetual  and  constant  peace  between  both 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  nations,  both  by  land  and  by  sea,  in  every  part  of  the 
world,  with  a  total  oblivion  of  the  past  as  well  as  of  everything  done  by  both 
in  reciprocal  offence  ;  and  with  this  purpose  they  ratify  the  treaties  of  peace 
of  13th.  February,  1668,  6th.  February,  171 5  and  loth.  February  1763,  as  if 
they  were  comprehended  in  the  present,  word  for  word,  in  all  that  which 
should  not  be  expressly  abrogated  by  the  articles  of  the  present  preliminary 
treaty  or  by  those  to  follow  in  regard  to  their  execution. 

II  Article. —  All  the  prisoners  taken  on  sea  or  land  shall  be  thereupon 
set  at  liberty  without  any  other  condition  than  that  of  assuring  the  payment  of 
of  the  debts  that  they  would  have  incured  in  the  country  where  they  would  be. 
The  artillery  and  ammunitions  of  the  two  governments  since  the  treaty  of  Paris 
of  tenth  of  February  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty -three  might 
have  been  made  use  of  by  the  other  and  the  vessels  both  merchant  and  of 
war  with  their  cargoes,  artillery,  war  stores,  etc. ,  which  might  have  also  been 
seized,  shall  be  mutually  restored  in  good  faith  within  four  months  from  the 
date  of  the   ratification   of  this  treaty  or  before,  if  it  were   possible,  although 


-^f  - 

the  prizes  or  occupations  might  proceed  from  some  war  engagements  by  sea 
or  land  about  which  no  news  may  have  not  yet  come  and  which  are  to  be 
comprehended  Hkewise  in  this  restitution  as  well  as  the  goods  and  effects 
seized  together  with  the  prisoners  and  the  territories,  dominion  which  happen 
to  lie,  according  to  the  present  treaty,  within  the  demarcation  of  the 
sovereign  to  whom  they  are  to  be  restored. 

III  Article. — As  one  of  the  chief  motives  of  the  differences  between 
both  Crowns  has  been  the  Portuguese  settlement  of  the  Colonia  of  Sacra- 
mento, San  Gabriel's  Island  and  other  ports  and  territories  pretended  by 
that  nation  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  River  Plate,  navigating  this  river  in 
common  with  the  Spaniards  and  even  that  of  the  Uruguay,  both  high  con- 
tracting parties  for  the  mutual  benefit  of  both  nations,  and  in  order  to  assure 
a  perpetual  peace  between  both,  have  agreed  that  the  said  navigation  of  the 
Rivers  Plate  and  Uruguay  and  the  lands  of  their  two  banks,  northern  and 
southern,  may  solely  belong  to  the  Crown  of  Spain  and  to  its  subjects,  until 
the  place  where  the  River  Pequiri  or  Pepiri  Guazu  flows  into  the  aforesaid 
Uruguay  by  its  western  bank,  the  dominion  of  Spain  to  extend  along  the 
above-mentioned  northern  bank  until  the  boundary  line  which  shall  be  drawn, 
beginning  by  the  sea  side  on  the  brook  of  Chui  and  San  Miguel's  Fort  in- 
cluded, and  following  by  the  banks  of  Lake  Merin  as  far  as  the  sources  or 
springs  of  the  Rio  Negro,  which  springs  as  well  as  those  of  the  rivers  which 
flow  into  the  aforesaid  Plate  and  Uruguay,  until  the  entrance  of  the  Pepiri 
Guazu  into  the  latter  shall  be  left  exclusively  to  said  Crown  of  Spain  with 
all  the  territories  which  it  possesses  and  which  those  countries  comprise,  in- 
cluding the  aforesaid  Colonia  of  Sacramento  and  its  territory,  San  Gabriel's 
Island  and  the  other  settlements  which  hitherto  might  have  been  possessed 
or  pretended  to  posses  the  Crown  of  Portugal  until  the  line  which  will  be 
formed ;  to  which  purpose  H.  M.  F.  M.  m  her  name  and  that  of  her  heirs 
and  successors  renounces  and  yields  to  H.  C.  M.  and  to  his  heirs  and  suc- 
cessors whatever  actions  and  rights  over  said  territories,  or  possession  of 
them;  which  belongs,  or  might  belong,  to  H.  M..  F.  M.  by  the  V  and  VI 
Articles  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  of  171 5,  or  on  any  other  manner. 

IV  Article. — In  order  to  avoid  another  cause  of  discord  between  both 
Monarchies,  which  has  been  the  entrances  to  Laguna  de  los  Patos  or  Rio 
Grande  of  San  Pedro,  following  afterwards  its  springs  up  to  the  River  Ya- 
cuy,  both  banks  of  which  and  its  navigation  have  been  claimed  as  their 
property  by  both  Crowns.  Their  Majesties  have  now  agreed  that  said  en- 
trance and  navigation  must  exclusively  remain  to  Portugal;  its  dominion  to 
extend  through  the  southern  bank  until  the  brook  Tahim,  following  the 
shores  of  the  Laguna  de  la  Manguera  in  a  straight  line  to  the  sea,  and  by 
the  side  of  the  continent  the  line  shall  run  from  the  borders  of  the  aforesaid 
Lake  of  Merin  through  the  first  southern  brook  flowing  into  its  drain  or 
channel  and  running  nearest  to  the  Portuguese  Fort  of  San  Gonzalo,  from 
which,  withtout  trespassing  the  limit  of  the  aforesaid  brook,  the  dominion 
of  Portugal  shall  extend  by  the  sources  of  the  rivers  running  towards  the 
aforesaid  Rio  Grande  and  Yacuy  until  that,  passing  over  those  of  rivers  Ara- 


ncu  and  Coyacui  which  shall  remain  on  the  side  of  Portugal,  and  that  of  the 
Rivers  Piratini  and  Ybimini  which  shall  remain  on  the  side  of  Spain,  a  line 
be  drawn  which  shall  cover  the  Portuguese  settlements  up  to  the  draining 
of  the  River  Pepiri  Guazu  into  the  Uruguay  and  shall  likewise  save  and 
cover  the  Spanish  Missions  and  settlements  of  said  Uruguay  which  must  re- 
main in  the  present  state  in  which  they  belong  to  the  Crown  of  Spain ;  the 
Commissionres  which  are  to  carry  into  execution  this  divisor}^  line  being 
recommended  to  follow  all  along  of  it  the  directions  of  the  mountains 
through  their  summits,  or  those  of  the  rivers,  where  these  would  be  used ; 
and  that  the  fall  of  the  aforesaid  rivers  and  their  sources  may  serve  as  land- 
marks to  both  dominions  whenever  this  were  possible,  so  that  the  rivers 
which  may  rise  in  one  of  the  dominions  and  run  towards  it  may  remain  from 
their  sources  in  favor  of  that  dominion,  which  can  be  better  done  in  the  line 
which  will  run  from  Lake  Merin  to  the  River  Pepiri  Guazu  in  which  place 
there  are  not  large  rivers  to  cross  over  from  one  to  the  other  land,  because, 
where  they  should  exist,  it  shall  not  be  possible  to  employ  this  method  as  it 
is  well  known,  following  then  that  which  in  the  respective  cases  is  expressed 
in  other  articles  of  this  treaty,  in  order  to  save  the  principal  dependencies 
and  possessions  of  both  Crowns,  H.  C.  M.  in  his  name  and  that  of  his  heirs 
and  successors  cedes  in  favor  of  H.  M.  F.  M.  of  her  heirs  and  successors 
all  and  whatever  rights  that  might  belong  to  him,  to  the  territories  which 
according  to  what  has  been  explained  in  this  article,  must  belong  to  the 
Crown  of  Portugal. 

V  Article. — According  to  what  has  been  stipulated  in  the  preceding 
articles,  the  Lagunas  de  Merim  and  de  la  Manguera  and  the  arms  of  land 
lying  between  them  and  the  sea  shore  shall  remain  as  reserved  between  the 
dominions  of  both  Crowns,  without  being  occupied  by  either  nation,  but  to 
be  left  as  a  dividing  line,  so  that  the  Spaniards  may  pass  over  the  brooks  of 
Chui  and  San  Miguel  towards  the  northern  pait,  nor  the  Portuguese  the 
brook  of  Tahim  in  a  straight  line  to  the  sea  towards  the  southern  part ;  H. 
M.  F.  M.  renouncing  in  her  name  and  in  that  of  her  heirs  and  successors  in 
favor  of  the  Crown  of  Spain  and  of  this  division,  whatever  rights  she  may 
have  to  the  guards  of  Chui  and  its  district,  to  the  bar  of  Castillos  Grandes, 
to  the  Fort  of  San  Miguel  and  to  all  the  rest  comprised  in  them. 

VI  Article.  —In  accordance  with  that  which  has  been  established  in  the 
preceding  article,  a  sufficient  space  between  the  boundaries  of  both  nations, 
which  may  not  be  of  the  same  width  as  that  of  the  aforesaid  lakes, 
shall  be  reserved  in  the  remainder  of  the  divisory  line,  not  only  up  to  the 
flowing  of  the  river  Pepiri  Guazu  into  the  Uruguay,  but  also  in  the  advance 
which  will  be  specified  in  the  following  articles ;  in  which  space  no  towns  shall 
be  built  by  either  party,  nor  fortresses,  guards  or  posts  of  troops  be  con- 
structed ;  said  spaces  to  be  thus  neutral,  and  said  landmarks  and  signals  to 
be  placed  that  they  may  point  out  to  the  subjects  of  either  nation  the  place 
from  which  they  shall  not  pass,  to  which  end  the  lakes  and  rivers  that  may 
serve  as  a  set  and  indelible  boundary  shall  be  searched  out  and  in  their  de- 
fault the  summits  of  the  main  mountains,  these  and  their  brows  remaining 


A 


-  89  - 

ds  the  divisory  neutral  bound  where  neither  nation  shall  be  permitted  to 
enter,  to  settle,  to  build  or  to  raise  forts. 

VII  Article. — The  Portuguese  inhabitants  which  should  exist  in  the 
Colonia  of  Sacramento,  the  island  of  San  Gabriel  and  whatever  settlements 
which  are  ceded  to  Spain  by  the  III  Article  and  all  those  that  from  the  first 
contentions  of  the  year  1762  should  have  remained  under  different  domi- 
nion, shall  be  at  liberty  to  retire  or  stay  there  with  their  effects  and  furni- 
ture, said  inhabitants  as  well  as  the  Governor,  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
garrison  of  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento  which  are  to  retire  being  entitled  to 
sell  their  landed  property;  the  artillery,  arms  and  ammunitions  which  should 
have  belonged  to  her  in  the  said  colony  and  settlements  to  be  delivered  to 
H.  M.  F.  M.  The  same  liberty  and  rights  shall  be  enjoyed  by  the  Spanish 
inhabitants,  officers  and  soldiers,  should  they  exist  in  any  of  the  settlements 
ceded  or  renounced  in  favor  of  the  Crown  of  Portugal  by  IV  Article ;  all 
the  artillery  and  ammunitions  existing  at  the  time  of  the  last  invasion  of  the 
Portuguese  into  the  Rio  Grande  of  San  Pedro,  its  villages,  guards  and  posts 
on  either  bank  shall  be  restored  to  H.  C.  M.  excepting  that  portion  of  it 
held  by  seizure,  and  belonging  to  the  Portuguese  at  the  time  of  the  entrance 
of  the  Spaniards  into  those  settlements  about  the  year  of  1762.  This  rule 
shall  be  observed  reciprocally  in  every  one  of  the  other  cessions  to  be  ex- 
pressed in  this  treaty  adjusted  to  establish  the  dependencies  of  both  Crowns 
and  their  respective  boundaries. 

VIII  Articles. — The  possessions  of  both  Crowns  up  to  the  entrance  of  the 
river  Pequiri  or  Pepiri  Guazu  into  the  Uruguay,  having  been  already  pointed 
out,  the  High  Contracting  Parties  have  agreed  that  the  boundary  line  shall 
follow  against  the  stream  of  the  aforesaid  Pepiri  until  its  main  source  and 
thence  by  the  highest  ground,  according  to  the  rules  stated  in  the  VI 
Article,  shall  continue  to  find  the  waters  of  the  River  San  Antonio  which 
drains  into  the  Grande  of  Curitiba,  otherwise  called  Yguazu,  following  said 
river  down  stream  until  its  entrance  into  the  Parana  on  its  eastern  bank,  and 
then  following  against  the  stream  of  the  same  Parana  until  its  place  of  con- 
fluence with  the  river  Ygurei  on  its  western  bank. 

rX  Article. — From  the  mouth  or  entrance  of  the  Ygurei  the  line  shall 
continue  against  the  stream  until  its  main  source  ;  and  from  it  a  straight  line 
shall  be  drawn  through  ^  the  highest  ground,  according  to  what  has  been  sti- 
pulated by  the  said  VI  Article,  until  finding  the  head  source  or  spring  of  the 
river  next  to  its  eastern  bank,  which  shall  perhaps  be  the  one  called  Corrien- 
tes  ;  and  then  the  line  shall  descend  through  the  waters  of  this  river  until  its 
entrance  into  the  said  Paraguay,  from  which  mouth  it  shall  ascend  through 
the  main  channel  which  this  river  leaves  in  dry  weather,  shall  then  follow  its 
waters  until  it  finds  the  swamps  formed  by  the  river  called  the  Laguna  de  los 
Xarayes,  and  shall  cross  this  lake  until  the  mouth  of  the  river  Jauru. 

X  Article. —  From  the  mouth  of  the  Jauru  on  the  western  side,  the 
frontier  shall  continue  in  a  straight  line  until  the  southern  bank  of  the  river 
Guapore  or  Itenes,  opposite  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Sarare,  which  flows 
into  the  said  Guapore  by  its  northern  bank ;  but  should  the  Commissioners 


—  90  — 

entrusted  with  the  settlement  of  the  boundaries  and  the  execution  of  those' 
articles  find  at  the  time  of  surveying  the  country  between  the  rivers  Jauru 
and  Guapore,  other  rivers  or  natural  boundaries  through  which  more  con- 
veniently and  with  greater  security  the  line  on  that  place  can  be  marked 
out,  always  saving  the  navigation  of  the  Jauru  which  must  belong  exclusi- 
vely to  the  Portuguese,  as  the  route  that  they  use  from  Cuyaba  to  Matto- 
grosso,  the  two  high  contracting  Parties  consent  and  approve  that  it  be 
thus  established  without  paying  attention  to  any  larger  or  smaller  portion 
of  land  which  may  lie  to  one  or  the  other  side.  From  the  place  to  be 
marked  out  on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Guapore  as  the  end  of  the  line,  as 
it  has  been  explained,  the  frontier  shall  descend  through  all  the  stream  of 
the  river  Guapore  down  to  its  union  with  the  river  Mamore  that  has  its 
source  in  the  province  of  Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra  and  Crosses  over  the  Mis- 
sion of  the  Moxos,  forming  together  the  river  called  de  la  Madera,  which 
flows  into  the  Maraiion  or  Amazons  by  its  eastern  bank. 

XI.  Article. —  The  line  shall  descend  through  the  waters  of  these  two 
rivers,  Guapore  and  Mamore,  already  joined  with  the  name  of  Madera  until 
the  place  situated  at  equal  distance  from  the  river  Maranon  or  Amazons  and 
from  the  mouth  of  the  said  Mamore,  and  from  that  place  it  shall  continue 
by  a  line  east-west  until  finding  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river  Jabari  which 
flows  into  the  Marafion  by  its  southern  bank,  and  descending  through  the 
waters  of  the  said  Jabari  until  the  opposite  place  of  draining  into  the  Mara- 
fion or  Amazons,  it  shall  continue  down  the  stream  of  this  river,  which  the 
Spaniards  use  to  call  Orellana  and  the  Indians  Guiena  until  the  most  west- 
ern mouth  of  the  Japura  which  drains  into  it  by  its  northern  bank. 

XII  Article.  —  The  frontier  shall  continue  ascending  up  the  stream 
from  the  said  most  western  mouth  of  the  Japura  and  through  the  middle  of 
this  river  until  that  place  where  the  Portuguese  settlements  on  the  banks  of 
the  said  rivers  Japura  and  Negro  may  remain  covered,  as  well  as  the  com- 
munication or  channel  between  these  two  rivers  which  the  same  Portuguese 
used  at  the  time  of  celebrating  the  Treaty  of  Boundaries  of  13th  January, 
1750,  according  to  its  literal  sense  and  of  its  IX  Article,  which  will  be  fully 
performed  according  to  the  state  of  the  matters  at  that  time  without  fnjur- 
ing  either  the  Spanish  possessions,  nor  its  respective  dependencies  and 
communications  with  them  and  with  the  Orinoco,  so  that  neither  the  Span- 
iards may  introduce  themselves  into  the  aforesaid  settlements  and  Portu- 
guese communication  nor  pass  down  the  stream  from  the  said  western 
mouth  of  the  Japura,  nor  from  the  line  pointed  out  to  be  drawn  on  the  Rio 
Negro  as  on  all  those  flowing  into  it,  nor  the  Portuguese  may  ascend  up  their 
streams,  nor  through  other  rivers  flowing  into  them,  in  order  to  pass  from 
the  refered  point  of  the  line  to  the  Spanish  settlements  and  to  their  com- 
munications, nor  to  ascend  towards  the  Orinoco,  nor  to  extend  themselves 
towards  the  provinces  settled  by  Spain  or  the  uninhabited  places  which  are 
to  belong  to  it  according  to  the  present  articles,  to  which  purpose  the  per- 
sons to  be  appointed  for  the  execution  of  this  Treaty,  shall  mark  out  those 
boundaries  searching  out  the  lakes  and  rivers  which  should  join  the  Japura 


—  gl- 
and Negro  and  lie  nearer  the  North  and  they  shall  fix  on.  them  the  place 
from  which  the  navigation  and  use  of  either  nation  are  not  to  pass,  when 
the  frontier  deviating  from  the  rivers  should  continue  over-  the  mountains 
lying  between  the  Orinoco  and  Maraiion  or  Amazons,  straightening  also  the 
boundary  line  as  much  as  possible  towards  the  North,  without  paying  atten- 
tion to  more  or  less  ground  which  may  remain  to  either  Crown,  provided 
that  the  expressed  purposes  be  attained  until  finishing  the  referred  line  where 
the  dominions  of  both  Monarchies  end. 

XIII  Article. —  The  navigation  of  the  rivers  through  which  the  frontier  or 
boundary  line  may  pass  shall  be  common  to  the  two  nations  until  the  place  in 
which  both  banks  might  respectively  belong  to  both;  and  said  navigation 
and  use  of  the  rivers  shall  exclusively  belong  to  that  nation  to  which  their  two 
banks  might  exclusively  belong  from  the  place  where  this  belonging  should 
begin;  so  that  the  navigation  shall  wholly  be  common  or  exclusive  as  the 
banks  or  borders  of  the  river  might  be  the  former  or  the  latter,  and  in  order 
that  the  subjects  of  both  Crowns  may  not  be  ignorant  of  this  rule,  landmarks 
shall  be  set  on  every  place  where  the  divisory  line  may  join  some  rivers  or 
separate  from  them  with  inscriptions  showing  the  use  and  navigation  of  that 
river  to  be  common  or  exclusive  to  both  or  to  one  of  both  nations,  said  inscrip- 
tions further  stating  which  nation  may  pass  that  place,  and  which  one  may 
not  under  the  penalties  established  by  this  treaty. 

XIV  Article. —  All  the  islands  lying  on  any  of  the  rivers  through  which 
the  line  is  to  pass  according  to  what  has  been  agreed  in  the  present  prelimi- 
nary Articles,  shall  belong  to  the  dominion  to  which  they  would  lie  nearest, 
in  the  dry  weather  and  season  and  in  case  that  they  be  situated  at  equal  dis- 
tance from  both  banks,  they  shall  remain  neutral,  unless  they  should  be  of 
large  extent  and  usefulnes,  in  which  case  they  shall  be  divided  by  halves, 
drawing  the  corresponding  line  of  separation  in  order  to  determine  the  limits 
of  both  nations. 

XV  Article. —  In  order  that  the  boundaries  suggested  in  the  articles  of 
this  treaty  may  also  be  determined  with  the  greatest  accuracy  and  that  all  the 
points  through  which  the  boundary  line  is  to  pass  may  be  specified,  without 
affording  room  to  the  the  least  doubt  in  future,  so  that  a  Definitive  Treaty 
may  be  agreed  upon  with  the  detailed  expression  of  the  whole  of  them.  Their 
Catholic  and  Most  Faithful  Majesties  shall  appoint  Commissioners,  or  au- 
thority shall  be  given  to  the  Governors  of  Provinces  in  order  that  they  or  the 
persons  which  they  should  choose,  these  ones  to  be  of  aknowledged,  probity, 
intelligence  and  acquaintance  with  the  country,  meeting  at  the  places  of  the 
demarcation,  may  point  out  the  said  places,  in  accordance  with  the  Articles 
of  this  Treaty,  grandng  the  corresponding  instruments  and  drawing  a  correct 
chart  of  all  the  frontier  which  they  should  survey  and  mark  out,  which  copies, 
authorized  and  signed  by  them  all,  shall  be  communicated  and  sent  to  both 
Courts  thereupon  placing  into  execution  all  that  in  which  they  should  conform 
and  submitting  to  a  provisional  agreement  and  expedient  those  points  in  dis- 
cord, undl  their  Courts,  before  which  they  are  to  inform,  resolve  by  mutual 
consent  what  they  should  esteem  convenient.     In  order  that  the  greatest  bre- 


—  92  — 

vity  be  attained  in  said  survey  and  demarcation  of  the  line  and  in  the  execu- 
tion of  the  articles  of  this  Treaty,  expert  Commissioners  shall  be  appointed  by 
both  Courts  by  provinces  or  territories,  so  that  all  that  has  been  adjusted  and 
agreed  may  at  the  same  dme  be  performed  by  parts,  the  Governors  of  both 
nations  at  those  provinces  to  communicate  reciprocally,  and  with  anticipadon 
the  extent  or  territory  which  the  Commission  covers  and  the  powers  of  the 
Commissioners  or  Expert  appointed  by  each  party. 

XVI  Article. — The  Commissioners  or  persons  appointed  under  the  terms 
expressed  in  the  preceding  article,  besides  the  rules  established  in  this  treaty, 
shall  bear  in  mind  in  regard  to  what  should  not  be  specified  in  it,  that  their 
objects  in  the  demarcation  of  the  boundary  line,  must  be  the  reciprocal  security 
and  perpetual  peace  and  tranquillity  of  both  nations,  and  the  total  extirpation 
of  the  contraband  trade  that  the  subjects  of  either  of  them  make  in  the  domi- 
nions or  with  the  subjects  of  the  other,  in  behalf  thereof,  attending  to  these  two 
purposes,  the  necessary  orders  shall  be  given  to  them  in  order  to  prevent  dis- 
putes which  may  not  directly  injure  the  actual  possessions  of  both  Sovereigns, 
the  common  or  exclusive  navigation  of  their  rivers  or  channels,  according  to 
the  stipulations  of  the  XIII  Article,  or  to  the  cultivation,  mines  or  pastures  that 
they  should  actually  possess  and  that  which  would  not  be  given  up  by  this 
treaty  in  behalf  of  the  boundary  line,  the  purpose  of  both  August  Sovereigns, 
being  that,  in  order  to  obtain  a  true  peace  and  friendship,  to  the  perpetuity  and 
intimacy  of  which  the-^  aspire  for  the  reciprocal  tranquillity  and  wellfare  of 
their  subjects,  attention  be  only  paid,  in  those  vast  regions  through  which  the 
boundary  line  is  to  be  described,  to  the  maintenance  of  what  each  one  may 
remain  in  possession  of  by  virtue  of  this  treaty  and  of  the  definitive  one  of 
boundaries  and  to  assure  these  so  that  at  no  time  doubts  or  discords  may 
arise. 

XVII  Article. — Any  person  of  either  nation  that  would  be  apprehended 
making  the  contraband  trade  with  persons  of  the  other  one,  shall  be  punished 
in  his  person  and  propeity  with  the  penalties  imposed  by  the  laws  of  the  nation 
that  would  have  apprehended  him,  and  in  the  same  penalties  shall  incur  the 
subjects  of  either  nation  for  the  only  fact  of  entering  into  the  territory  of  the 
other  one  or  into  the  rivers  or  the  part  of  them  which  would  not  exclusively 
belong  to  his  nation  or  be  common  to  both  ;  excepting  only  the  case  of  those 
arriving  in  foreign  port  or  land,  through  indispensable  and  urgent  necessity, 
the  complete  evidence  of  which  they  must  furnish,  or  that  they  should  pass  to 
the  foreign  territory  on  commission  of  the  Governor  or  Superior  of  their  res- 
pective country  to  communicate  any  official  letter  or  advice,  in  which  case  they 
must  take  with  them  a  passport  showing  this  motive. 

XVIII  Article. — In  the  rivers  where  •  navigation  should  be  common  to 
both  nations,  in  whole  or  in  part,  no  fort,  guard  or  register  is  to  be  raised  or 
constructed  by  any  of  them,  nor  the  subjects  of  both  Powers  which  should  sail 
them,  be  obligedto  bear  visits,  take  permits  with  them,  nor  be  subject  to  other 
formalities  ;  and  they  will  only  be  punished  with  the  penalties  expressed  in  the 
preceding  article  should  they  enter  into  foreign  port  or  land,  or  pass  further 
from  the  place  to   which  said   navigation  be  common,  in  order  to  introduce 


—  93 

themselves  into  the  part  of  river  already  pertaining  exclusively  to  the  subjects 
of  the  other  Power. 

XIX  Article. — Should  any  doubts  occur  between  the  Spanish  and  Portu- 
guese subjects  or  the  Governors  and  Commanders  of  the  frontiers  of  the  two 
Crowns  about  excess  of  the  boundaries  marked  out  or  interpretation  of  any  of 
them,  they  are  not  to  proceed  on  any  account  by  ways  of  deeds  to  occupy  land 
nor  to  take  satisfaction  of  what  might  have  happened,  but  they  shall  only 
communicate  their  doubt  to  each  other  and  accord  provisionally  some  means 
of  agreement,  until  the  due  information  having  been  laid  before  their  respective 
Courts,  the  necessary  resolutions  be  communicated  to  them  by  the  latter  of 
common  consent.  ^  And  the  transgressors  of  the  dispositions  of  this  article  shall 
be  punished  at  will  by  the  offended  Power,  to  which  purpose  its  dispositions 
shall  be  made  known  to  the  Governors  and  Commanders.  The  same  punish- 
ment shall  be  suffered  by  those  who  should  attempt  so  settle  in,  profit  by  or 
enter  into  the  border,  line  or  space  of  land  which  should  be  neutral  between 
the  limits  of  both  nations  ;  and  to  this  end,  as  well  as  to  prevent  in  the  said 
neutral  lands  through  all  the  frontier,  the  abetting  of  thieves  or  assassins,  the 
Governors  of  the  frontier  shall  take,  also  by  common  consent  the  necessary 
measures,  according  the  means  of  apprehending  and  of  extinguishing  them  by 
the  imposition  of  most  severe  punishments.  In  the  same  way  the  wealth  of 
that  country  consisting  of  the  slaves  which  work  in  its  agriculture,  said  Gover- 
nors shall  agree  upon  the  manner  of  mutually  delivering  the  fugitives,  their 
liberty  not  to  be  obtained  by  passing  to  a  different  dominion,  but  only  pro- 
tection to  save  them  from  violent  punishment  in  case  any  other  crime  com- 
mitted by  them  should  not  demand  it. 

XX  Article. — For  the  perfect  execution  of  the  present  treaty  and  its  per- 
petual firmness,  the  two  August  contracting  Monarchs,  animated  by  the  prin- 
ciples of  union,  peace  and  amity  which  they  desire  to  firmly  establish,  cede, 
renounce  and  transfer  to  one  another,  in  their  name  and  that  of  their  heirs  and 
succesors  all  the  right  or  possession  which  they  may  have  or  adduce  to  what- 
ever lands  or  navigation  of  rivers  that  by  the  boundary  line  pointed  out  in  the 
articles  of  this  treaty  for  all  South  America  should  rest  in  favor  of  the  two 
Crowns  as,  for  instance,  that  which  is  occupied  and  remains  to  the  Crown  of 
Portugal  on  both  banks  of  the  river  Marafion  or  of  Amazons,  on  the  part 
on  which  they  are  to  be  of  its  exclusive  dominion,  and  that  which  it  occupies  in 
the  districts  of  Mattogrosso  and  from  it  towards  the  East :  as  well  as  that  which 
is  reserved  to  the  Crown  of  Spain  on  the  bank  of  the  same  river  Maraiion  from 
the  entrance  of  the  Javari,  where  the  aforesaid  Marafion  is  to  divide  the  domi- 
nion of  both  Crowns  until  the  most  western  mouth  of  the  Japura  ;  and  in  any 
other  part  that,  after  the  Hne  pointed  out  in  this  treaty  any  lands  should  remain 
to  either  Crown,  said  lands  shall  be  evacuated  on  the  part  which  they  would 
be  occupied  within  the  term  of  four  months  or  before  if  possible,  subjects  of 
the  evacuating  nation  to  enjoy  the  liberty  of  leaving  them  with  their  goods 
and  effects  and  of  selling  the  landed  property,  as  it  has  already  been  stipulated 
by  Article  VII, 

XXI  Article. — To  the  end  of  consohdating  said  union,  peace  and  friend- 


—  94  — 

ship  between  both  Monarchies  and  of  extinguishing  every  motive  of  dissension, 
even  with  respect  to  the  dominions  of  Asia,  H.  M.  F.  M.,  in  her  name  and 
in  her  heirs  and  successors,  cedes  in  favor  of  H.  C.  M.,  his  heirs  and  success- 
ors, all  the  rights  which  she  may  have  or  adduce,  to  the  dominion  of  the 
Phillippine  Islands,  Marianas  and  others  which  the  Crown  of  Spain  may  pos- 
sess in  those  parts,  that  of  Portugal  renouncing  to  whatever  action  or  right  it 
could  have  or  promote  on  account  of  the  Treaty  of  Tordesillas,  of  the  seventh 
of  June,  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety-four,  and  of  the  stipulations 
of  the  deed  executed  at  Zaragoza  on  the  twenty- second  of  April,  one  thousand 
five  hundred  and  twenty-nine,  the  price  which  it  paid  for  the  sale  agreed  in 
the  said  deed  not  to  be  re-demanded,  nor  any  other  motive  or  foundation  be 
argued  against  the  cession  agreed  by  this  Article. 

XXII  Article. — As  a  proof  of  the  same  union  and  friendship  so  earnestly 
desired  by  both  August  contracting  Parties,  H.  C.  M.  offers  to  return  and 
evacuate  within  the  term  of  four  months  from  the  ratification  of  this  treaty, 
the  Island  of  Santa  Catalina,  and  the  part  of  the  continent  next  to  it  which 
should  have  been  occupied  by  the  Spanish  arms,  with  the  artillery,  ammuni- 
tion and  other  effects  existing  at  the  time  of  the  occupation.  And  H.  M.  ¥. 
M.,  in  correspondence  to  this  restitution,  promises  that  at  no  time,  be  it  of 
peace  or  of  war,  in  which,  as  it  is  to  be  hoped  and  desired,  the  Crown  of  Port- 
ugal shall  not  take  part,  it  shall  not  consent  that  any  foreign  fleet  or  war  or 
merchant-vessel  to  enter  the  said  port  of  Santa  Catalina  or  those  of  its  imme- 
diate coast,  nor  that  they  would  take  shelter  or  remain  in  them  especially  if 
they  be  vessels  of  a  Power  at  war  with  the  Crown  of  Spain,  or  that  any  suspi- 
cion may  arise  of  their  being  bound  to  contraband.  Their  C.  and  M.  F. 
Majesties  shall  promptly  cause  the  convenient  orders  for  the  execution  and 
punctual  observation  of  all  what  is  stipulated  by  this  Article  to  be  issued,  and 
a  duplicate  of  them  shall  mutually  be  exchanged  to  the  end,  that  the  least 
doubt  may  not  arise  about  the  exact  accomplishment  of  the  subject  which  it 
encloses. 

XXIII  Article. — The  Spanish  and  Portuguese  fleets  and  troops  now  pres- 
ent on  the  seas  or  ports  of  South  America  shall  retire  to  their  respective  sta- 
tions, those  to  remain  being  only  the  regular  ones  in  time  of  peace,  about 
which  reciprocal  instructions  are  to  be  given  by  the  General  and  Governors  of 
both  Crowns,  in  order  that  the  evacuation  may  be  performed  with  all  possible 
equity  and  corresponding  good  faith  within  the  brief  term  of  four  months. 

XXIV  Article. — In  case  that,  to  complement  this  treaty,  and  for  its  am- 
ple explanation,  some  article  or  articles  should  be  agreed  besides  the  above- 
mentioned  ones,  they  shall  be  considered  as  part  of  this  treaty;  and  the  high 
contracting  parties  shall  also  be  obliged  to  their  inviolate  observance  and  to 
satisfy  them  within  the  same  term  to  be  determined  in  this. 

XXV  Article. — The  present  Preliminary  Treaty  shall  be  ratified  within 
the  precise  term  of  fifteen  days  from  its  being  signed  or  before  if  possible. 

In  faith  whereof,  we,  the  undersigned  Ministers  Plenipotentiaries,  sign 
with  our  hands  in  the  name  of  our  August  Masters,  and  in  virtue  of  the  full 
powers  which  therefor  authorize  us,  the  present  Preliminary  Treaty  of  Boun- 


—  95  — 

daries,  and  sealed  it  with  the  seals  of  our  Arms.  Done  at  San  Yldefonso, 
the  first  of  October,  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven. — 
(L.  S.)  Count  de  Floridablanca. — (L.  S.)  D.  Francisco  Ynocencio  de  Souza 
Coutinho. 

Therefore,  having  seen  and  examined  the  said  Preliminary  Treaty  of 
Boundaries,  I  have  acceded  to  approving  and  ratifying  it,  as  in  virtue  of  the 
present  I  approve  and  ratify  it  in  the  best  and  amplest  possible  form, 
promising  upon  the  faith  of  my  royal  word,  fully  to  fulfill  all  that  it  contains. 
For  further  firmness  and  validness  thereof,  I  ordered  the  present  to  be  issued, 
signed  with  my  hand,  sealed  with  my  private  seal,  and  countersigned  by 
my  undersigned  Secretary  of  State  and  of  the  Indies'  Despatch,  at  San  Lorenzo 
the  Royal,  the  eleventh  of  October,  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-seven.—(L.  S.)  I,  THE  KING.— JOSEPH  DE  GALVEZ. 


1778 


TRXSATT  or  rRIEirDSBIF, 

O-uaranty   and  Commerce,    between  the  Sing-s  of   Spain  and 

Fortngal.    (Ratified  by  the  Sing  of  Spain 

on  the  24th  of  March.)  (*) 

El  Pardo,  nth  March,   1778. 

In  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity:  By  the  I  Article  of  the  Prehminary 
Treaty  of  Boundaries,  happily  concluded  between  the  two  Crowns  of  Spain, 
and  Portugal  and  their  respective  Plenipotentiaries,  in  San  Ildefonso,  on  the 
first  of  October,  of  the  last  year  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven,  the  Treaties  of  Peace,  celebrated  between  the  same  Crowns  in  Lisbon, 
on  the  thirteenth  of  February,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-eight,  in 
Utrecht  on  the  sixth  of  February,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifteen, 
and  in  Paris  in  the  same  month  of  February,  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  sixty-three,  were  confirmed  and  revalidated,  as  if  they  were  inserted  word 
for  word  in  the  mentioned  treaty  of  1777,  inasmuch  as  they  were  not  dero- 
gated by  it. 

The  two  treaties  of  Lisbon  and  Utrecht  before-mentioned,  and  which 
have  now  been  renovated,  have  been,  especially  the  first,  the  basis  and  foun- 
dation of  the  reconciliation  and  union  of  the  two  Monarchies,  Spanish  and 
Portuguese,  to  arrive  at  the  position  in  which  they  are  to-day,  the  one  with 
respect  to  the  other;  and  by  such  a  worthy  cause  both  treaties  were  warranted 
by  the  Kings  of  Great  Britain,  this  guaranty  being  formally  stipulated  in  the 
XX  Article  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  of  the  thirteenth  of  July,  one  thousand 


(*)      Coleccion  de  Tratados  de  la  Republica  Argentina.     Vol.  Ill,  App.  p. 
Collegao  de  Tratados  de  Portugal,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  268. 


-98- 

seven  hundred  and  thirteen,  celebrated  between  the  Crowns  of  Spain  and 
England.  But  just  as  the  above-rnentioned  of  Paris,  on  the  tenth  of  Febru- 
ary, one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty -three,  originated  by  the  XXI 
Article  and  others,  gave  rise  to  some  doubts  and  difficulties,  on  the  diverse 
interpretation  of  which  many  of  the  disagreements  in  South  America  between 
the  vassals  of  both  Crowns  have  been  based;  likewise,  other  articles  and  ex- 
pressions of  the  two  previous  treaties  of  Lisbon  and  Utrecht,  and  several 
points  that  since  then  remained  undecided,  and  which  until  now  have  not 
been  explained,  might  produce  in  future  equal  or  greater  disputes,  or  at  least 
the  obliteration  and  unobservance  of  the  agreements,  thus  originating  motives 
for  new  disputes;  their  Catholic  and  Faithful  Majesties,  desiring  in  conse- 
quence to  avoid  forever  such  risks  and  avoid  their  results,  have  resolved  by 
means  of  the  present  treaty,  and  to  comply  closely  with  the  mentioned  I  Arti- 
cle of  the  Preliminary  Treaty  of  1777,  to  give  all  the  consistency  and  explan- 
ation required  to  the  ancient  treaties  already  confirmed,  thus  establishing  the 
most  intimate  and  indisoluble  union  between  both  Crowns,  to  which  they  are 
naturally  bent  by  their  situation  and  vicinity,  the  ancient  marriages  and  rela- 
tionship of  their  respective  Sovereigns,  the  identity  of  origin,  and  the  recip- 
rocal interest  of  both  nations.  Finally,  to  carry  into  effect  so  plausible,  great 
and  advantageous  ideas,  the  High,  Powerful  and  Excellent  Prince  Charles 
III,  King  of  Spain,  and  the  Indies,  and  the  High,  Excellent  and  Powerful 
Princess  Mary,  Queen  of  Portugal,  of  Algarbes,  etc.,  agreed  to  name  their 
respective  Plenipotentiaries  as  follows:  His  Catholic  Majesty,  the  King  of 
Spain,  appoints  His  Excelency,  Don  Jose  Monino,  Count  of  Floridablanca, 
Knight  of  the  Royal  Order  of  Charles  III,  his  State  Councillor,  State  Secre- 
tary, Chief  Cabinet-Officer,  General  Superintendentof  Terrestial  and  Maritime 
•  post  and  post  roads  and  taxes  in  Spain  and  India,  and  Her  Faithful  Majesty, 
the  Queen  of  Portugal,  appoints  Don  Francisco  Incencio  de  Souza  Coutinho, 
of  the  Order  of  Christ,  of  her  Council  and  her  Ambassador,  near  His  Catholic 
Majesty,  both  of  which  appointees,  knowing  the  intention  of  their  respective 
Sovereigns,  after  having  communicated  to  each  other  their  respective  powers, 
and  finding  them  in  due  form,  have  agreed  in  the  name  of  both  Monarchs  on 
the  following  articles: 

I  Article. — In  conformity  with  that  agreed  upon  between  the  two  Crowns 
in  the  said  treaty  of  the  thirteenth  of  February,  of  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  sixty  eight,  and  especially  in  its  III,  VII,  X  and  XI  Articles,  and  in  am- 
pler explanation  of  them,  following  other  ancient  treaties  referred  to  in  said 
Articles  and  in  use  at  the  time  of  King  Don  Sebastian,  and  those  celebrated 
between  Spain  and  England,  the  fifteenth  of  November,  of  one  thousand  six 
hundred  and  thirty,  and  twenty-third  of  May,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
sikty -seven,  which  were  also  communicated  to  Portugal,  the  two  High  con- 
tracting Princes  declare,  for  themselves  and  in  the  name  of  their  heirs  and 
successors,  that  the  peace  and  amity  that  between  them  has  been  established 
and  that  shall  be  observed  between  their  respective  subjects  through  all  the 
extension  of  their  vast  dominions  in  both  worlds,  ought  and  will  be  in  con- 
formity with  the  alliance  and  good  understanding  that  existed  between  the 


—  99  — 

two  Crowns  in  the  time  mentioned,  of  the  Kings,  Charles  the  I,  andPhiUipthe 
II  of  Spain,  Don  Manuel  and  Don  Sebastian  of  Portugal,  Their  Catholic  and 
Faithful  Majesties  and  their  vassals,  lending  each  other  the  help  and  offices 
that  correspond  between  true  and  faithful  allies  and  friends,  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  one  procures  the  good  and  utility  of  the  other,  and  avoid  and  impede 
reciprocally  the  injuries  and  prejudices  in  all  they  know  or  understand. 

II  Article. — In  consequence  of  that  pacted  and  declared  in  the  preced- 
ing Article,  and  the  rest  that  is  expressed  in  the  ancient  treaties  that  have 
been  renovated,  and  the  others  to  which  they  refer  and  which  were  not  dero- 
gated by  those. following,  Their  Catholic  and  Faithful  Majesties  promise  not 
to  contemplate  the  one  against  the  other  nor  against  their  states  in  any  part 
of  the  world,  any  kind  of  war,  alliance,  treaty  or  council,  nor  to  allow  the 
entrance  to  their  ports  or  lands,  nor  the  direct  or  indirect  help  or  subsidies 
for  it  of  any  sort  whatever,  nor  to  permit  their  respective  vassals  to  do  so;  on 
the  contrary,  they  will  advise  each  other  of  anything  they  may  know,  hear  or 
presume,  to  be  directed  against  either  Sovereign  or  their  dominions,  rights  or 
possessions,  be  it  out  of  their  Kingdoms  or  within  them,  each  one  to  mediate, 
negotiate  and  help  the  other  by  common  accord,  to  impede  or  repair  recipro- 
cally the  injury  caused  to  either  Crown,  to  which  end  they  will  communicate 
mutually  and  to  their  Ministers  in  other  Courts,  and  to  the  Vice-Regents  and 
Governors  of  their  Provinces,  the  orders  and  instructions  they  may  deem  con- 
venient upon  this  matter. 

III  Article. — With  the  same  object  of  fulfilling  the  engagements  con- 
tracted in  the  previous  treaties,  and  the  others  to  which  they  refer  as  availing 
between  the  two  Crowns,  Their  Catholic  and  Most  Faithful  Majesties  have 
agreed  to  give  more  light  as  to  the  sense  and  vigor  of  them ;  and  in  engaging 
themselves,  as  they  herein  do,  to  the  reciprocal  guaranty  of  all  their  domin- 
ions in  Europe  and  adjacent  islands,  regalia,  royal  privileges  and  rights  which 
they  now  enjoy  in  them;  also,  to  renovate  and  revalidate  the  guaranty  and 
other  points  established  in  the  XXV  Article  of  the  Treaty  of  Boundaries,  of 
the  thirteenth  of  January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty,  which  will 
be  copied  at  the  end  of  this  one,  the  boundaries  therein  established,  with  re- 
spect to  South  America,  to  be  understood  according  to  the  terms  lately  stipu- 
lated and  explained  in  the  Preliminary  Treaty  of  the  first  of  October,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven,  the  tenor  of  which  Article  XXV 
is  as  follows: 

«  For  a  further  security  of  this  treaty,  both  high  contracting  parties  agreed 
«to  give  to  each  other  guaranty  for  all  the  frontier  and  adjacencies  of  their 
(( dominions  in  South  America,  as  it  has  already  been  expressed,  obliging 
((themselves  to  help  and  succor  each  other  against  whatever  attack  or  inva- 
((sion,  until  he  may  effectively  rest  'in  the  peaceful  possession  and  free  and 
(( full  use  of  that  which  he  was  intended  to  be  bereft  of  ;  and  this  obligation,  with 
(( regard  to  the  sea  coasts  and  neighboring*  countries,  on  the  part  of  Her  Most 
((Faithful  Majesties,  shall  extend  up  to  the  banks  of  the  Orinoco  on  both  sides, 
(( and  from  Castillos  to  Magellan's  Strait,  and  on  that  of  Her  Catholic  Majesty 
(( it  shall  extend  to  the  borders  of  both  banks  of  the  river  Amazon  or  Maraiion, 


«  and  from  the  mentioned  Castillos  to  the  port  of  Santos.  But  with  regard  to 
u  the  interior  of  South  America,  this  obligation  shall  be  indefinite,  and  in  any 
« case  of  invasion  or  insurrection  both  Crowns  shall  help  and  succor  each 
«  other  until  affairs  may  reach  a  peaceful  settlement.  » 

IV  Article. — Should  either  high  contracting  party,  out  of  the  case  com- 
prised in  the  guaranty  of  the  preceding  article,  of  being  invaded  in  his  or  her 
lands,  possessions  and  rights,  go  to  war  with  another  power,  the  one  not 
taking  part  in  said  war  shall  only  be  bound  to  keep  and  cause  to  be  kept 
through  his  or  her  lands,  ports,  coasts  and  seas,  the  most  exact  and  scrupu- 
lous neutrality;  reserving  for  cases  of  invasion  or  attempts  to  it  in  the  dominions 
warranted,  the  reciprocal  defence  to  which  both  Sovereigns  shall  be  obliged 
in  consequence  of  their  agreement,  which  they  desire  and  promise  to  comply 
religiously  without  failing  in  the  treaties  now  in  force  between  the  high  con- 
tracting parties  and  other  Powers  of  Europe. 

V  Article. —  Following  the  intentions  of  the  two  immediately  preceding 
articles,  although  by  the  XX  1 1  article  of  said  treaty  of  San  Ildefonso  of  the 
first  of  October  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven,  it  was 
convened  that  on  the  island  and  port  of  Santa  Catalina  and  its  neighboring 
coast  the  entrance  of  strange  fleets  or  ships  of  war  Or  commerce  would  not 
be  allowed  in  the  form  therein  given,  true  as  it  is  that  the  object  in  view 
was  not  to  fail  in  hospitality  in  cases  of  absolute  necessity  and  forced  arrival 
avoiding  the  abuse  of  contraband,  of  hostility  or  of  invasion  against  the 
friendly  Powers,  as  well  as  that  the  object  was  not  to  impede  the  entrance  of 
Spanish  ships  into  that  port  nor  on  the  coast  of  Brazil  in  nessesary  cases  nor 
to  deny  them  the  help  and  provisions  corresponding  between  good  friends 
and  allies,  with  due  regard  to  the  laws  and  prohibitions  of  the  country  in 
which  they  should  arrived;  Their  Catholic  and  Faithful  Majesties  have 
deemed  it  convinient  thus  to  declare  it,  so  that  by  this  declarations  all  that 
h^s  been  stipulated  in  any  other  part  on  this  matter  shall  be  undestood  and 
regulated. 

VI  Article. — The  stipulations  in  the  XVIII  article  of  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht  of  the  sixth  of  February  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifteen, 
celebrated  between  the  two  Crowns,  shall  be  strictly  complied  with,  and  to 
the  better  explanation  of  it,  and  of  the  ancient  treaties  and  conventions  of  the 
time  of  King  Don  Sebastian,  the  two  high  contracting  Princes  declare,  that 
said  conventions,  besides  the  crimes  it  specifies,  shall  comprise,  being  it  under- 
stood that  it  thus  comprise  then>  as  if  they  had  been  individually  named, 
the  crime  of  conterfeit  coining,  smugling  by  extraction  or  introduction  ot 
material  absolutely  prohibited  in  both  Kingdoms  and  desertion  from  the 
military  corps,  on  sea  or  land,  the  delinquents  and  deserters  to  be  extradicted, 
notwithstanding  that  from  the  punishments  to  be  imposed  on  this  last,  that 
of  death  is  excepted,  to  wihch  they  shall  not  be  condemned,  both  Monarchs 
offering  to  substitute  it  by  one  ndt  been  that  of  capital  punishment.  To 
facititate  the  quick  aprehension  and  extradiction  of  the  ones  and  the  others, 
both  high  contracting  parties  have  agreed  that  said  apprehension  and  extra- 
dition  be  executed  with  no   other  requisites,  whenever  they  should  be  asked 


—  toi   

by  the  Ministers  or  Secretary  of  State  of  Foreign  Affairs  either  of  Power  by 
official  note,  either  directly  or  indirectly  or  through  the  respective  Ambas- 
sadors of  both  Sovereings,  but  in  cases  in  which  the  surrendering  of  the  criminal 
be  demanded  by  the  Courts,  the  usual  formalities  in  this  sort  of  proceedings 
shall  be  observed,  from  the  time  in  which  said  peace  and  amity  became 
adjusted.  Finally,  should  Their  Cathohc  and  Faithful  Majesties  deem  it 
convenient  in  future  to  make  any  new  explanation  as  to  the  points  of  which 
this  article  treats,  specifying  some  other  precise  case,  they  rest  engaged  to 
give  themselves  communication  of  it,  and  to  come  to  a  friendly  agreement, 
their  stipulations  to  be  by  them  caused  to  be  obeyed,  as  well  as  all  .herein 
stipulated  to  the  fulfilment  of  which  they  shall  presently  issue  all  ordes 
required. 

VII  Article.  —  By  the  XVII  article,  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  already 
refifered  of  6th.  of  February  1715,  it  was  adjusted  that  both  nations,  Spain  and 
Portugal  should  reciprocally  enjoy  in  their  respective  dominions  of  Europe, 
all  the  advantages  in  commerce,  and  all  the  privileges,  liberties  and  exceptions 
until  then  conceded  or  to  be  in  future  conceded,  to  the  most  favored  and 
privileged  nations  among  those  trading  in  them  and  besides  that  which  is 
contained  in  said  article  it  was  agreed  in  a  separate  article  not  to  leave  any 
uncertainty  as  to  the  agreement,  that  commerce  between  the  two  nations, 
once  restablished  to  its  state  before  the  war  that  preceded  the  same  treaty, 
said  commerce  should  thus  stand,  until  the  agreement  on  which  it  should  run 
be  declared.  In  consequence,  therefore,  of  said  articles  and  of  their  having 
been  renovated  ,  revalidated,  and  ratified  in  the  I  Article  of  the  preliminary 
treaty  of  boundaries  all  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  Their  Faithful  and  Catholic 
Majesties,  have  promised  each  other  to  comply  with  and  to  observe  strictly 
and  specifically  the  text  of  the  mentioned  XVI  I  Article  and  the  separate  one 
as  it  literally  appears  from  them. 

VIII  Article. — To  make  the  delaration  reserved  in  said  separate  article, 
upon  the  agreement  or  manner  in  which  commerce  should  run  between  both 
nations,  Their  CathoHc  and  Faithful  Majesties  have  agreed  to  let  the  guide  to 
said  declaration  be  the  III  and  IV  Articles  ot  the  treaty  celebrated  between 
the  two  Crowns  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  February,  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  sixty-eight,  guaranteed  by  Great  -Britain,  and  equally  renovated  and  rati- 
fied in  the  I  Article  of  the  preliminary  Treaty  of  Boundaries,  as  far  as  they  were 
adaptable,  which  articles  are  to  the  letter  as  follows  : — 

«III  Article. — The  vassals  and  inhabitants  of  the  the  lands  held  by  either 
«  King  shall  live  in  all  friendly  correspondence  and  amity,  without  showing  re- 
«  sentment  for  past  offences  and  injuries,  and  shall  comunicate,  and  enter  and 
« frequent  the  frontiers  of  each  other,  and  use  and  practice  commerce  in  all 
((Security  by  land  and  sea  in  the  form  and  manner  accustomed,  in  the  time  of 
((the  King  Don  Sebastian. — IV  Article. — The  said  vassals  and  inhabitants  of 
(( both  parts  will  enjoy  reciprocally  the  same  securities,  liberties  and  privileges 
((Conceded  to  the  subjects  of  His  Most  Serene  Majesty  the  King  of  Great 
(( Britain,  by  the  treaty  of  the  twenty-thrid  day  of  May,  one  thousand  six  hun- 
((dred  and  sixty-seven,  and  another  in  one  thousand   six   hundred  and  thirty, 


I02       - 

« in  that  which  is  not  derogated  by  the  present,  in  the  same  form  and  manner 
«  as  if  all  those  articles  by  reason  of  commerce  and  the  inmunities  regarding 
« to  it,  should  be  herein  expressly  declared,  without  exception  whatever  of  any 
n  article,  changing  only  the  name  in  favor  of  Portugal.  And  these  same 
(( privileges  shall  be  made  use  of  by  the  Portuguese  nation  in  the  dominions  of 
(( His  Catholic  Majesty,  as  practiced  in  the  time  of  King  Sebastian. » 

IX  Article. — In  consequence  of  the  stipulation  of  the  preceding  article, 
all  the  referred  treaty  of  the  twenty-third  day  of  May,  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  sixty-seven,  celebrated  with  Great  Britain,  shall  be  common  to  both 
nations,  Spain  and  Portugal,  without  further  modifications  or  explanations 
than  the  same  that  may  have  occurred  between  the  two  Crowns  of  Spain  and 
England,  reserving  to  the  two  nations,  Spain  and  Portugal  the  applications  to 
them  conceded  by  ancient  privileges  of  their  respective  monarchs,  and  by 
them  enjoyed  during  the  reign  of  Don  Sebastian. 

X  Article. — As  a  complement  to  the  previous  articles  and  of  said  treaties, 
and  to  the  greater  precision  in  their  execution,  the  lists  and  custom  regulations 
of  the  twenty-third  of  October,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-eight  and 
others,  that  may  have  been  formed  for  the  collection  of  import  duties  on  pro- 
ducts and  merchandise  to  enter  Portugal  from  Spain  and  from  Spain  into  Por- 
tugal by  their  ports  of  land  and  sea,  will  be  revised,  and  by  common  agree- 
ment arranged,  amplified  and  modified,  according  to  the  tenor  of  said  treaties, 
proportion  being  kept  to  the  variations  that  time  may  have  caused  in  the 
names  and  prices  of  said  products  and  merchandise,  increase  or  decrease  of 
their  kind  or  specie  and  other  points. 

XI  Article. — In  said  lists  and  custom  regulations  the  prohibitions  shall 
also  be  specified  that  are  to  stand  about  the  introduction  of  some  goods  and 
fruits  of  any  of  both  Kingdoms  in  the  dominions  of  the  other;  and  Their 
Catholic  and  Faithful  Majesties  have  actually  agreed  that  among  said  prohibi- 
tions those  shall  be  abolished,  not  being  absolutely  essential  to  the  good  inter- 
nal government  of  both  monarchies,  both  to  keep  on  this  point  reciprocally  a 
consideration  alike  that  which  they  should  have  and  observe  with  others  of 
the  nations  most  favored,  so  that  all  particular  jealousy  shall  be  suppressed, 
and  the  articles  of  the  said  treaties  of  1667-1 668  and  171 5,  in  which  it  is  so 
capitulated  and  guaranteed,  shall  be  strictly  complied  with. 

XII  Article, — In  the  same  manner,  a  collection  of  the  privileges  which 
both  nations  have  enjoyed  in  the  time  of  King  Don  Sebastian  shall  be  gathered, 
and  said  collection,  authorized  with  the  usual  formalities,  will  be  esteemed  and 
considered  as  part  of  that  treaty,  as  well  as  the  list  of  custom  regulations 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  article. 

XIII  Article. — Their  Cathohc  and  Faithful  Majesties  desiring  to  pro- 
mote the  advantages  of  commerce  among  their  respective  subjects,  which  may 
be  verified  in  that  which  they  may  reciprocaly  make  by  the  buying  and  selling 
of  negroes,  without  binding  themselves  with  contracts  or  injurious  engage- 
ments, as  those  in  other  times  made  with  the  Portuguese,  French  and  English 
companies,  which  it  was  necessary  to  curtail  and  annul,  both  high  contracting 
Princes,  in  order  to  reach  those  and  other  ends  and  to  compensate  in   some 


—  I03  — 

manner  the  cessions,  restitutions  and  resignations  made  by  the  Crown  of  Spain 
in  the  preliminary  treaty  of  boundaries  of  the  ist  of  October  1777,  Her  Faith- 
ful Majesty  will  cede  and  cedes  for  herself  and  in  the  manner  of  her  heirs  and 
successors,  to  His  Catholic  Majesty  and  His,  to  the  Crown  of  Spain,  the  island 
of  Annobon,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  with  all  the  rights,  actions  and  possessions 
she  has  to  said  island,  so  that  it  should  from  to-day  belong  to  the  dominions 
of  Spain,  in  the  same  manner  in  which  it  has  until  now  belonged  to  the  Crown 
of  Portugal,  and,  in  the  same  way,  all  the  right  and  action  it  has  or  may  have 
to  the  island  of  Fernando  del  Po  in  the  Gulf  of  Guinea,  so  that  the  vassals  of 
the  Crown  of  Spain  may  establish  themselves  in  it,  and  trade  in  the  ports  and 
coasts  opposite  to  said  islands,  such  as  the  ports  of  the  river  Gabon,  of  Cama- 
rones,  of  Santo  Domingo,  of  Cape  Fermosa  and  others  of  that  district  without 
impeding  or  disturbing  by  this  the  commerce  of  the  vassals  of  Portugal,  espe- 
cially of  those  of  Prince  Island,  and  that  of  Santo  Tome,  to-day  trading,  or  to 
trade  in  future,  on  the  said  coast  and  ports,  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  to 
act  in  the  most  perfect  harmony,  without  any  cause  or  pretext  to  harm  each 
other. 

XIV  Article. — All  Spanish  vessels,  whether  men-of-war  or  ships  of  com- 
merce, to  stop  at  Prince  Island,  or  that  of  Santo  Tome,  belonging  to  the  Crown 
of  Portugal,  to  rest  their  crews  or  take  in  victuals  or  other  necessary  effects, 
shall  be  received  and  treated  in  said  islands,  as  if  belonging  to  the  most  favored 
nations  :  and  the  same  will  be  done  with  the  Portuguese  ships  of  war  or .  of 
commerce  going  to  the  island  of  Annobon  or  of  Fernando  del  Po  belonging 
to  His  Catholic  Majesty. 

XV  Article. — Besides  the  help  to  be  reciprocally  lent  by  both  nations, 
Spain  and  Portugal,  in  said  islands  of  Annobon  and  Fernando  del  Po  and  in 
those  of  Santo  Tome  and  Prince,  Their  Catholic  and  Most  Faithful  Majesties 
have  agreed  that  between  the  subjects  of  both  Sovereigns  a  free  and  open 
traffic  may  be  carried  on,  and  in  case  that  Portugal  should  bring  them  to  said 
islands  of  Annobon  and  Fernando  del  Po,  they  will  be  bought  and  paid  quickly 
and  exactly,  as  long  as  the  prices  are  conventional  and  proportioned  to  the 
quality  of  the  slaves,  without  exceeding  those  usual  with  other  nations  in  sim- 
ilar sales  and  places. 

XVI  Article. — His  Catholic  Majesty  equally  agrees  that  the  leaf  tobacco 
to  be  sold  for  the. commerce  of  said  islands  and  immediate  coasts  of  Africa, 
will  be  for  a  period  of  four  years,  of  that  produced  in  the  Brazilian  dominions; 
to  which  end  a  formal  contract  will  be  arranged  with  a  person  or  persons,  de- 
signated by  the  Court  of  Lisbon,  to  which  the  quantity  of  tobacco,  price  and 
other  details  belonging  to  the  point  shall  be  specified;  and  after  said  four  years, 
it  will  be  possible  to  treat,  with  greater  knowledge  of  the  prorogation  or  other- 
wise of  the  contract  that  should  afterwards  be  made,  and  to  apply,  modify  or 
enlighten  its  conditions. 

XVII  Article. — The  articles  of  this  treaty  or  some  of  them  being  of  pos- 
sible adaptation  to  other  foreign  Powers,  that  the  two  contraotinng  parties, 
might  find  convenient  to  invite  to  their  adherence.  Their  CathoHc  and  Most 
Faithful  Majesty  reserve  to  themselves,  the  agreement  on  this  point,    and  the 


—   I04  — 

right  to  settle  it  in  all  its  parts  to  the  reciprocal   advantage  of  both  Crowns, 
and  of  those  invited  or  who  should  desire  to  adhere  to  it. 

XVIII  Article. — Both  contracting  Princes  shall  take  care  to  publish  in 
their  respective  dominions,  and  to  make  known  to  all  their  vassals,  the  agree- 
ments and  obligations  of  this  treaty,  charging  the  greatest  exactitude  and  ob- 
servance in  its  execution,  the  trespassers  to  be  vigorously  punished. 

XIX  Article. — The  present  treaty  shall  be  ratified  in  the  precise  term  of 
fifteen  days  after  being  signed  or  before  if  possible. 

In  faith  of  which,  we  the  undersigned  Plenipotentiary  Ministers,  sign  by 
our  hand,  in  the  name  of  Our  Most  August  Masters  and  in  virtue  of  the 
Powers  with  which  we  are  invested  for  it,  by  the  present  treaty  ;  and  we 
seal  it  with  the  seal  of  our  arms. 

Dated  in  the  Royal  Site  on  the  eleventh  day  of  March  of  the  year  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-eight.— COUNT  OF  FLORIDA  BLAN- 
CA.— DON  FRANCISCO    INOCENCIO  DE  SOUZA  COUTINHO. 

His  Catholic  Majesty  ratified  the  preceding  treaty  by  instrument  executed 
in  the  same  site  of  Pardo,  the  twenty  fourth  day  of  said  month  and  year, 
countersigned  by  the  Secretary  of  State  and  despatch  of  Indies,  Jose  Galvez. 


18  12 


Reception  of  Bis  Hzcellency  Juan  Rademaker,  Envoy  Extra- 
ordinary of  His  IMCajesty  the  Regent  of  Fortug-al.     {*) 

Lieutenant  Colonel  Juan  de  Rademaker,  Envoy  Extraordinary  of  His 
Royal  Highness  the  Prince  Royal  of  Portugal,  arrived  yesterday  to  this  capital. 
He  was  received  at  the  pier  by  an  Aide-de-Camp  of  the  Superior  Government, 
and  was  conducted  to  the  Palace  of  the  fortress  where  proper  lodgings  had 
been  prepared  for  him.  At  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  Secretary  of 
State  paid  his  respects  to  him  and  announced  the  audience  that  the  Govern- 
ment granted  him  in  the  parlors  of  his  Ministry.  The  Envoy  went  inme- 
diately,  and  he  was  received  by  His  Excellency  with  the  greatest  demonstration 
of  consideration  and  esteem.  His  credentials  were  acknowledged  and  the 
interview  been  opened  he  stated  :  that  the  Royal  Highness  had  no  other  aims 
but  to  firmly  reestablish  the  relations  of  peace,  friendship,  and  good 
harmony  between  both  territories :  that  to  this  end  His  Highness  had  com- 
municated his  orders  to  General  Diego  de  Souza,  so  that  he  with  all  his  army, 
and  without  any  loss  of  time  should  retire  to  the  Portuguese  frontier :  that  he 
supposed  him  to  be  already  in  march  as  he  had  sent  the  communications  the 
previous  week  ;  and  that  in  order  to  draw  up  and  sanction  the  treaties  of  the 
negotiations  he  asked  in  the  name  of  His  Highness  the  Prince  Regent,  that 
the  hostilities  should  cease  between  both  armies,  and  that  the  retreat  of  the 
Portuguese  to  their  territory  should  not  be  obstructed,  at  the  same  time  he 
presented  an  official  letter  of  the  Ambassador  of  His  Brittanic  Majesty  near 


(*)  These  documents  are  published  in  the  National  Register  of  the  Argentine 
Republic,  year  1812,  under  the  numbers  329  and  363.  Copies,  legalized  by  the  Sub-Secretary 
of  Foreign  Relations  form  part  of  group  A,  No.  i  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  «  Ar- 
gentine Evidence.)) 


—  io6  — 

His  Highness  in  which  the  King  of  Great  Britain  offered  his  mediation  and 
guaranty  as  to  the  firmness  and  validity  of  the  treaties  which  be  celebrated. 
The  Government,  faithful  to  its  principles  and  in  order  to  give  a  positive  proof 
that  the  victorious  arms  of  the  country  have  no  other  purpose  but  to  humble 
the  pride  of  the  tyrants,  and  to  defend  with  honor  the  liberty  and  civil  inde- 
pendence of  the  United  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate  has  resolved  to  grant  the 
armistice  and  to  order  our  troops  to  retire  from  the  Portuguese  territories  in 
the  meantime  that  the  negotiations  be  concluded  and  the  treaties  be  ratified 
with  the  mediation  of  the  proper  authority,  who  will  inmediately  instruct  the 
people  for  their  knowledge  and  satisfaction. — Buenos  Ayres,  May  27th  181 2. 
— FELICIANO  ANTONIO  CHICLANA.— JUAN  MARTIN  DE  PUEY- 
RREDON.— BERNARDINO  RIVADAVIA.  —  NICOLAS  DE  HERRE- 
RA,   Secretary. 


Armistice  concluded  on  the  twenty  sizth  between  the  IKEost 

Xizcellent  Provisional  Superior  G-overnment  of  the  United 

Provinces  of  the  River  Plate  and  Lieutenant  Colonel 

Juan  Rademaker,  sent  as  Envoy  for  this  purpose 

by  His  Royal  Highness  the  Prince  Regent 

of  Portugal. 

The  Most  Excellent  Government  of  these  Provinces  having  heard  all  that 
the  Envoy  of  the  Royal  Highness  the  Prince  Regent  of  Portugal  had  proposed 
to  him  after  examining  his  credentials  and  necessary  powers  to  negotiate,  and 
after  sufficient  discussion  His  Excellency  concluded  with  the  same  Plenipoten- 
iary  the  following  treaty  : 

I  Article. — The  hostilities  between  the  troops  of  His  Royal  Highness  the 
Prince  Regent  of  Portugal  or  other  Portuguese  armed  bodies,  and  the  troops 
or  other  armed  bodies  of  the  dependency  of  the  Most  Excellent  Provisional 
Government  of  these  Provinces,  shall  cease,  and  for  this  purpose  the  proper 
notice  of  this  arrangement  and  convention  will  be  sent  to  the  Most  Excellent 
Generals  in  Chief  of  the  respective  armies. 

II  Article. — An  unlimited  armistice  shall  be  observed  between  the  two 
armies,  and  in  case  of  some  unfortunate  circumstances  which  can  not  be  fore- 
seen and  which  let  God  never  permit,  it  should  be  necessary  to  again  take  up 
arms,  the  most  Excellent  Generals  of  the  opposite  armies  are  reciprocally 
obliged  and  by  virtue  of  this  armistice,  to  send  the  proper  notice  of  the  break- 
ing of  this  convention,  three  months  before  they  can  treak  anew  the 
hostilities  ;  we  hope  very  sincerely  that  this  clause  only  of  caution  will  at  no 
time  be  necessary. 

III  Article. — As  soon  as  the  Most  Excellent  Generals  of  the  two  armies 


—  I07  — 

shall  have  received  the  notice  of  this  convention,  they  will  give  the  necessary 
orders  not  only  to  avoid  all  engagements  of  war,  but  also  to  retire  as  soon 
as  possible  the  troops  under  them  within  the  limits  of  the  territory  of  the 
two  respective  States  ;  these  limits  being  understood  to  be  the  same  as  those 
acknowledged  as  such  before  the  Portuguese  army  commenced  its  marches 
towards  the  Spanish  territory;  and  in  testimony  and  faith  that  these 
territories  remain  invariable  while  this  convention  is  enforced  and  that  every 
thing  therein  stipulated  will  be  exactly  fulfilled,  we  sign  this  document  for 
its  due  proof,  in  Buenos  Ayres  on  the  twenty  sixth  of  May  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  twelve. — By  order  of  its  Excellency  the  Superior  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  as  its  Secretary  of  War 
and  of  the  Treasury,  and  temporarily  of  the  Interior  and  Foreign  Affairs. — 
NICOLAS  DE  HERRERA.— JUAN  RADEMAKER.— There  are  two 
seals. 


1857 


TREAT'Sr    OF    LIIiaiTS 

between  Brazil  and  the  Argentine  Confederation.  ( * ) 

Parana,  December  14th  1857. 

In  the  name  of  the  Holy  and  Indivisible  Trinity:  The  Vice-President 
of  the  Argentine  Confederation,  in  exercise  of  the  Executive  Power,  and  His 
Majesty,  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  desiring  to. leave  solidly  established  the  har- 
mony that  happily  reigns  between  the  two  nations,  removing  all  that»may  be 
a  motive  to  future  disagreement,  and  having  in  view  at  the  same  time  to 
favor  the  development  of  the  respective  frontier  relations  and  commerce,  have 
agreed  to  recognize  by  a  treaty  the  boundaries  of  their  territories,  between 
the  rivers  Uruguay  and  Parana,  naming  to  that  effect  their  Plenipotentiaries, 
as  follows: 

The  Vice-President  of  the  Argentine  Confederation  appoints  Their  Most 
Excellent  Drs.  Santiago  Derqui  and  Bernabe  Lopez  Secretary  Ministers  of 
State  in  the  Departments  of  the  Interior  and  Foreign  Affairs,  and  His  Majesty, 
the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  appoints  H.  E.  Counsellor  Jos6  Maria  da  Silva  Paran- 
hos  his  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  in  Special  Mission, 
in  the  Argentine  Confederation,  Commander  of  the  Imperial  Order  of  the 
Rose,  Great  Cross  of  that  of  Saint  Anne  of  Russia  of  the  first  class.  Deputy  to 
the  General  Legislative  Assembly  of  the  Empire,  both  ot  which  Plenipoten- 
tiaries, after  having  exchanged  their  full  powers,  which  were  found  in  full 
and  due  form,  agreed  on  the  following  articles: 

I  Article. — The  two  High  Contracting  Parties,  being  accorded  on  fixing 
their  respective  boundaries,  agree  to  declare  and  recognize  as  the  frontier  of 
the  Argentine  Confederation  and  Brazil,  between  the  rivers  Uruguay  and  Pa- 


(*)    Coleccion  de  Tratados  de  la  Republfca  Argentina.     Vol.  I,  pag.  536. 


—   no  

rana,  as  follows :  The  territory  of  the  Argentine  Confederation  is  divided 
from  the  Brazilian  Empire  by  the  river  Uruguay,  the  right  or  occidental 
bank  belonging  to  the  Confederation,  and  the  left  or  Oriental  bank  to  Brazil, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  affluent  Cuaraim  to  that  of  the  river  Pipiri-Guazu, 
where  the  Brazilian  possessions  occupy  both  banks  of  the  Uruguay.  The 
divisory  line  follows  by  the  waters  of  the  Pipiri-Guazu  to  its  main  source, 
from  where  it  continues  by  the  highest  part  of  the  land  until  it  meets  the 
main  headwaters  of  the  San  Antonio,  till  its  flowing  into  the  Iguazu  or 
Grande  deCuritiba,  and  through  this  one  to  its  point  of  confluence  with  the 
Parana.  The  land  that  the  rivers  Pipiri-Guazii,  San  Antonio  and  Iguazu 
separate  towards  the  East,  belongs  to  Brazil,  and  towards  the  West  to  the  Ar- 
gentine Confederation,  the  waters  of  the  two  mentioned  rivers  in  all  their 
course  belonging  to  the  common  dominion  of  both  nations,  and  those  of  the 
Iguazu  only  from  the  confluence  of  the  San  Antonio  down  to  the  Parana. 

II  Article. — The  two  High  Contracting  Parties  declare,  in  order  to  avoid 
any  doubt,  and  notwitstanding  that  the  places  and  directions  in  the  first  arti- 
cle are  well  known  that,  the  rivers  Pipiri-Guazu  and  San  Antonio,  to  which 
said  article  refers,  are  those  which  were  recognized  in  1759  by  the  adjusters 
of  the  treaty  of  the  thirteenth  of  January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
fifty,  celebrated  between  Portugal  and  Spain. 

III  Article. — The  present  treaty  once  ratified,  the  two  High  Contracting 
Parties  will  each  name  a  Commissioner,  to  proceed  of  common  accord,  in  the 
shortest  possible  time,  to  the  demarcation  of  the  line,  at  the  points  where  this 
were  necessary,  in  conformity  with  the  stipulations  of  the  I  Article. 

IV  Article. — The  Commissioners,  of  whom  the  preceding  article  treats, 
shall,  as  soon  as  they  finish  the  demarcation  of  the  land  frontier,  proceed  in 
common  to  draw  up  a  plan  of  the  islands  of  the  river  Uruguay,  comprised 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  two  countries,  and  to  gather  all  the  necessary 
data  within  their  reach,  so  that,  in  view  of  their  decisions  and  proofs,  both 
Governments  may  agree  upon  the  division  of  the  respective  dominions  on 
said  islands,  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  International  Law. 

V  Article. — The  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  the  present  treaty  shall 
take  place  in  the  City  of  Parana  within  the  term  of  eight  months  from  its  date, 
or  before  if  possible. 

In  witness  of  which,  we,  the  undersigned  Plenipotentiaries  of  the  Vice- 
President  of  the  Argentine  Confederation  and  of  His  Majesty,  the  Emperor 
of  Brazil,  sign  in  virtue  of  our  Fpll  Powers  the  present  treaty,  and  a;nnexed 
our  seals  to  it. 

Done  in  the  City  of  Parana,  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  of  Decem- 
ber, in  the  year  of  Our  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
fifty  seven.— BERNABE  LOPEZ.— SANTIAGO  DERQUI.— JOSE  MARIA 
DA  SILVA  PARANHOS. 


Approbation  of  the  Argentine  G-overnment. 

The  present  treaty  being  signed  and  concluded  by  my   Plenipotentiaries, 
and  those  of  His  Imperial  Majesty,  according  to  the  instructions  and  preven- 


tions  which  were  in  effect  given  to  them,  I  approve  it  on  my  part  and  in  vir- 
tue of  my  attributions,  said  treaty  to  be  elevated  to  the  deliberation  of  the 
Federal  Congress  in  the  next  session  for  its  definite  approbation.  The  pres- 
ent Decree  will  be  recorded  before  the  Minister  of  the  Department  of  Foreign 
Relations. — CARRIL. — Bernabe  Lopez. 


Law  of  Approbation  of  the  preceding  Treaty. 

The  Senate  and  Chamber  of  Deputies  of  the  Argentine  Confederation, 
assembled  in  Congress,  sanction,  with  force  of  law: 

I  Article. — The  stipulations  contained  in  the  five  articles  of  the  Treaty 
of  Boundaries,  between  the  National  Executive  Power  and  H.  M.  the  Em- 
peror of  Brazil,  through  their  respective  Plenipotentiaries,  in  this  Capital,  on 
the  eleventh  of  December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-seven,  are 
hereby  approved. 

II  Article. — It  is  understood  thatthe  rivers  Pepiri-Guazu  and  San  Antonio, 
designated  as  boundaries  in  the  I  Article  of  the  treaty,  are  those  under  these 
names  situated  nearest  the  East,  according  to  what  is  stipulated  in  the  II  Arti- 
cle of  the  same. 

III  Article. — Let  it  be  communicated  to  the   Executive  Power, 
Chamber  of  Sessions   of  the  Congress  in   Parana,  Provisory  Capital    of 

the   Argentine  Confederation,  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember, of  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight. 

PASCUAL  EEHAGUE,'^  MATEO  LUQUE, 

Carlos  M,  Saravia,  Sec.  Benjamin  de  Igarzabal,  Sec. 

Department  of  Foreign  Affairs. — Parana,  the  twenty-sixth  of  September, 
of  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight.      Let  it  be  law  and  be  published. 
URQUIZA. 
Bernabe  Lopez. 


1885 


TREATV  FOR  THE   SURVB'S' 

of  the   rivers  Fepiri-gfuazA   and  San  Antonio,  Chapeco  or  Fe- 

quiri-guazd,  and  Chopim  or  San  Antonio-g-uazu,  and  of 

the  territory  separating  them,  disputed  between 

the  Argentine  Republic  and  Brazil.  (*). 

His  Excellency  the  President  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  and  His  Ma- 
jesty the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  deeming  it  convenient  that  the  rivers  through 
which  each  one  of  the  respective  Governments  understands  that  the  com- 
mon frontier  should  run,  from  the  Uruguay  to  the  Iguazu  or  Grande  de 
Curitiba,  and  the  territory  lying  between  them,  have  resolved  to  conclude 
a  Treaty  with  the  said  object,  and  have  appointed  their  Plenipotentiares,  to 
wit: 

His  Excellency  the  President  of  the  Argentine  Republic  appoints  His  Ex- 
cellency Doctor  Don  Francisco  J.  Ortiz,  his  Secretary  of  State  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Foreign  Relations ; 

His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Brazil  appoints  His  Excellency  the  Coun- 
sellor Doctor  Leonel  M.  de  Alencar,  Knight  of  the  Orders  of  Christ  and 
of  the  Rose,  Commander  of  the  Order  of  Christ  of  Portugal  and  of  the  Royal 
Order  of  Isabel  la  Catolica  of  Spain,  His  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  in  the  Argentine  Republic;  both  of  which  Plenipotentiaries, 
after  exchanging  their  full  powers  which  were  found  in  good  and  due  form, 
agree  upon  the  following: 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Archives  of  the  De- 
partment of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized, 
forms  part  of  group  A,  No.  2  ofVianuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—   114  — 

I  Article, — Each  one  of  the  High  Contracting  Parties  shall  appoint  a 
Commission  composed  of  a  Chief  Commissioner,  one  second,  one  third,  and 
three  auxiliaries.  In  cases  of  impediment  or  death  if  not  othenvise  resolved, 
the  first  Commissioner  shall  be  substituted  by  the  second  and  the  latter  by  the 
third.  Each  one  of  the  Commissions  may  take,  with  the  consent  of  its  res- 
pective Government,  the  necessary  personnel  for  its  private  service,  such  as 
the  medical,  or  any  other,  and  both  shall  be  accompanied  by  a  military  force 
of  equal  number  of  men  commanded  by  officers  of  equal  or  corresponding 
rank. 

II  Article. — The  Joint  Commission  appointed  by  the  two  Commissions 
referred  to,  shall,  in  accordance  with  the  instructions  annexed  to  this  treaty  sur 
vey  the  rivers  Pepiri-Guazu  and  San  Antonio  and  the  two  lying  East  of  the 
same,  known  in  Brazil  by  the  names  of  Chapeco  and  Chopim  and  which  are 
called  by  the  Argentines:  Pequiri-guazu  and  San  Antonio-guazu,  as  well  as 
the  territorj-^  contained  between  the  four, 

III  Article. — The  two  Commissions  shall  meet  in  Montevideo  to  agree 
upon  the  starting  point  or  points  of  their  work  and  further  necessary 
matters. 

IV.  Article. — They  shall  draw  up,  in  accord  and  in  two  copies,  the 
plans  of  the  four  rivers,  of  the  territory  separating  them,  and  of  the  corres- 
ponding part  of  the  rivers  inclosing  that  territory  on  the  North  and  South 
sides,  and,  with  the  said  plans  they  shall  present  to  their  Governments, 
identical  Reports  covering  all  that  may  concern  the  boundary  question. 

V.  Article. — With  the  report  and  plans  before  them,  the  two  High 
Contracting  Parties  shall  endeavor  to  decide  the  said  question  amicably,  con- 
cluding a  definite  and  perpetual  Treaty  that  no  event,  either  of  peace  or 
war,  shall  annul  or  suspend. 

VI  Article. — The  present  Treaty  shall  be  ratified  and  will  be  put  in 
force  six  months  after  the  exchange  of  the  respective  ratifications;  and 
these  shall  be  exchanged  in  this  city  of  Buenos  Ayres  or  in  that  of  Rio  de 
Janeiro  in  the  briefest  term  possible. 

In  witness  whereof.  We  the  undersigned  Plenipotentaries  of  His  Excel- 
lency the  President  of  the  Argentine  Republic  and  of  His  Majesty  the  Em- 
peror of  Brazil,  sig^  and  seal  with  our  respective  seals  the  present  Treaty, 
in  duplicate,  in  the  city  of  Buenos  Ayres  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  Sei>- 
tember  1885. 

[L.  s.]  FRANCISCO  J.  ORTIZ. 

[L.  s.]  LEONEL  M.  de  ALENCAR. 


DEPARTMENT   OF  FOREIGN    RELATIONS. 

Buenos  Ayres.  September  28,1885. 
Approved ;  let  it  be  submitted  to  the  Honorable  Congress. 

ROCA. 

•Francisco  J.  Ortiz. 


—  115  — 

Instructions    referred    to    in  Article  ZZ.  of  the    Treaty    con- 
cluded between  the  Argentine  Republic  and  Brazil  on  the 
28th  of  September   1885  for  the  survey  of  the  ter- 
ritory in  litigation  on  the  IV  est  and  ZSast,   and 
of  the  same  territory. 

I. — The  two  Commissions  appointed  by  virtue  of  Article  I.  of  the  Treaty 
referred  to  in  the  title  of  these  instructions,  in  order  to  survey,  in  accor- 
dance with  Article  II.,  the  rivers  Pepiri-guazu  and  San  Antonio,  and  Cha- 
peco  and  Chopim  or  Pequiri-guazu  and  San  Antonio-guazu,  as  well  as  the 
territory  contained  between  them,  will  meet  in  Montevideo  as  agreed  and 
arrive  at  an  understanding  regarding  the  starting  point  or  points  of  their 
work  and  other  matters  that  may  be  necessary. 

II. — This  work  may  be  begun  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pepiri-guazu  or  at 
that  of  the  San  Antonio,  and  also,  if  deemed  preferable,  at  these  two  points 
at  the  same  time,  the  Joint  Commission  dividing  itself  to  this  effect  in  two 
companies  or  parties  in  which  the  two  Commissions  forming  the  said  Joint 
Commission  shall  be  evenly  represented. 

III. — In  the  first  hypothesis,  the  whole  Joint  Commission,  or  part  of 
the  same,  as  may  be  determined  by  the  chief  Commissioners,  shall  enter  by 
the  mouth  of  the  Pepiri-guazu,  and,  ascending  by  the  same,  shall  look  for 
the  main  source  of  the  other  and  descend  by  the  latter  as  far  as  its  mouth. 

IV. — The  survey  shall  begin  by  the  said  two  rivers,  they  being  the  first 
ones  of  the  controversy  which  are  met  ascending  the  Uruguay  and  the  Iguazu 
or  Rio  Grande  de  Curitiba. 

V. — They  shall  then  proceed  in  the  same  manner  with  the  survey  of  the 
Chapeco,  and  of  the  Chopim  or  Pequiri-guazu,  aud  San  Antonio-guazu. 

VI. — The  territory  lying  between  the  four  rivers  may  be  surveyed  after  the 
Pepiri-guazu  and  the  San  Antonio,  and  before  the  other  two,  after  the  survey  of 
the  former  on  the  return  of  the  Commission,  or  in  parts,  as  may  be  deemed 
easier  or  more  convenient. 

VII. — The  Portuguese  and  Spanish  surveyors  of  1759  and  1 789  determined 
the  latitude  of  the  source  and  the  mouth  of  each  one  of  the  former  rivers,  that 
is,  the  Pepiri-guazu  and  the  San  Antonio.     They  are  as  follows  : 

Source  of  the  Pepiri-guazu    ]  ^l^  fp         ■ 


2y 
30^ 


1759  26°  10' 

1789  26°  lO'' 

Mouth  of  the  Pepiri-guazu     -I              '/^  '  ^  ", 

Source  of  the  San  Antonio     |           1759  thlt^ofYeTepiri. 

1789  26°  12'' 

Mouth  of  the  San  Antonio     -|            1759  25°  35''       4''' 

1789  25°  35'     . 


—  ii6  — 

According  to  the  observations  made  by  the  Spaniards  in  1789  and  1791, 
as  appears  in  the  Memoir  of  Oyarvide,  the  mouth  of  the  Chapeco  or  Pequiri- 
guazu  is  situated  on  the  27°  06^  50''^  extreme  Southern  Latitude,  and  on  the 
5°  07'  43''''  Longitude  East  of  Buenos  Aires  ;  and  its  principal  source  on  the 
26°  43'  50''''  Latitude  South,  and  on  the  6°  id'  56''''  Longitude  East  of  Buenos 
Aires. 

According  to  the  same  Memoir,  the  source  of  the  Chopim  or  San  Anto- 
nio-guazu  is  situated  at  725  toises  (fathoms)  of  that  of  the  Chapeco  or  Pequi- 
ri-guazu.  Below  this  source,  at  a  point  which  Oyarvide  says  is  the  best 
known  on  that  river,  it  was  observed :  Southern  Latitude  26°  39''  ^o" ,  Longi- 
tude 6°  27^  38''''.  By  all  these  data  and  various  circumstances  observed  in  the 
two  old  demai  cations,  the  present  Commissions  shall  be  guided  in  their  work. 

VI IL  — The  survey  of  each  one  of  the  four  rivers  shall  be  made  successively, 
either  upwards  of  downwards ;  if  this  be  not  practicable  in  consequence  of  the 
waterfalls  or  other  natural  obstacles,  the  Joint  Commission  shall,  when  com- 
pelled to  make  de^viations,  take  the  necessary  precautions  to  prevent  any  doubt 
as  to  their  running  on  the  same  river,  and  these  precautions  shall  be  noted 
down  for  the  knowledge  and  guidance  of  any  other  explorers. 

IX. — The  same  precautions  shall  be  observed  in  the  survey  of  the  territory 
contained  between  the  sources  of  the  Pepiri-guazu  and  San  Antonio,  and  Cha- 
peco or  Pequiri-guazu,  and  Chopim  or  San  Antonio-guazu.  It  is  advisable 
that  this  territory,  that  is  to  say,  the  union  of  the  sources,  shall  be  determined 
by  everlasting  land-marks  which,  without  being  actually  divisory  signs,  shall 
serve  as  guidance  for  further  explorations. 

X. — As  the  Joint  Commission  has  to  explore  the  territory  contained  between 
the  four  rivers  in  controversy,  they  shall  find  out  the  means  of  getting  through 
the  same  to  the  respective  sources,  so  that  in  any  future  work,  they  can  be 
easily  reached  without  having  to  find  them  ascending  each  one  of  the  same 
rivers.  The  meansfound,  it  shall  be  noted  down  with  all  the  useful  particulars. 
If  found  necessary,  a  similar  gtep  shall  be  taken  regarding  the  territories  West 
of  the  rivers  designated  by  Brazil,  and  East  of  those  designated  by  the  Argen- 
tine Republic. 

XI. — While  exploring  the  territory  lying  between  the  four  rivers  the 
Joint  Commission  shall  carefully  put  down  the  direction  of  the  principal  water 
courses  and  their  sources,  of  the  mountains  and  woods,  and  all  the  particulars 
the  knowledge  of  which  may  be  useful. 

XII. — When  meeting  in  Montevideo  the  Joint  Commision  will  open  a 
journal,  wherein  day  after  day  all  the  work  that  be  done,  with  the  particulars 
that  may  be  deemed  necessary  or  useful,  shall  be  entered  and  signed  by  the 
three  Commissioners  of  each  party. 

Of  this  diary  two  copies  shall  be  kept  simultaneously,  one  in  Portuguese 
and  the  other  in  Spanish.  Each  particular  Commission  shall  remit  their  own 
to  their  respective  Government  with  the  Report  and  plans  spoken  in  IV  Art- 
icle of  the  treaty.  The  two  copies  of  the  said  Report  shall  be  identical,  but 
each  one  of  them  shall  be  drawn  in  the  language  of  the  Government  it  is 
destined  for,  and  signed  only  by  their  three  Commissioners.     To  this  Report, 


—  117  — 

where  in  a  general  and  concise  idea  of  all  the  work  shall  be  given,  there  shall 
be  added  such  remarks  as  have  found  no  room  in  the  journal,  or  may  not  have 
occurred  during  its  preparation.  The  Joint  Commission  cannot  discuss 
questions  of  right  or  preference ;  it  is  only  charged  to  make  the  survey  of  the 
rivers  and  of  the  territory  mentioned  in  II  Article  of  the  treaty.  Thus,  there 
can  be  no  fear  of  serious  divergencies.  If,  notwithstanding,  any  should  arise, 
it  shall  be  submitted  to  the  decision  of  the  Contracting  Governments,  with- 
out interruption  to  the  work  in  any  manner. 

XIV. — The  Report  and  its  Complement  shall  be  entered  in  the  jouurnal 
This  being  accomplished,  the  same  will  be  closed  and  the  Joint  Commission 
will  then  be  dissolved. 

Drawn  in  the  City  of  Buenos  Aires  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  the 
month  of  September,  1885. 

FRANCISCO  J.   ORTIZ, 
LEONEL  M.   DE  ALENCAR. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  FOREIGN  RELATIONS. 

Buenos  Aires,  Sept.  28,  1885. 
Approved, 

ROCA. 

Francisco  J.  Ortiz. 


LAW  OF  APPROVAL. 
The  Senate  and  Chamber  of  Deputies  of  the  Argentine  Nation,  assembled 
in  Congress,  etc.,  sanction  with  force  of  Law; 

I  Article — The  Treaty  concluded  between  the  National  Executive  Power 
and  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  through  their  respective  Plenipoten- 
tiaries in  this  Capital  on  the  28th  of  September,  1885,  for  the  survey  of  the 
territory  in  litigation  between  the  Argentine  Republic  and  the  Empire  of 
Brazil,  and  of  the  four  rivers  therein  contained,  is  approved. 

II  Article. — The  Executive  Power  shall  be  notified. 

Given  in  the  House  of  Sessions  of  the  Argentine  Congress,  in  Buenos 
Ayres  on  the  sixth  day  of  November,  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-five. 

FRANCISCO  B.   MADERO. 
B.  OcAMPO,  Secretary  of  the  Senate. 

RAFAEL  RUIZ  DE  LOS  LLANOS. 
Juan  Ovando,  Secretary  «^  zlw/'^^w^  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  FOREIGN  RELATIONS. 

Buenos  Ayres,  Nov.  9,  1885. 
Execute  it,  communicate  it,  and  have  it  inserted  in  the  National  Register. 

ROCA. 

Francisco  J.  Ortiz. 


1889 


TREATV  OF  ARBITRATZOrT 

concluded  between  the  Argentine  Republic   and  the 
Empire  of  Brazil.     {*) 

His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Brazil  and  His  Excellency  the  President 
of  the  Argentine  Republic,  wishing  to  decide  as  soon  as  possible  the  question 
of  boundaries  pending  between  the  two  States,  agreed,  without  derogating 
the  treaty  of  September  28th,  1885  to  appoint  a  term  for  the  closure  of  the 
discussion  of  right,  and  failing  in  this,  to  submit  the  same  question  to 
arbitration  by  a  friendly  Government  ;  and,  a  treaty  being  necessary  to  this 
end,  they  appointed  their  Plenipotentiaries,  to  wit  : 

His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Brazil  appointed  the  Baron  de  Alencar,  of 
His  Council  and  His  Elivoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary 
in  the  Argentine  Republic  ; 

His  Excellency  the  President  of  the  Argentine  Republic  appointed 
Dr.  Don  Norberto  Quirno  Costa,  His  Minister  Secretary  in  the  Department 
of  the  Interior,  and  pro  tempore  in  the  Department  of  Foreign  Relations; 

Which  Plenipotentaries,  having  exchanged  their  full  powers,  which  were 
found  to  be  in  good  and  due  form,  agreed  upon  the  following  articles  : 

I  Article.  The  contention  about  the  right  that  each  one  of  the  High 
Contracting  Parties  judges  to  have  to  the  territory  in  dispute  between  them, 
shall  be  closed  within  the  term  of  ninety  days  to  be  counted  from  the  ending 
of  the  survey  of  the  land  in  which  the  head  waters  of  the  river  Chapeco   or 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  e.xisting  in  the  Archives  of  the 
Departament  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  which  in  a  copy  duly  legalized, 
forms  part  of  group  A  num.  3  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence  ». 


I20    

Pequiri-guazu  and  Jangada  or  San  Antonio-guazu  are  found.  The  said  survey 
is  understood  to  end  the  day  on  which  the  Comissions  appointed  by  virtue 
of  the  treaty  of  September  28,  1885,  should  present  to  their  Goverments 
their  reports  and  plans  referred  to  in  the  IV  Article  of  the  same  treaty, 

I I  Article. —  Should  the  time  specified  in  the  preceeding  Article  expire 
without  an  amicable  solution  being  reached,  the  question  shall  be  submitted 
to  the  arbitration  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America  to  whom 
the  High  Contracting  Parties  shall  addres  themselves  within  the  next  sixty 
days,  asking  him  to  accept  that  commission, 

III  Article,  Should  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America 
excuse  himself,  the  High  Contracting  Parties  shall  elect  another  arbiter,  in 
Europe  or  in  America,  within  sixty  days  after  the  receipt  of  his  refusal,  and 
in  the  case  of  any  further  excuse  they  shall  proceed  in  the  same  manner. 

.  IV  Article. — Upon  the  acceptance  of  the  appointment,  each  one  of  the 
High  Contracting  Parties  shall  present  to  the  arbiter  within  the  term  of 
twelve  months  to  be  counted  from  the  receipt  of  the  respective  communica- 
tion, his  exposition  with  the  documents  and  titles  conducive  to  the  defense 
of  his  rights.  The  exposition  once  presented,  no  addendiun  can  be  made, 
except  at  the  demand  of  the  Arbiter,  who  will  have  the  f>ower  to  command 
that  the  necessary  information  shall  be  furnished  him. 

V  Article. — The  boundaries  shall  be  established  by  the  rivers  that  either 
Brazil  or  the  Argentine  Republic  has  designated,  and  the  Arbiter  shall  be  in- 
vited to  decide  in  favor  of  one  of  the  parties,  as  he  may  deem  just,  and  in 
view  of  the  reasons  and  the  documents  they  may  produce. 

VI  Article. — The  decision  shall  be  pronounced  within  the  term  of  twelve 
months,  counting  from  the  date  of  the  presentation  of  the  expositions,  or 
from  the  latest  one,  if  the  presentation  be  not  made  at  the  same  time  by  both 
parties.  It  shall  be  final  and  obligatory,  and  no  reason  shall  be  alleged  to 
obstruct  its  enactment. 

VII  Article. — The  present  Treaty  shall  be  ratified  and  the  ratifications 
shall  be  exchanged  in  the  city  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  in#the  shortest  term  possible. 
In  witness  whereof  the  Plenipotentiaries  of  the  Empire  of  Brazil  and  the  Ar- 
gentine Republic  sign  this  Treaty  and  affix  their  seal  in  the  city  of  Buenos 
Ayres  on  the  seventh  day  of  the  month  of  September,  1889. 

[L.  s.]  N.  QUIRNO  COSTA. 

[L.  s.]  BARON  DE  ALENCAR. 


LAW  OF  APPROVAL. 

Whereas,  the  Senate  and  Chamber  of  Deputies  of  the  Argentine  Nation, 
assembled  in  Congress,  etc. ,  sanction  with  force  of  law  : 

I  Article. — The  Treaty  of  Arbitration  for  the  solution  of  the  question  of 
boundaries  between  the  Republic  and  the  Empire  of  Brazil,  signed  in  Buenos 


—    12  1    

Ayres  en  the  seventh  of  September  of  this  year  by  the  Plenipotentiaries  of 
their  respective  Governments,  Doctor  Don  Norberto  Quirno  Costa,  and 
Senor  Baron  de  Alencar,  is  approved. 

II  Article. — The  Executive  Power  shall  be  notified.      ^ 
Given  in  the  House  of  Sessions  of  the  Argentine  Congress  on  the  twenty- 
second  day  of  October,  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-nine. 

JULIO    A.   ROCA. 
Aeolfo  J.  Labougle,  Secretary  of  the  Senate. 

T.  A.   MALBRAN. 
Juan  Ovando,  Secretary  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 
Therefore,  It  shall  be  Law  of  the  Nation ;  communicate  it,  and  pass  it  to 

the  National  Register. 

JUAREZ  CELMAN. 

Estanislao  S.  Zeballos. 


1890 


Project  of  Treaty  between  the  Argentine  Republic  and  the 
United  States  of  Brazil.     ( * ) 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  unity  of  American  institutions  and  in  the 
name  of  the  brotherly  sentiments  that  should  prevail  among  the  nations  of 
this  continent,  the  President  of  the  Argentine  Republic  and  the  Chief  of 
the  Provisional  Government  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil,  wishing  to  bring 
to  an  amicable  end,  honorable  to  both  parties,  the  boundary  litigation  kept 
up  by  the  respective  nations  since  colonial  times,  have  decided  to  conclude 
a  Treaty  and  have  appointed  their  Plenipotentiaries,  to  wit :  His  Excellency 
the  President  of  the  Argentine  Republic  appoints  His  Excellency  Doctor 
Estanislao  S.  Zeballos,  his  Secretary  of  State  in  the  Department  of  Foreign 
Relations  and  His  Excellency  Don  Enrique  B.  Moreno,  Envoy  Extraordi- 
nary and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  in  Brazil  ;  His  Excellency  the  Chief  of 
the  Provisional  Government  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil  appoints  His  Ex- 
cellency Seilor  Quintino  Bocayuva,  Minister  and  Secretary  of  State  of  For- 
eign Affairs  and  His  Excellency  the  Baron  de  Alencar,  Envoy  Extraordinary 
and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  in  the  Argentine  Republic,  who,  after  exchang- 
ing their  full  powers,  which  were  found  in  due  form,  agreed  upon  the  fol- 
lowing : 

I  Article. — The  frontier  of  the  Argentine  Republic  and  the  Republic  of 
the  United  States  of  Brazil  in  the  disputed  territory  of  Misiones,  begins  at 
the  mouth  and  right  bank  of  the  Chapeco  or  Perquiri-guazu,  on  the  Uruguay, 
it  crosses  the  divortia  aquarum  of  the  Iguazu  and  of  the  Uruguay  between 
Campo  Ere  and  Campo  Santa  Ana,  at  the  middle  point  of  the  distance  between 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Archives  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argentine  Republic  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized,  forms 
part  of  group  A,  No.  4  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence.  " 


*  124    — 

the  Coelho  establishment  in  the  first  Campo.and  the  bridge  of  the  Paso  del  Rio 
Santa  Ana  on  the  road  to  Sierra  de  la  Factura,  according  to  the  chart  of  the 
same  territory  by  the  Joint  Exploring  Commission,  and  terminates  at  the  mouth 
and  left  bank  of  the  Chopim,  on  the  Iguazu.  Between  each  of  the  extreme 
and  central  points,  the  boundary  line  shall  be  drawn,  making  use  of  the  best 
natural  limits  ;  it  shall  avoid  such  settlements  of  either  nation  as  may  be  met 
on  its  course,  drawing  straight  lines,  except  where  it  cannot  be  prevented. 
The  rivers  Chapeco  and  Chopim  above  mentioned,  shall  remain  in  the  ex- 
clusive possession  of  Brazil. 

II  Article. — The  High  Contracting  Parties  agree  to  respect  the  property 
of  such  settler  who,  after  the  boundary  line  is  drawn,  remain  on  either  side, 
and  to  grant  them  title-deeds,  provided  they  can  prove  that  they  were  settlers 
with  establishments  of  permanent  character  one  year  before  this  date. 

III  Article. — The  two  High  Contracting  Parties  shall  oportunelly  agree 
upon  the  organization  of  a  Joint  Commission  which  shall  draw  the  divisory 
line  and  will  be  given  the  necessary  instructions  by  mutual  consent. 

IV  Article. — The  Joint  Commission  shall  plan  the  tracing  of  the  divis- 
ory line,  in  accordance  with  Article  I  of  this  treaty  and  with  the  instructions 
referred  to  it  in  the  III ;  and  said  plan  once  approved  by  the  two  Govern- 
ments the  demarcation  shall  be  proceeded  to  upon  the  ground,  if  the  High 
Contracting  Parties  so  consider  it  necessary. 

V  Article. — This  treaty  will  be  ratified  and  the  ratifications  exchanged 
in  the  city  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  immediately  after  its  approval  by  the  Argentine 
Congress  and  by  the  Constitutional  Assembly  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil. 

In  witness  whereof  the  Plenipotentiaries  referred  to  sign  the  same  treaty 
and  affix  their  seals  thereto  in  the  city  of  Montevideo  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
January,  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety. 

(L.  S.)  ESTANISLAO  S.   ZEBALLOS. 

(L.  S.)  ENRIQUE  B.   MORENO. 

(L.  S.)  Q.  BOCAYUVA. 

(L.  S.)  BARAO  DE  ALENCAR. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  FOREIGN   RELATIONS. 

Buenos  Ayres,  March  27,  1890. 

Approved. — It  shall  be  submitted  in  due  course  to  the  to  the  Honorable 
Congress. — ^JUAREZ  CELMAN. — Estanislao  S.  Zeballos. — N.  Quirno 
Costa. — Eduardo  Racedo. — Filemon  Posse. 


—   125  — 


ACT  OF  AUTBEHrTIC'S' 

and  comformity   of  the   Flans  Having-  Served  for  the  Demar- 
cation of  the  Frontier   Fixed  in  the  Preceding  Treaty.  {*) 

On  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  the  month  of  January  of  the  year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  ninety,  at  the  Palace  of  the  Government  of  the  Oriental 
Repubhc  of  the  Uruguay  at  Montevideo  being  President  of  the  Argentine 
RepubHc  the  Most  Excellent  Senor  Doctor  Don  Miguel  Juarez  Celman  and 
Chief  of  the  Provisional  Government  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States  of 
Brazil,  the  Most  Excellent  Marshal-general  Deodoro  da  Fonseca,  the  Colonels 
Jose  Ygnacio  Garmendia,  First  Commissioner  and  Chief  of  the  Argentine 
Commission  of  Boundaries  and  Dionisio  E.  de  Castro  Cerqueira,  Third  Com- 
missioner and  Provisional  Chief  of  the  Brazilian  Commission  of  Boundaries, 
having  met,  declare  authentic  the  plans  of  the  territory  in  dispute  between 
the  two  countries,  drawn  by  the  Joint  Commission  signed  and  presented  to 
the  Ministers  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  two  Republics,  the  Most  Excellent 
Senor  Doctor  Don  Estanislao  S.  Zeballos  and  Senhor  Doctor  Dom  Quintino 
Bocayuva. 

Through  these  plans  the  concordance  of  the  mouth  of  the  rivers  Piquiri- 
guazu  or  Chapeco  and  Chopim  and  the  intermediate  point  situated  at  a  half 
distance  between  the  bridge  of  the  river  Santa  Ana  and  the  farm  of  Coelho 
on  the  road  leading  from  the  Hill  of  the  Factura  to  Campo  Ere,  is  verified. 

JOS6  YGNACIO  GARMENDIA. 
DIONISIO  E.  DE  CASTRO  CERQUEIRA. 


*  This  is  a  translation  of  the  document  printed  in  the  "  Relatorio  do  Ministerio  das  Re- 
la9oes  Esteriores  "  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil,  year  1890,  page  38.  The  book  and  also  the 
original  plan  which  this  document  refers  to,  are  accompanied. 


1534-1571 

Capitulations  made  by  the 

CROWN   OF  SPAIN 

with  several  Adelantados,  for  the  conquest, 

of  the  River  Plate  during  the 

XVI   Century. 

1534 

CAFITULATZOirS  AIADZ:  WITH  DOIT    PEDRO 
BE  I^EKDOZA. 


1534 


CAFITUIiATIOIVS 


Limits  of  the 
Government  of 
the  River  Plate. 


made  with  Don  Pedro  de   IMEendoza,  for  the  conquest  of  the 

River  Flate.  (*) 

THE  KING: 
Whereas  you,  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza,  my  servant  and  Knight  of  my 
house,  said  that,  on  account  of  your  great  willingness  to  serve  us,  and  to  be  a 
help  to  the  increasing  greatness  of  our  royal  Crown  of  Castille,  you  offer  your- 
self to  conquer  and  to  settle  the  lands  and  provinces  on  the  river  Solis,  called 
Plate,  where  Sebastian  Cabot  was,  and  there  to  enter  and  traverse  the  land 
to  the  South  Seas,  and  to  take  from  our  dominions  at  your  own  cost  and  ex- 
pense one  thousand  men,  five  hundred  of  these  to  go  on  the  first  voyage,  on 
which  you  will  go,  with  stores  and  provisions  for  one  year,  and  one  hundred 
horses  and  mares,  the  other  five-hundred  men  to  go  within  the  two  follow- 
ing years,  with  the  same  stores  and  provisions  and  with  the  necessary  arms 
and  artillery,  and  you  will  also  endeavor  to  discover  all  the  islands  that 
might  be  situated  in  said  South  Sea,  inasmuch  as  it  might  lie  within  the 
bounds  of  our  demarcation,  all  this  at  your  own  cost  and  expense,  without 
ourselves  being  obliged  at  any  time  whatever  to  pay  you  or  to  satisfy  the 
expenses  that  through  it  you  may  experience,  more  than  that  to  be  ac- 
corded to  you  in  these  capitulations ;  and  you  prayed  and  asked  from  me  the 


( *  )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  "  General  Archives  of 
Indies,"  which  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul,  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of 
the  group  A.  No.  5,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  13°  — 

mercy  of  the  conquest  of  said  lands  and  provinces  of  said  river  and  of 
those  neighboring  them,  and  to  bestow  upon  you  the  grant  of  them,  un- 
der the  customary  conditions  as  to  which  I  ordered  to  have  it  talcen  with  you 
the  following  seat  and  capitulations  : 

Firstly,  1  give  you  leave  and  faculty  so  that  for  us  and  in  our  name  and 
of  the  Royal  Crown  of  Castile,  you  may  enter  by  said  river  of  Soils,  called 
Plate,  until  the  South  Sea,  where  you  may  have  two  hundred  leagues  of 
government  along  the  coast  which  shall  commence  where  the  government 
entrusted  by  us  to  Marshall  Don  Diego  de  Almagro  ends,  towards  the 
Straits  of  Magallanes,  and  conquer  and  settle  the  lands  and  provmces  there 
may  be  in  said  countries. 

Moreover,  judging  you  to  be  compliant  in  the  service  of  God  and  of|ours, 
and  wishing  to  honour  your  person,  and  to  favour  you,  we  promise  to 
appoint  you  our  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  said  lands  and  provmces 
and  towns  of  said  River  Plate  and  in  said  two  hundred  leagues  of  the  South 
sea-coast,  commencing  where  the  limits  terminate,  which  as  already  said, 
we  have  given  in  government  to  the  said  Marshall  Don  Diego  de  Almagro, 
for  all  the  days  of  your  life,  with  a  salary  of  two  thousand  ducats  in  gold  in 
each,  one  year,  and  two  thousand  ducats  as  help-money,  making  in  all  four- 
thousand  ducats,  which  you  shall  enjoy  from  the  day  you  should  sail  from 
these  our  dominions,  to  enter  into  said  settlement  and  conquest,  and  which 
said  four  thousand  ducats,  as  salary  and  help-money,  will  be  paid  to  you 
from  the  said  land  that  we  may  possess,  during  the  period  of  your  govern- 
ment and  in  no  other  manner  whatever. 

Moreover,  we  shall  grant  you  the  title  of  Adelantado  of  the  lands  and 
provinces  by  you  thus  discovered  and  settled  in  the  said  river  of  Solis, 
and  in  the  said  two  hundred  leagues,  and  we  grant  you  besides,  the 
perpetual  possession  of  the  office  of  Chief  Constable  of  the  said  lands. 

Moreover,  we  grant  you  the  power  to  build,  in  the  said  lands  and  pro- 
vinces, with  the  approval  and  consent  of  said  our  officers,  as  many  as  three 
stone  fortresses  in  the  parts  and  places  to  be  deemed  most  convenient  and 
necessary,  in  your  judgement  and  that  of  our  said  officers,  to  the  defence 
and  pacification  of  said  land,  and  we  grant  you  the  lieutenancy  of  them, 
for  you  and  two  heirs  and  sucessors  of  you,  the  one  after  the  other,  whom 
you  shall  name,  under  a  salary  of  a  hundred  thousand  farthings  and  fifty 
thousand  farthings  as  help-money  for  each  year,  with  each  one  of  said  for- 
tresses thus  built,  which  you  shall  build  of  stone  at  your  own  cost,  without 
our  being  obliged,  nor  the  Kings  to  come  after  us,  to  pay  you  what  you 
may  spend  in  the  building  of  the  said  fortresses. 

Moreover,  whereas  you  have  asked  from  us  the  granting  of  a  portion 
of  the  land  and  vassals  in  said  countries,  to  which  at  present  we  do  not  acceed 
for  want  of  information  about  them,  we  promise  to  give  you,  as  we  by  the 
present  do,  ten  thousand  vassals  in  said  Government^  it  not  being  in  a  sea 
port  or  in  the  head  of  a  province,  with  the  jurisdiction  we  shall  assign  you 
.  and  declare  at  the  time  that  we  should  confer  on  you  the  said  favor  with  the 
title  of  Count,  and  while  we,  duly  informed  as  to  the  quality  of  the  land,  shall 


—  131     - 

order  its  execution,  it  is  our  mercy  that  you  shall  receive  from  us  the  twelfth 
part  of  all  fifths  we  should  receive  from  the  said  lands,  the  expenses  and 
salaries  by  us  there  incurred  to  be,  before  all  else,  deduced  from  them. 

Moreover,  as  we  give  you  leave  and  faculty  to  conquer  and  settle  the  is- 
lands of  your  grant,  within  the  bounds  of  our  demarcation,  it  is  our  mercy 
that  you  shall  receive  the  twelfth  part  of  the  products  therein  due  to  us,  after 
deducting  the  salaries  that  in  said  islands  we  shall  pay,  while,  after  being 
informed  about  the  said  islands  that  you  could  discover  and  settle,  in  said  your 
dominion,  and  of  your  services  and  labors,  we  shall  command  such  amend- 
ment and  remuneration  in  your  favor  to  be  made  as  it  pleases  us  and  your 
labors  deserve  it.  And  you  having  asked  us,  should  God's  will  be  that  you 
die  on  this  voyage  before  completing  said  discovery  and  settlement,  to  grant 
your  heir  or  the  person  named  by  you,  the  right  of  its  termination  and  to 
enjoy  the  mercies  by  us  herein  conceded,  the  aforesaid  not  being  sufficient,  and 
to  favor  you  still :  We  declare  that  should  you  enter  the  said  lands  and  ful- 
fill your  engagements,  and  stay  there  three  years,  in  such  case,  your  heir  or 
the  person  by  you  named,  shall  have  the  right  to  finish  said  settlement  and 
conquest  and  enjoy  the  privileges  contained  in  this  capitulations,  provided 
that  within  two  years  they  be  sanctioned  by  us. 

Moreover,  whereas,  according  to  the  rights  and  laws  of  our  Kingdoms, 
should  our  people  or  captains  of  our  fleet  capture  any  Prince  or  Lord  in  the 
lands  where,  by  our  command,  they  make  war,  the  ransom  of  such  Lord  or 
chief  belongs  to  us,  with  all  moveable  property  of  his  to  be  found,  but  con- 
sidering the  great  dangers  and  hardships  by  our  subjects  incurred  in  the 
conquest  of  the  Indies,  as  an  amendment  to  them  and  to  favor  them  we 
declare  and  command,  that,  should  in  said  conquest  or  government  of  yours 
any  chief  or  Lord  be  captured,  the  sixth  part  of  all  the  treasures,  gold  and 
silver,  pearls  and  precious  stones  received  from  him  in  the  way  of  ransom  or 
in  any  other,  shall  be  paid  to  us,  the  rest  to  be  divided  among  the  conquer- 
ors, first  deducting  our  fifths  ;  and  should  said  chief  or  Lord  happen  to  be 
killed  in  battle,  or  afterwards  by  way  of  justice,  or  in  any  other  manner,  half 
of  the  goods  and  aforesaid  treasures  to  be  had  from  him  shall  punctually  be 
set  aside  for  us,  said  half  to  be,  before  every  other  thing,  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  our  ofBcers,  and  the  other  half  shall  be  divided,  our  fifth  to  be 
deducted  first. 

Moreover,  all  'those  going  to  settle  in  said  lands  and  provinces  are  de- 
clared exempt  for  the  first  six  years,  to  be  counted  from  the  date  of  the  pres- 
ent, from  all  custom  duties  over  all  they  should  carry  in  for  their  use,  and 
the  provision  of  their  houses,  and  not  for  sale. 

Moreover,  we  grant  those  going  to  settle  in  said  lands  and  provinces  so 
discovered  and  settled  on  said  river  within  said  two  hundred  leagues,  that 
during  the  first  six  years  following  the  date  of  this  seat  and  capitulations,  one 
tenth  of  the  gold  found  in  the  mines  should  be  paid  to  us,  and  said  first 
six  years  ended,  they  shall  pay  us  the  ninth,  thus  descending  each  year  until 
a  fifth  be  reached,  but  of  all  the  gold  and  other  things  had  by  ransom,  expe- 
ditions or  in  any  other  manner,  we   shall  perceive  the  fifth.     We   likewise 


—  .132  — 

exempt  you,  the  said  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza,  for  all  the  days  of  your  life, 
from  the  said  duties  on  all  you  should  carry  for  the  supply  and  provision  of 
your  house,  provided  it  be  not  meant  for  sale  ;  and  should  you  sell  part  of  it 
or  have  it  by  ransom,  you  shall  pay  the  whole  duty,  and  this  franchise  shall 
remain  annulled. 

Moreover,  we  bestow  upon  said  neighbors  and  settlers  the  right  to  receive 
from  you  the  lots  on  which  they  shall  build  houses,  and  the  land,  beasts  and 
sufficient  water,  as  it  is  done  and  has  been  done  on  the  Island  Hispaniola,  and 
moreover  we  will  grant  you  the  power  to  make  in  our  name  during  the  period 
of  your  government,  the  apportionment  of  the  Indians  of  the  said  lands,  accord- 
ing to  the  instructions  and  ordinances  to  be  given  to  you  for  this  purpose. 

Moreover,  we  will  grant  you  the  leave,  as  by  the  present  we  do  grant  it.  to 
carry  from  these  our  dominions  or  the  Kingdom  of  Portugal  and  islands  of 
Cap>e  Verde  and  Guinea,  into  the  landmarks  and  provinces  of  our  govern- 
ment, two  hundred  black  slaves,  one  half  males  and  the  other  half  females, 
free  of  all  duties  to  be  paid  to  our  Crown ;  but  should  you  take  them  into 
other  islands  or  provinces  and  sell  them  there,  you  shall  lose  them,  and  they 
shall  remain  to  our  Chamber  and  Treasury. 

Morever,  that  you,  the  said  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza,  shall  be  bound  to 
take  to  the  said  land  a  physician,  a  surgeon  and  a  pharmacist  to  cure  the 
sick  during  the  voyage,  it  being  our  will  that  from  the  profits  and  rents  we 
may  derive  from  said  lands  and  provinces  the  physician  shall  receive,  as  a 
year's  salary,  fifty  thousand  farthings,  the  surgeon  other  fifty  thousand,  and 
the  pharmacist  twenty-five  thousand,  said  salaries  to  run  and  to  commence 
to  run  from  the  day  that  said  men  should  sail  in  your  fleet  to  follow  voyage. 

Moreover,  we  grant  you  leave  and  faculty  to  keep  and  retain  m  our 
arsenals  in  Sevile  all  stores  and  victuals  that  you  might  need  for  your  fleet 
and  departure,  all  which  herein  said  we  grant,  under  provision  that  you,  the 
said  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza  will  agree  and  be  bound  to  start  from  these 
Kingdoms,  with  the  ships,  masts  and  cordage,  victuals  and  all  other  things 
needed  for  said  voyage  and  settlement  with  the  aforesaid  five  hundred  men 
from  our  Kingdom  and  from  other  parts  not  forbidden,  all  of  which  you  shall 
comply  with,  from  the  day  of  the  date  of  these  capitulations  to  the  first  ten 
months  following. 

Moreover,  with  the  condition  that  on  your  departure  from  these  domi- 
nions and  your  arrival  in  said  land,  you  shall  take  and* keep  w^ith  you  the 
priests  and  ecclesiastics  by  us  to  be  appointed,  for  the  instruction  of  the 
Indians  of  that  land  in  our  sacred  Catholic  faith,  with  whose  advice,  and  not 
without  it,  you  shall  make  the  conquest,  discovery  and  settlement  of  the  said 
land,  to  which  priests  and  ecclesiastics  you  shall  give  and  pay  passage  and 
stores  and  whatever  their  maintainance  may  require,  all  at  your  own  cost, 
without  charging  them  anything  during  the  said  navigation,  all  which  we 
earnestly  trust  you  to  keep  and  comply  with,  as  it  becomes  the  service  of 
God  and  our  service. 

Moreover,  with  the  condition  that  in  the  conquest,  pacification,  settling 
and  treatment  of  said  Indians,  in  their  persons  and  goods  you  have  bound 


—   T33  — 

yourself  to  observe  most  faithfully  all  the  provisions  contained  in  the  ordi- 
nances and  instructions  which  we  have  drawn  to  this  purpose  and  you  shall 
ceive. 

(  The  ordinances  in  conformity  with  those  of  the  Capitulations  of  Francisco 
Man  tejo  follow^ 

Thereof,  by  the  present,  the  above-mentioned  being  performed  at  your 
cost  and  according  to  the  above-mentioned  provisions  and  keeping  to  and 
complying  with  the  contents  of  the  dispositions  above  incorporated,  and  all 
other  instructions  that  in  the  future  we  may  command  you  to  keep  and  to 
enact  for  said  land  and  for  the  good  treatment  and  the  conversion  to  our 
sacred  Catholic  faith  of  the  natives  of  it,  I  say  and  promise,  that  these  capitu- 
lations shall  be  by  us  respected,  and  all  that  contained  in  it,  in  everything  and 
by  everything,  as  above  said,  and  that  not  being  performed  and  complied 
with,  we  shall  not  be  bound  to  comply  with  the  aforesaid  in  whatever  part  of 
it,  rather  we  shall  command  your  punishmment  and  proceed  against  you  as 
against  one  faihng  to  keep  or  comply  with  and  transgressing  the  command- 
ment of  his  King  and  natural  Lord,  and  to  that  end  we  command  the 
present  to  be  given  to  you,  signed  with  my  name  and  courtersigned  by  my 
undersigning  Secretary. 

Dated  in  the  city  of  Toledo,  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  the  month  of 
May  of  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-four. 

THE  KING. — By  order  of  His  Majesty.  Cobos,  Commander  in 
Chief,  marked  by  Bertran,  Juarez  and  Mercado. 


1536 


c  A  F  z  T  u  ii  A  T I  o  rr  s 

IMEade  by  Her  IMEajesty  with  Greg-orio  de  Fesquera,  resident  of 

Burg-OS,  to  raise  and  produce  spices  in  that  part  of  River 

Plate,   in  the  demarcation  of  Spain,   firom  the 

place  known  as  La  Cananea,  to  the  River 

Santa  Catalina,  and  one  hundred 

leagues  inland.    Valladolid 

August  21. 

Several  other  bills  to  the  same  on  the  same  subject.  (*) 

THE  QUEEN  : 

Whereas  you,  Gregorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa,  native  of  the  city  of  Burgos, 
wishing  to  serve  us,  and  to  increase  our  Royal  Crown  of  Castile,  have 
offered  and  do  offer  yourself  to  raise  and  collect  from  the  land  situated  on 
the  River  Plate,  which  is  our  demarcation,  from  that  portion  thereof 
known  as  La  Cananea  to  the  River  Santa  Catalina,  and  one  hundred  leagues  , 
inland,  the  first  kind  of  spices  in  such  quantities,  and  saleable  among 
Christians  for  the  same  price  as  those  imported  from  India  into  the  Kingdom 
of  Portugal;  and  that  you  will  take  every  thing  necessary  for  the  said 
purpose,  and  that  in  case  there  should  be  no  disposition   or  means  in  the 


{*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archive  of 
Indies,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of 
group  A,  No.  6,  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  «  Argentine  Evidence.)) 


—  136  — 

said  country  to  raise  the  said  spices,  you  will  try  to  do  it  in  that  part  of  our 
Indies  which  shall  be  pointed  out  to  you,  at  your  expense,  without  our 
being  held  liable  at  any  time  to  pay  you  or  reimburse  your  outlays,  except 
that  which  shall  be  granted  to  you  in  these  capitulations  which  I  have  caused 
to  make  with  you  in  the  following  manner  : 

Firstly :  We  grant  you  permission,  and  authority,  to  you,  the  said  Gre- 
gorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa,  or  whoever  may  hold  your  power  of  attorney,  to 
produce  the  said  spices  within  fifty  leagues  from  the  said  coast  of  the  River 
Plate  and  one  hundred  leagues  inland,  beginning  at  the  place  known  as 
La  Cananea  towards  the  river  Santa  Catalina  ;  and  we  enjoin  and  forbid  for 
the  term  of  twenty  years  from  the  date  of  these  capitulations  any  other  person  or 
persons  whatsoever  to  produce  the  same  kind  of  spices  that  you  may  collect  in 
the  said  coast  of  the  said  River  Plate,  as  well  as  in  the  other  provinces  and 
islands  of  our  Indies,  discovered  and  undiscovered;  on  condition  that  all  the 
profit  derived  from  the  said  spices  during  the  said  twenty  years,  shall  be 
divided  in  this  way,  one  part  for  us,  and  the  other  two  third  parts  for  you 
the  said  Gregorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa  and  for  your  heirs  and  successors  with- 
out any  rebate  for  costs,  and  that  at  the  expiration  of  the  said  twenty  years  we 
shall  be  at  liberty  to  grant  permission  to  produce  the  said  spices,  to  whom  we 
may  please,  and  that  you  and  your  said  heirs,  after  you,  shall  enjoy  the 
twentieth  part  of  the  profits,  and  that  you  shall  retain  perpetually,  and  for 
ever,  the  factorage  of  the  said  spices,  rendering  an  account  thereof  to  our 
Council  of  Indies  ever)'  two  years,  appointing  the  persons  whom  you  may 
think  best  and  necessary  for  the  safety  of  our  Treasury,  as  long  as  you  will 
not  use,  for  the  production  of  the  said  spices,  the  lands  and  farms  of  the 
Indians,  nor  compel  them  to  work  against  their  will,  and  only  for  pay. 

Also,  that  you,  the  said  Gregorio  de  Pesquera,  shall  be  obliged  to  start 
the  said  farm  and  to  set  it  in  proper  order,  so  that  it  may  be  in  a  yielding 
condition  within  four  years,  the  first  and  second  to  count  from  the  date  of 
these  our  capitulations,  and  that  within  twenty  one  years,  likewise  first  and 
following  from  the  date  of  these  capitulations,  the  said  farm  shall  have  yielded 
us  a  profit  of  thirty  thousand  ducats  every  year  over  and  above  your  share ; 
and  that  if  you  should  fail  to  accomplish  any  one  of  these  two  things,  these 
capitulations,  shall  be  null  and  void  and  without  effect,  and  we  shall  not  be 
held  liable  to  accomplish  any  thing  therein  contained,  and  be  at  liberty  to 
grant  the  government  and  land  to  whom  we  may  choose. 

And  to  reward  and  honor  your  person  we  promise  to  grant  you  the  title 
of  our  Governor  of  the  said  countries  within  the  said  fifty  leagues  of  the  coast 
of  the  River  Plate,  beginning,  as  before  stated,  at  the  place  known  as  La 
Cananea  toward  the  river  Santa  Catalina,  with  one  hundred  leagues  inland, 
East  by  West,  for  all  the  days  of  your  life  and  that  of  one  heir  of  yours 
whom  you  may  appoint,  in  condition  that  you  send  his  name  to  our  Council 
of  Indies,  for  approval. 

Furthermore,  that  to  reward  you  we  hereby  grant  you  ten  square  leagues 
on  each  part  in  the  said  fifty  leagues  of  coast,  or  in  the  one  hundred  leagues 
inland,   whereever  you  may  choose  to  take  them,    with  civil  jurisdiction, 


—  137  — 

provided  they  are  not  within  five  leagues  from  the  sea  coast,  nor  head  of 
department  or  province,  nor  the  best  nor  the  worst  of  the  land,  and  you 
shall  not  enjoy  the  possession  of  the  said  ten  leagues  of  land  until  we  have 
the  annual  rent  of  thirty  thousand  ducats  from  the  said  farm  which  you 
promise  to  work. 

Furthermore,  we  promise  you  that,  if  upon  your  having  tried  the  said 
spices  at  your  cost  and  labor  upon  the  said  land  which  we  grant  you  on  the 
said  coast  of  River  Plate,  they  should  not  be  of  such  a  quality  that  would 
justify  its  production,  or  that  you  could  not  produce  it,  for  some  just  cause, 
in  the  said  land,  we  will  order  that  other  uncultivated  lands  convenient  for 
the  said  farm  shall  be  granted  you  in  another  government  or  part  of  our 
Indies  that  you  may  indicate,  and  we  shall  likewise  command  that  the 
Indians  assist  you,  to  which  effect  the  necessary  orders  shall  be  given  you, 
they  receiving  for  such  assistance  a  just  and  corresponding  salary. 

Furthermore,  that  we  shall  order  that  the  Indians  living  within  the 
said  fifty  leagues  of  the  said  coast  which  we  grant  you  for  the  said  farm, 
shall  work  in  it  honestly  and  without  vexation,  you  to  provide  for  their 
nourishment  and  needs. 

Furthermore,  that  if  during  the  lapse  of  the  said  twenty  years  you  would 
supply  this  our  Kingdom  and  dominion  with  the  said  spices  that  you  now 
promise  to  raise,  in  sufficient  quantity  to  satisfy  the  demand,  no  other  spices 
of  similar  qualities  shall  be  permitted  to  be  introduced  in  our  said  Kingdoms 
and  dominions,  but  those  produced  by  you. 

Furthermore,  we  command,  and  it  is  our  will  and  desire,  that  if  you, 
the  said  Gregorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa,  should  die  before  the  expiration  of  the 
said  twenty  years,  your  heirs  and  successors  shall  enjoy  the  privileges 
contained  in  this  capitulation,  and  they  shall  be  obHged  to  comply  with 
the  provision  contained  in  the  same. 

Furthermore,  we  promise  you,  that  if  this  transaction  should  be  realized, 
we  shall  appoint  one  of  the  docks  that  we  have  in  Sevile,  where  you  may 
make  your  preparations  necessary  for  the  said  farm. 

Furthermore,  that  we  shall  order  that  no  duties  shall  be  paid  us  on  the 
said  spices,  and  other  things  that  may  be  sent  from  the  said  country,  in  all 
our  said  Kingdoms  and  dominions  during  the  said  term  of  the  said  twenty 
years,  after  which  only  duties  imposed  upon  other  things  coming  from  the 
said  Indies  shall  be  paid  us. 

Furthermore,  we  prohibit  and  forbid  you,  Gregorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa, 
and  all  other  persons,  during  the  term  cl  your  government  in  the  said 
country,  to  make  nor  consent  to  be  made  in  the  said  land,  any  slave  or 
slaves  by  any  means,  directly  or  indirectly,  for  it  is  our  will  and  pleasure  that 
all  the  natives  of  the  said  land  shall  be  as  free  as  the  natives  of  our  King- 
doms, under  penalty  that  if  you,  or  any  other  person,  should  make  any  slave 
or  slaves,  or  take  any  of  them  away  from  the  said  land,  you  shall,  for  that 
reason,  forfeit  the  office  of  Governor  and  all  other  privileges  granted  you  by 
virtue  of  these  capitulations. 

Furthermore,  whereas  according  to  the  laws  of  our  Kingdoms  whenever 


-  138  - 

our  soldiers  and  Captains  of  our  navies  capture  some  Prince  ot-  potentate  of 
the  countries  where  they  make  war  by  our  command,  the  ransom  of  the  said 
prince  or  cacique  belongs  to  us,  with  all  the  moveables  of  their  belonging, 
considering  the  great  work  and  dangers  to  which  our  subjects  are  exposed 
in  the  conquest  of  the  Indies,  as  a  sort  of  reparation  for  them,  and  to  reward 
the  said  subjects,  we  declare  and  order,  that  if  any  cacique,  or  prince,  should 
be  captured  during  your  said  conquest  or  government,  of  all  the  treasury  in 
gold,  silver,  stones  and  pearls  that  would  be  received  from  him  by  way  of 
ransom,  or  in  any  other  manner  one  sixth  part  shall  be  given  us,  and 
the  remainder  shall  be  divided  among  the  conquerors,  after  withdrawing  our 
fifth  ;  and  in  case  that  the  said  cacique  or  prince  should  be  killed  in  battle, 
or  after  by  way  of  justice,  or  in  any  other  manner,  in  such  a  case  one  half  of 
the  treasuries  above-named,  justly  received  from  him,  shall  be  applied  to  us 
for  the  payment  of  all  our  officers,  and  the  other  half,  after  withdrawing 
our  fifth,  shall  be  divided. 

And,  whereas,  we  have  been  informed  of  the  evils  and  abuses  that  have 
been  committed  and  are  being  committed  in  the  discovery  and  new  settle- 
ments, in  order  that  we  may,  with  clear  conscience,  grant  permission  to 
remedy  it  with  the  approbation  of  our  Council,  a  general  order  has  been 
decided  upon  and  issued  with  due  provision  regarding  your  duty  in  that 
respect,  in  the  said  settlement  and  discoveries,  which  is  annexed  herewith  in 
the  following  tenor  : 

( Follows  the  provision  agreed  upon  with  regard  to  discoveries  and  new 
conquests.^ 

Finally,  upon  fulfillment  at  your  expense  and  labor,  and  in  the  manner 
afore-said,  and  complying  with  the  mandates  of  the  said  provision  herein 
annexed,  and  all  other  instructions  that  we  shall  hereafter  communicate  to 
you  for  the  said  country,  and  for  the  good  treatment  and  conversion  of  the 
natives  of  the  same  to  our  Holy  Catholic  faith,  I  do  promise  and  say,  that 
these  capitulations  shall  be  fulfilled  and  every  thing  therein  contained.  And  if 
you  should  fail  to  do  so,  we  shall  not  be  obliged  to  keep  and  fulfill  the  above 
said,  nor  any  part  thereof,  but  shall  sooner  have  you  punished  and  take 
proceedings  against  you  as  a  person  who  does  not  keep,  nor  fulfill,  but  ignores 
the  mandates  of  his  King  and  natural  master.  In  testimony  whereof,  we 
signed  these  presents,  legalized  by  the  undersigned  Notary,  dated  in  the  city 
of  Valladolid,  on  the  twenty  first  day  of  August,  fifteen  hundred  and  thirty 
six  years.  —  I,  THE  QUEEN.  —  LegaHzed  by  Samano.  —  Marked  by 
Cardinal  and  Bertran,  and  Bernal  y  Velazquez. 


DON  CARLOS,  by  Divine  clemency,  etc. 
Whereas,  you,  Gregorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa,  residentof  the  city  of  Burgos, 
wishing  to  serve  us,  and  to  increase  our  Royal  Crown  of  Castile,  have  offered 
to  raise  and  farm  and  collect  from  the  land  situated  on  the  River  Plate, 
which  is  our  demarcation,  from  the  place  known  as  La  Cananea  to  the  River 
Santa  Catalina,  and  one  hundred  leagues  inland,  the  first  kind  of  spices  and 


—  T39  — 

in  such  quantity  as  is  sold  among  christians  for  the  same  price  as  those 
imported  from  India  into  the  Kingdom  of  Portugal ;  and  that  you  will  take 
for  the  said  farm  all  the  necessary  things,  and  that  all  will  be  done  at  your 
expense  and  risk,  without  our  being,  at  any  time,  held  liable  to  pay  and 
reimburse  you  for  your  outlays  beyond  that  which  is  stipulated  in  the  treaty 
and  capitulations  which  we  have  ordered  to  be  made  with  you  upon  the 
subject,  and  in  which  there  is  a  chapter  of  the  following  tenor :  firstly,  we 
grant  you,  the  said  Gregorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa,  permission  and  authority,  and 
whomsoever  shall  hold  your  power  of  Attorney,  to  raise  and  collect  the  said 
spices  within  fifty  leagues  of  the  said  coast  of  River  Plate,  and  one 
hundred  leagues  inland  from  the  place  known  as  La  Cananea,  toward  the 
River  Santa  Catalina,  and  we  enjoin  and  forbid  any  person  or  persons,  for 
a  term  of  twenty  years,  first  and  following,  to  count  from  the  date  of  these 
capitulations,  to  raise  and  collect  the  same  kind  of  spices  that  you  shall 
produce  on  the  said  coast  of  the  River  Plate,  as  well  as  in  other  provinces 
and  islands  of  our  Indies,  discovered  and  undiscovered,  on  condition  that  all 
the  profit  which  may  be  derived  from  the  said  spices  during  the  said  twenty 
years,  shall  be  divided  in  this  manner  :  one  third  part  for  us,  and  the  other 
two  third  parts  for  you,  the  said  Gregorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa,  and  for  your 
heirs,  without  any  rebate  whatsoever,  and  that  at  the  expiration  of  the  said 
twenty  years  we  shall  be  at  liberty  to  give  permission  to  whom  we  may  be 
pleased,  to  make  the  said  farm,  and  that  out  of  the  profit  that  we  may 
derive  from  it,  you,  and  your  heirs  after  you,  shall  enjoy  the  twentieth  part, 
and  retain  the  factorage  of  the  said  spices  perpetually  and  forever,  rendering 
an  account  of  it  to  our  Council  of  Indies  every  two  years,  appointing  the 
other  persons  whom  it  may  be  judged  to  be  necessary  for  the  safety  of  our 
Treasury,  on  condition  that  for  farming  and  raising  the  said  spices  you  shall 
not  take  the  lands  and  farms  belonging  to  the  Indians,  nor  to  compel  them 
to  work  without  their  own  will,  and  paying  them  for  their  work:  We,  there- 
fore, in  compliance  with  the  said  capitulations  and  the  chapter  annexed 
thereto,  do  hereby  grant  permission  and  authority  to  you,  the  said  Gregorio 
de  Pesquera  Rosa,  or  whoever  shall  hold  your  power  of  Attorney,  to  raise 
and  produce  the  said  spices  in  the  said  fifty  leagues  of  the  said  coast  of  River 
Plate,  and  one  hundred  leagues  inland,  beginning,  as  before  stated,  at  the 
place  known  as  La  Cananea  towards  the  River  Santa  Catalina  ;  and  we 
prohibit  and  forbid  any  person  or  persons  to  raise  and  produce  hereafter,  and 
for  the  term  of  twenty  years,  first  and  following,  to  count  from  the  twenty  first 
day  of  the  month  of  August  of  this  present  year,  fifteen  hundred  and  thirty 
six,  which  is  the  date  of  the  said  capitulations,  the  same  kind  of  spices  that 
you  may  raise  and  produce  on  the  said  River  Plate,  as  well  as  in  the  other 
provinces  and  islands  of  the  said  our  Indies,  discovered  or  undiscovered,  and 
we  command  our  officers  of  the  said  lands  on  which  you  are  to  raise  the 
spices,  or  the  person  charged  with  the  collection  of  our  rents  and  profits  on 
the  same,  to  distribute  all  the  profits  realized  on  the  said  spices  during  the 
said  twenty  years  in  the  following  manner:  one  third  part  for  us,  and  the  other 
two  thirds  for  you,  the  said  Gregorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa,  or  for  your  heirs  and 


—    I40  — 

successors  after  you,  without  any  rebate  whatsoever,  reserving  our  right,  and 
that  of  other  Kings  coming  after  us,  to  give,  upon  the  expiration  of  the  said 
twenty  years,  permission  and  authority  to  whom  we  may  be  pleased,  to  do 
the  said  farming,  on  condition  that  out  of  all  the  profits  resulting  therefrom, 
you,  the  said  Gregorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa,  and  your  heirs  and  successors  after 
you,  shall  enjoy  one  twentieth  part,  and  hold  the  factorage  oi  the  said  spices 
perpetually  and  forever,  rendering  an  account  of  it  to  our  Council  of  Indies 
every  two  years,  appointing  the  other  persons  whom  you  may  judge  to  be 
necessary  for  the  safety  of  our  Treasury.  We  also  forbid  you,  the  said  Gre- 
gorio de  Pesquera  Rosa,  and  your  said  heirs  and  successors,  to  use,  for  the 
said  farming,  the  lands  or  farms  belonging  to  the  Indians  of  the  said  countries 
and  to  compel  them  to  work  without  their  own  will,  or  without  pay,  under 
penalty  of  our  disgrace  and  fine  of  ten  thousand  ducats  to  be  applied  to  our 
Treasury,  if  you  should  do  the  contrary. — Valladolid,  September  ninth,  and 
fifteen  hundred  and  thirty  six  years  from  the  birth  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 
— I,  THE  QUEEN. — LegaHzed  by  Samano  and  marked  by  Doctor  Beltran. 
— Licentiate  Gutierrez  Velazquez. 


DON  CARLOS,  etc. 
Whereas,  you,  Gregorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa,  native  of  the  city  of  Burgos, 
wishing  to  serve  us  and  to  increase  our  Royal  Crown,  .have  offered  to  raise 
and  collect  from  the  land  situated  on  the  River  Plate,  which  is  our  demar- 
cation, from  the  place  known  as  La  Cananea  to  the  River  Santa  Catalina,  and 
one  hundred  leagues  inland,  the  first  kind  of  spices,  and  in  such  quantities 
saleable  among  christians  for  the  same  price  as  those  coming  from  India  to 
the  Kingdom  of  Portugal  ;  and  that  you  will  take  every  thing  necessary  for 
the  same  purpose,  at  your  expense  and  risk,  without  our  being,  at  any  time, 
held  liable  to  pay  and  reimburse  you  for  your  outlays  beyond  that  which  is 
stipulated  in  the  treaty  and  capitulations  which  we  have  ordered  to  be  made 
with  you  upon  the  subject,  and  in  which  there  is  a  chapter  of  the  following 
tenor :  ' '  That  in  order  to  reward  and  honor  your  person,  we  promise  to  grant 
you  the  title  of  our  Governor  of  the  said  countries  within  the  said  fifty  leagues 
on  the  coast  of  the  River  Plate,  beginning,  as  before  stated,  at  the  place 
known  as  La  Cananea,  towards  the  River  Santa  Catalina,  with  one  hundred 
leagues  inland,  east  by  west,  for  all  the  days  of  your  life  and  that  of  one 
heir  of  yours  appointed  by  you,  whose  name  you  shall  send  to  our  Council  of 
Indies,  for  approval:  Therefore,  in  compliance  with  the  said  capitulations  and 
the  chapter  thereto  annexed,  it  is  our  will  and  pleasure  that  you  shall,  for  all 
the  days  of  your  life,  be  our  Governor  of  the  said  countries  within  the  said 
fifty  leagues  on  the  coast  of  the  River  Plate,  beginning,  as  before  stated,  at 
the  place  known  as  La  Cananea  towards  the  River  Santa  Catalina,  with  one 
hundred  leagues  inland,  east  by  west;  and  after  you,  one  heir  of  yours  whom 
you  may  appoint,  provided  you  send  his  name  to  our  Council  of  Indies  for 
our  approbation  :  with  power  to  administer  our  justice,  civil  and  criminal,  in 
cities,  towns,  and  places  which  are  now  in  existence  in  the  said  countries,   or 


—   141    — 

may  hereafter  be  created  ;  with  the  oflfices  of  justice  which  there  may  exist. 
And  we,  hereby,  command  the  councils,  justices,  aldermen,  squires,  officers 
and  good  citizens  of  all  the  cities,  towns  and  places  in  the  said  countries,  now 
settled,  and  those  to  be  settled  and  our  officers  and  other  persons  there 
residing,  and  every  one  of  them  who  may  see  this  warrant,  to  take  from  you, 
the  said  Gregorio  de  Pesquera,  and  after  you  your  heir,  approved  by  us,  as 
before  stated,  and  from  your  lieutenants  whom  you  may  appoint  and  remove, 
at  your  will,  without  delay,  consultation  nor  expectation  from  us  of  any  other 
warrant  or  mandate,  the  oath  required  in  such  cases,  so  that  they  shall,  upon 
the  performance  of  the  said  formality,  take  and  accept  you  for  all  the  said 
days  of  your  life,  and  thereafter,  for  those  of  your  heirs,  as  their  Governor  and 
Justice  of  the  said  countries,  and  let  you  enjoy  freely  and  exercise  the  office 
of  our  Governor  and  Justice,  and  fulfill  and  administer  our  justice  by  you  and 
your  said  lieutenants  in  the  said  office  of  Justice,  Constable  and  other  offices 
connected  with  the  said  government,  as  you  may  think  convenient  to  our 
service  and  the  administration  of  our  justice,  and  remove  officers  and  appoint 
others ;  to  hear  and  decide  law  sgits,  and  civil  and  criminal  cases  that  may 
come  up  between  the  people  of  the  said  land,  either  natives  or  settlers;  and 
that  you,  your  said  judges,  lieutenants  and  the  said  your  heir  after  you,  may 
have  the  fees  belonging  to  the  said  offices,  and  exercise  the  power  of 
examination  and  every  thing  appertaining  to  the  said  offices,  and  you  and 
your  judges  may  think  convenient  to  our  service  and  the  administration  of 
our  justice,  and  the  population  and  government  of  the  said  countries ;  and  for 
the  use  and  exercise  of  the  said  office,  and  the  administration  of  our  justice, 
every  one  of  them  shall  agree  and  be  satisfied  with  you  and  your  people,  and 
render  you  all  the  aid  you  may  need  and  ask  for,  and  that  they  shall  revere 
and  obey  your  mandates  or  those  of  your  lieutenants,  without  any  opposi- 
tion, partially  or  wholly.  We  hereby  declare  you  invested  with  the 
authority  of  the  said  office,  with  power  and  privilege  to  use,  exercise  and 
fulfill  the  same  in  the  administration  of  our  justice  in  the  said  countries,  said 
authority  to  be  extended  to  your  lieutenants,  as  before  stated. 

Furthermore,  it  is  our  will  that  if  you,  the  said  Gregorio  de  Pesquera, 
will  deem  to  be  for  our  best,  and  the  administration  of  our  justice,  that  if 
some  persons  who  are  now,  or  may  be  in  the  said  countries,  should  be 
required  to  leave  the  same,  to  appear  in  our  presence,  you  shall  so  order  in 
our  name,  and  cause  them  to  leave,  in  conformity  with  the  rules  about  this 
subject,  explaining  to  the  person  thus  banished,  the  reason  why,  and  if  it 
must  be  secret,  according  to  your  judgement,  to  give  it  sealed,  and  send  us  a 
copy  thereof  for  our  information  ;  but  we  warn  you  against  banishing  any 
body  without  a  just  cause;  to  which  end,  and  to  use  and  administer  our 
said  justice  in  the  said  countries,  for  all  your  days,  we  hereby  grant  you  full 
power  with  all  its  incidents,  annexes  and  connections  ;  and  we  command  you 
that  all  the  fines,  belonging  to  our  treasury,  that  you  avid  your  lieutenants 
may  impose,  shall  be  collected  by  inventory  before  Notary  Public,  and  that 
an  account  be  kept  of  the  same,  and  at  our  disposal,  none  being  authorized 
to  appropriate  the  same,   under  penalty  of  our  disgrace  and  a  fine  of  ten 


142    

thousand  farthings  for  our  treasury,  for  those  who  would  disregard  this 
order. — ValladoHd,  ninth  day  of  the  month  of  September,  fifteen  hundred 
and  thirty  six  years.  — I,  THE  QUEEN. — Legalized  by  Samano  and 
signed  by  Doctor  Beltran  and  Licentiate  Velazquez. 


THE  QUEEN. —  Bachelor  (there  is  an  open  space  in  the  original) 
residing  at  La  Cananea,  which  island  on  the  River  Plate,  take  notice  that  I 
have  had  a  Treaty  and  Capitulations  made  with  Gregorio  de  Pesquera  Rosa, 
regarding  the  raising  of  and  producing  certain  spices  in  that  country,  and  I  have 
provided  him  with  the  government  of  the  same,  and  he  is  going  to  exercise  the 
said  office  and  attend  to  the  said  farming,  as  you  will  know  from  him  ;  and 
having  been  informed  that  you  have  been  an  old  resident  of  that  land,  and 
that  you  have  your  wife  and  children  in  the  same,  I  request  you  as  a  person 
well  acquainted  with  the  country  and  its  properties,  to  assist  the  said  Grego- 
rio Pesquera  with  your  good  counsel,  which  you  may  think  convenient  to 
promote  the  said  farming,  and  in  any  thing  that  you  may  possibly  do,  as  a 
person  who  is  at  our  service,  with  the  assurances  that  your  services  shall  be 
remembered  and  appreciated  whenever  there  shall  be  an  occasion  to  reward 
you  and  your  children. — Valladolid,  this  ninth  day  of  September,  fifteen 
hundred  and  thirty  six  years. — I,  THE  QUEEN. — Legalized  by  Samano. — 
Marked  by  Beltran  and  Velazquez. 


1537 


COlKIIMEZSSIOir 

by  Don  Pedro  de  IMtendoza  appointing'  Juan  de  Ayolas  and 

Francisco  Ruiz  G-alan  Lieutenant  G-overnors  of  the  Fort 

of  XTuestra  Senora  Santa  I^aria  de  Buenos  Ayres  {*) 

Be  it  known  to  all  who  this  letter  should  see,  that  I,  Don  Pedro  de 
Mendoza,  Adelantado,  Governor  and  Captain-General  of  this  Province  of  the 
River  Plate,  with  two  hundred  leagues  of  the  South  sea  coast  by  His 
Majesty,  say  that:  Whereas,  God,  our  Lord,  willing,  I  have  determined  to  go 
to  the  Kingdoms  of  Spain  on  affairs  concerning  His  Majesty's  service,  and 
the  welfare,  settlement  and  pacification  of  this  land;  and  in  my  place,  in  His 
Majesty's  name,  I  leave  in  this  province  as  my  Lieutenant-Governor  and 
Captain-General,  Juan  de  Ayolas,  by  virtue  of  the  Royal  Charter  that  I  there- 
for have  from  His  Majesty,  the  tenor  of  which  is  as  follows:  (Here  follows 
the  copy  of  the  charter  granted  by  Carlos  V  to  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza,  dated 
at  ValladoHd  the  ninteenth  of  July,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty- 
four.)  And  in  order  to  know  what  is  there  in  this  land,  I  have  sent  said 
Juan  de  Ayolas,  my  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Captain-General,  that  he  may  be 
acquainted  of  it,  with  brigs  and  seamen  all  well  furnished,  and  I  leave  at  this 
land  you,  the  Captain  Francisco  Ruiz  Galan,  so  that,  on  said  Juan  de  Ayolas 
bringing  or  sending  the  news  of  the  gold  or  silver  and  other  things  that  he 
may  bring,  you  shall  go  after  me,  that  I  may  give  advice  of  it  to  His  Majesty, 
to  which  effect  I  leave  you  a  ship  fully  stored  and  provisioned.  And  where- 
as, it  is  meanwhile  necessary  that  a  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Captain-Gen- 
eral shall  remain  in  this  land,  in  my  place  and  in  His  Majesty's  name,  with 
the  ships  and  men  left  therein,  to  take  care  of  the  administration  and  govern- 
ment of  the  whole  of  it  until  said  Juan  de  Ayolas,  my  Lieutenant-Governor 
and  Captain-General,   may  return  as  aforesaid,   and  otherwise  provide  and 


( *  )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archive  of 
Indies,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of 
group  A,  No.  7,  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  144  — 

command  in  regard  to  said  Government,  ships  or  men  of  this  port,  or  to  all 
other  things  within  the  Government  of  this  province,  therefore  by  the  present, 
in  virtue  of  said  His  Majesty's  charter  above-inclosed,  I  declare  and  acknowl- 
edge through  this  present  letter,  that  in  my  place  and  in  His  Majesty's  name, 
I  do  appoint,  assign  and  institute,  and  place  at  this  port  of  Nuestra  Senora 
Santa  Maria  de  Buenos  Ayres,  you,  the  Captain  Francisco  Ruiz  Galan,  to 
command  over  all  men  and  ships  therein  remaining  as  well  as  all  the  men 
now  in  the  camp  that  I  leave  founded  and  settled  at  the  port  of  Nuestra 
Senora  de  Buena  Esperanza,  Corpus  Christi,  whose  Captains  now  are  the 
Treasurer,  Gonzalo  Albarado,  and  Carlos  Dubrin,  with  all  else  therein  being, 
which  I  had  and  must  have  under  my  Administration  and  Government,  and 
I  give  and  grant  you  as  full  and  complete  faculty  as  His  Majesty,  through 
His  said  Royal  Charter,  gives  and  grants  me,  so  that  as  such  my  Lieutenant- 
Governor  and  Captain-General,  you  may  in  all  those  cases  and  things,  both 
of  civil  and  criminal  justice,  as  in  all  else  regarding  the  Administration  and 
Government  of  this  said  port  and  ships,  and  of  the  camp  of  Buena  Esperanza 
or  Corpus  Christi,  and  men  now  living  there,  enact  and  perform  all  that  I 
would  and  could  perform  and  enact,  keeping  in  everything  His  Majesty's  ser- 
vice during  all  the  time  that  you  are  to  be  here,  until  said  Juan  de  Ayolas, 
my  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Captain-General,  may  return,  as  above-said,  or 
provide  otherwise  to  it,  that  you  may  follow  me  as  by  this  letter  is  disposed; 
and  I  command  to  all  and  whatever  Captains,  and  to  any  other  persons,  to 
have  and  acknowledge  you  as  such  my  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Captain- 
General,  and  to  fulfill  and  obey  your  commands  as  my  own,  upon  the  penal- 
ties that  you  would  impose  them,  and  which  you  are  herein  empowered  to 
execute  on  their  persons  and  property  every  time  that  they  would  incur  in 
them ;  and  should  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  not  come  with  said  news,  but  send 
another  person,  I  grant  you  power  that  you  may,  in  your  name  and  that  of 
His  Majesty,  to  place  and  leave  at  these  said  ports  such  a  person  as  you  may 
choose,  which  shall  remain  at  these  said  ports  as  my  Lieutenant-Governor,  to 
take  charge  of  said  Administration  and  Government,  and  to  those  things  and 
cases  that  I  would  and  could  do  for  the  common  welfare,  said  Governor  to 
have  as  full  power  as  I  have  from  His  Majesty  until  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  may 
provide  otherwise;  in  faith  whereof  I  give  you  the  present  power  and  faculty, 
signed  with  my  name,  at  this  port  of  Nuestra  Senora  Santa  Maria  de  Buenos 
Ayres,  in  the  Province  of  the  River  Plate,  the  twentieth  day  of  the  month 
of  April,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  of  the  Nativity  of  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ:  the  witnesses  to  the  aforesaid  being  Juan  de  Ortega, 
Juan  de  Benavides  and  Miguel  Sebastian,  servants  of  the  Lord  Governor, 
who  signed  with  his  name  in  the  register  of  this  letter — Don  Pedro  de  Men- 
doza.  And  I',  Pero  Fernandez,  Notary  of  His  Majesty,  who,  to  the  granting 
of  this  letter,  jointly  with  the  said  witnesses,  testify  that  I  know  said  Adelanta- 
do  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza,  who  before  me  signed  in  my  register  with  his 
name  and  signet  all  which  I  caused  to  be  written,  and  did  write;  in  faith 
whereof,  I  set  here  this,  my  signet.  In  testimony  of  truth.  (Here  is  a  sign) 
— Pero  Fernandez. 


1540 


CiiFZTUIiATZOirS 

IMIade  with  Alvar  Uuiiez  Cabeza  de  Vaca.  (*) 


THE  KING. — Whereas,  we  caused  certain  covenant  and  capitulations 
to  be  taken  with  the  late  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza  in  regard^to  the  conquest  and 
settlement  of  the  province  of  the  River  Plate  by  which  we  granted  him  the 
government  of  said  province  from  the  River  Plate  to  the  South  Sea  with  two 
hundred  leagues  more  along  the  coast  on  said  South  Sea,  to  begin  from  the 
place  where  the  government  which  we  had  entrusted  to  Marshal  Don  Diego 
de  Almagro  should  end,  towards  Magellan's  Strait,  said  Don  Pedro  de 
Mendoza  having  gone  to  said  province  and  being  at  it,  sent  Juan  de  Ayolas 
inland,  as  his  Captain  General,  with  certain  men,  and,  having  after  sending 
him,  determined  to  come  to  these  Kingdoms  and,  when  coming,  having 
died  at  sea,  and  at  the  time  of  his  demise,  in  virtue  of  the  faculty  that  by 
said  capitulations  and  other  provisions  of  ours  he  had,  appointed  for  said 
government  said  Juan  Ayolas,  whom  he  instituted  as  his  heir;  and  we,  in 
view  of  said  appointment,  caused  the  title  of  said  government  to  be  given 
said  Juan  Ayolas,  and  as  we  are  now  told  that  said  Juan  Ayolas,  after  said 
Don  Pedro  having  sent  him  with  said  men  inland  has  not  appeared  nor  it  is 
known  whether  he  is  alive  or  dead,  and  in  our  Council  of  Indies  it  has  been 
intended  many  times  to  endeavour  to  ascertain  whether  said  Juan  de  Ayolas 
be  dead,  and  were  he  and  the  Spaniards  our  subjects  now  in  said  provinces, 
alive,  and  in  want,  as  we  are  informed,  of  provisions  and  clothing  and  arms 
and  ammunition  and  other  things  necessary  to  prosecute  said  conquest 
and  discovery,  that  they  be  succored :  and  you,  Alvar  Nuiiez  Cabeza  de  Vaca, 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archive  of 
Indies,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of 
group  A,  No.  8  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—   146  — 

desirous  of  serving  God  Our  Lord  and  us,  and  of  increasing  our  Royal 
Crown,  and  in  order  that  the  Spaniards  now  in  said  province  may  not  perish, 
have  offered  and  do  offer  yourself  to  expend  eight  thousond  ducats  in  car- 
rying horses,  provisions,  clothing,  arms,  ammunition  and  other  supplies 
for  said  Spaniards  and  for  the  conquest  and  settlement  of  said  province  in 
the  things  and  in  tht  form  and  manner  that  we  shall,  therefore,  give  you, 
besides  and  apart  from  what  the  hulk  of  the  ships  necessary  to  transport 
said  horses  and  things  would  cost,  you  to  have  said  government  and  con- 
quest, so  that  you,  should  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  be  dead  at  the  date  or  your 
arrival  in  said  land,  may  take  in  charge  said  government  and  conquest  as 
said  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza  and  he  could  do  it.  Wherefore,  we  cause  the 
following  covenant  and  capitulations  to  be  taken  with  you. 

First. — We  are  pleased  that  should  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  be  not  alive  at 
the  time  of  your  arrival  in  said  province,  you,  in  our  name  and  that  of  the 
Royal  Crown  of  Castile,  may  discover,  conquer  and  settle  the  lands  and 
provinces  whose  government  had  been  given  to  said  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza 
through  his  said  capitulations  and  charter,  with  said  two  hundred  leagues  of 
coast  on  said  Sou1,h  Sea,  in  the  order,  form  and  manner  that  with  him  were 
capitulated,  and  in  which  he  could  and  should  do  it :  and  of  all  this  we  will 
command  the  necessary  provisions  to  be  given  to  you. 

Moreover,  We  shall  give  you  the  title  of  ourGovernor  and  Captain  Gen- 
eral of  said  lands  and  provinces  thus  given  in  government  to  the  said  Don 
Pedro  de  Mendoza,  and  of  said  two  hundred  leagues  of  coast  on  said  South 
Sea  and  of  the  Island  of  Santa  Catalina,  for  all  the  days  of  your  life,  with  a 
yearly  stipend  of  two  thousand  ducats,  to  be  enjoyed  by  you,  from  the  day 
of  your  leaving  the  port  of  San  Lucar  de  Barrameda  henceforth,  said  two 
hundred  ducats  to  be  taken  from  the  rents  and  profits  appertaining  to  us  on 
account  of  said  land,  which  we  would  receive  during  the  time  of  your  gov- 
ernment, and  not  otherwise,  all  this  to  be  understood  in  case  that  said  Juan 
de  Ayolas  be  not  alive,  as  above-mentioned,  when  you  should  arrive  in  said 
land. 

Moreover,  We  shall  favour  you  with  the  charge  of  High  Constable  of  the 
land  by  you  discovered  and  conquered,  whereas  you  by  said  capitulations, 
have  the  mercy  ot  said  charge,  over  all  which  in  life  of  Don  Pedro  and  of 
the  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  would  be  discovered  and  settled,  for  all  the  days  of 
your  life,  and  that  of  one  heir  of  yours. 

Moreover,  We  shall  grant  you  leave  and  power  so  that,  with  the  opinion 
and  consent  of  our  officers  in  said  province,  you  may  build  in  it  two  fortres- 
ses, in  the  part  and  places  more  convenient,  should  you  and  said  our  officers 
deem  them  necessary  for  the  security  and  guard  of  the  said  province,  and  we 
shall  favour  you  with  the  Lieutenancy  of  them  for  all  the  days  of  your  life,  with 
a  yearly  stipend  of  one  hundred  thousand  farthings  to  be  paid  from  the  rents 
and  profits  we  are  to  have  of  said  province,  which  stipend  you  are  to  enjoy 
from  the  time  that  said  fortresses  should  be  finished  and  closed  and  fit  to  be 
inhabited  and  defended  according  to  the  opinion  of  said  our  officers,  said 
fortresses  to  be  built  by  you  at  your  expense,  without  our  being,  nor  the 


—  147  — 

Kings  that  after  us  may  come,  obliged  to  pay  you  the  expenses  which  in  its 
building  you  might  incur,  nor  anything  further  than  said  stipend. 

Moreover,  We  exempt  you  for  twelve  years  of  the  customs  duties  upon 
all  that  you  may  import  or  cause  to  be  imported  into  said  province  for  the 
supply  and  provision  of  your  person  and  house,  besides  those  contained  in 
the  general  exemptions  with  which  said  province  is  favored. 

Moreover,  whereas  you  have  entreated  us  to  make  forever  mercy  to 
you  and  your  heirs  and  successors,  of  the  twelfth  part  of  what  you  would 
conquer  and  settle  at  said  government  and  the  two  hundred  leagues  of  coast 
on  said  South  Sea  that  at  the  time  of  your  arrival  in  said  province  should  not 
yet  be  conquered,  we  by  the  present  declare  that,  notice  being  once  received 
of  what  you  would  thus  discover  and  conquer  of  what  had  not  before  been 
discovered  or  conquered  at  the  time  of  your  arrival  in  said  province,  and  the 
knowledge  of  it  duly  come  to  us,  we  intend  to  bestow  upon  you  the  proper 
mercy  and  remuneration,  and  it  is  our  mercy  that,  whilst  after  due  informa- 
tion we  provide  that  which  to  our  service  and  the  reward  and  satisfaction  of 
your  services  and  works  is  fitting,  you  shall  have  the  twelfth  part  of  all  the 
profits  and  rents  we  shall  derive  each  year  from  said  lands  and  provinces  by 
you  thus  conquered  and  settled. 

Moreover,  We  promise  to  appoint  you  Governor  of  what  you  would  thus 
discover,  conquer  and  settle  within  the  boundaries  set  to  the  government 
already  given  to  said  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza  and  with  the  two  hundred 
leagues  of  coast  on  the  South  Sea,  and  the  stipend  of  justice,  to  be  paid  to 
you  from  the  rents  to  come  to  us  of  the  lands  by  you  discovered,  said 
stipend  to  be  estimated  according  to  that  which  you  would  then  enjoy. 

Moreover,  I  shall  favour  you,  as  by  the  present  do  favour,  with  the 
title  of  our  Adelantado  of  the  lands  that  you  would  thus  discover,  con- 
quer and  settle, 

And,  as  above  said,  it  is  doubted  whether  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  be  alive 
or  dead,'  our  mind  and  will  being  not  to  deprived  him  of  his  rights,  but  that 
he  being  alive  he  may  have  said  government  and  enjoy  whatever  else  be 
contained  in  said  capitulations  of  said  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza  as  his  heir  by 
him  appointed,  we  declare  that,  were  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  alive  at  the 
time  of  your  arrival  in  said  province,  you  and  the  men  to  go  with  you  shall 
be  obliged  to  submit  to  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  and  his  lieutenant,  to  whom 
we  shall  cause  the  recommendation  to  be  writen  that  he,  in  consideration 
of  the  help  by  you  given  and  of  your  personal  worth,  shall  appoint  you  his 
Lieutenant  Governor  and  Captain  General  for  the  time  he  may  wish,  while 
you  do  your  full  duty. 

Moreover,  should  said  Juan  de  Ayolas,  as  above  said,  be  alive  at  the 
time  of  your  arrival  in  said  province,  we  promise  to  make  you  the  mercy 
of  said  Island  of  Santa  Catalina  for  a  term  of  twelve  years,  so  that  you  may 
enjoy  its  property  and  be  benefited  by  it,  but  you  shall  not  take  any  Indians 
out  of  said  island  and  government,  though  they  be  for  the  Governor  of  said 
province  of  River  Plate. 

And  as  it  could  happen  that  at  the  time  of  your  arrival  with  said  help 


—  148  — 

to  said  province  it  be  not  known  whether  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  be  dead  or 
alive,  it  is  our  mind  and  will  that  in  case  of  doubt  you  may  have  the  go- 
vernment of  said  province  as  his  lieutenant  appointed  by  us,  to  use  and 
exercise  it  in  his  name  notwithstanding  any  substitutes  he  may  have  chosen, 
until  news  is  received  of  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  and  as  a  certificate  of  your 
arrival  he  may  appoint  as  his  lieutenant  you  or  the  person  he  would  choose. 

Moreover,  should  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  be  alive  at  your  arrival  in  said 
province  you  are  not  to  have  its  government  nor  enjoy  the  other  mercies 
by  these  capitulations  to  you  granted:  we,  in  view  of  the  expenses  by  you  in- 
curred for  said  help,  declare  our  mercy  and  will  to  be  that  for  a  term  of  six 
years  you  shall  have  the  exclusive  privilege  of  supplying  said  province  and 
its  conquerors  and  residents  with  provisions  and  other  necessary  things,  any 
other  person  being  forbidden  to  do  it,  save  you  or  he  whom  you  might  im- 
power,  provided  that  you  remain  bound  to  make  four  voyages  during  said 
six  years,  in  which  voyages  you  are  to  carry  the  provisions  and  supplies  by 
our  Governor  in  said  province  ordered,  all  which  shall  be  free  from  custom 
duties  for  said  term  of  six  years. 

Moreover,  We  grant  to  the  residents  and  settlers  of  said  province  that, 
should  said  Juan  de  Ayolas  be  dead  and  said  government  devolve  upon 
you,  ground  plots  be  given  them  by  you,  on  which  they  may  build  houses,  as 
well  as  land  and  horses  and  waters  suitable  to  their  persons,  according  to 
what  has  been  done  and  is  done  at  the  Island  Hispaniola:  we  shall  likewise 
give  you  power  that  in  our  name,  during  the  time  of  your  government,  you 
may  grant  the  allotment  of  the  Indians  of  said  land,  the  regulation  and  ins- 
tructions which  shall  be  given  you,  to  be  kept  in  whatever  regards  them. 

All  what  has  been  said,  and  every  thing  and  part  of  it,  we  grant  you, 
provided  that  you  said  Alvar  Nuiiez  Cabeza  de  Vaca  remain  obliged  to  de- 
part from  these  Kingdoms,  with  the  ships  and  provisions  and  other  things 
that  you  must  carry  within  the  first  six  following  months. 

Moreover,  whereas,  according  to  the  rights  and  laws  of  our  Kingdoms, 
when  our  men  and  Captains  of  our  fleet  capture  some  Prince  or  Lord  of  the 
lands  where  by  our  command  they  make  war,  the  ransom  of  such  Lord  or 
Cacique  belongs  to  us  with  all  moveable  property  of  his  to  be  found;  but  consid- 
ering the  great  dangers  and  hardships  by  our  subjects  incurred  in  the  conquest 
of  the  Indies,  and  as  a  reward  of  these  and  to  favor  them,  we  declare  and 
command,  that  should  in  said  conquest  and  Government  of  yours  any  Cacique 
or  Chief  Lord  be  captured,  the  sixth  part  of  all  the  treasures,  gold  and  silver, 
pearls  and  precious  stones  received  from  him  as  ransom,  or  in  any  other  man- 
ner shall  be  paid  to  us,  the  rest  to  be  divided  among  the  conquerors,  first  de- 
ducting our  fifth;  and  should  said  Cacique  or  Chief  Lord  happen  to  be  killed 
in  battle  or  afterwards  by  way  of  justice,  or  in  any  other  manner,  half  of  the 
goods  and  aforesaid  treasures  to  be  had  from  him  shall  punctually  be  set  aside 
for  us,  said  half  to  be,  before  every  other  thing,  delivered  into  the  hands  of 
our  officers,  our  fifth  being  first  set  apart. 

Moreover,  as  it  could  happen  that  our  ofificers  in  said  province  would 
have  some  doubt  about  the  collection  of  our  dues,  especially  of  the  gold  and 


—  149  — 

silver  and  precious  stones  and  pearls,  both  from  the  findings  at  the  graves 
and  other  hiding  places,  or  from  whatever  be,  as  ransom  or  booty,  or  in  any- 
other  manner,  our  mind  and  will  is  that  for  the  time  that  we  be  pleased,  the 
following  command  shall  be  obeyed  : 

First,  we  command  that  all  the  gold,  silver,  precious  stones,  pearls  and 
other  things  to  be  found  or  had,  both  in  the  burial  grounds  or  temples  of  In- 
dians, or  in  the  other  places  where  they  used  to  offer  sacrifices  to  their  idols, 
and  in  any  other  religious  places  or  lands,  or  in  any  other  public,  common  or 
private  property  of  any  State  or  dignity  whatever,  the  half,  without  discount 
of  any  sort,  shall  be  paid  to  us  from  the  total  amount  of  it,  and  whatever  of 
its  kind  found, .  either  by  chance  or  purpose,  the  other  half  to  be  left  to  the 
discoverer;  it  being  provided  that,  should  any  person  or  persons  conceal  the 
gold  and  silver,  precious  stones  and  pearls  to  be  found  and  had  both  in  said 
burial  grounds,  graves,  urns  or  temples  of  Indians,  or  hidden  or  buried  in  any 
other  religious  places  above-mentioned,  and  fail  to  exhibit  them  in  order  to 
receive  the  part  which  according  to  this  article  is  due  them,  they  shall  lose 
all  the  gold  and  silver,  precious  stones  and  pearjs,  and  moreover,  the  half  of 
all  other  property  of  theirs  to  our  Chamber  and  Treasure. 

And  we,  being  informed  that  such  evils  and  disorders  have  been  and 
are  enacted  in  the  discovered  lands  and  the  new  settlements,  that  would  hin- 
der our  good  conscience  from  granting  leave  for  them,  a  general  provision 
has  been  ordered  and  dispatched  on,  with  the  advice  of  our  Council  and  our 
assent,  to  be  kept  by  you  in  said  settlement  and  conquest,  which  provision 
we  order  to  be  herein  embodied,  its  tenor  being  the  following : 

(' '  The  ordmances  on  the  Government  of  Indians,  according  to  those  of  the 
Capitulations  of  Francisco  Montejo,  foilow.'") 

Therefore,  by  the  present,  the  aforesaid  being  performed  and  comphed 
with  by  you,  said  Alvar  Nuiiez  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  according  to  and  in  the  man- 
ner above  declared,  and  keeping  and  fulfiUing  what  is  contained  in  said  char- 
ter above  incorporated,  and  all  the  instructions  that  henceforward  we  shall 
order  to  be  given  for  said  land  and  for  the  good  treatment  and  conversion  to 
our  Holy  Catholic  Faith  of  the  natives  of  it,  we  say  and  promise  that  thsse 
capitulations  and  everything  in  them  contained  shall  be  wholly  kept  by  you  as  it 
is  above  contained;  and  should  this  not  be  done  and  complied  with,  we  shall 
not  be  bound  to  comply  with  the  aforesaid  in  whatever  part  of  it,  rather  we 
shall  command  your  punishment  and  proceed  against  you  as  against  one  fail- 
ing to  keep  and  comply  with  and  transgressing  the  commandments  of  his 
King  and  natural  Lord ;  and  to  that  end  we  command  the  present  to  be 
given  to  you. 

Pone  at  the  Village  of  Madrid,  the  eighteenth  of  March,  fifteen  hundred 
and  forty.     Fr.  G.°  Cardcnalis  hispalensi. 

Countersigned  by  the  Secretary  Samano,  and  signed  by  Doctor  Beltran 
and  the  Bishop  of  Lugo,  and  Doctor  Bernal  and  the  Notary  Gutierrez  y 
Velasquez. 


1547 


Capitulations  made  with  Juan   de  Sanabria.  {*) 

THE  PRINCE:  Whereas  you,  Juan  de  Sanabria,  resident  of  this  city  of 
Medellin  gave  us  information,  which  we  knew  already,  about  a  treaty  made 
with  Alvar  Nufiez  Cabeza  de  Vaca  in  reference  to  the  help  promised  to  the 
people  of  the  province  of  theRiver  Plate  left  by  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza,  late 
Governor  of  the  same  ;  and  whereas,  by  virtue  of  the  said  treaty  we  had 
provided  him  with  the  Government  of  the  said  province,  and  it  has  now 
come  to  our  knowledge  that  through  differences  between  said  Alvar  Nunez 
Cabeza  de  Vaca  and  the  people  of  said  provincg,  said  Alvar  Nuiiez  was 
brought  here  in  custody,  and  that  he  shall  not  go  back  to  the  province  as  it 
would  not  be  convenient,  the  head  of  the  Government  of  the  said  province 
remain  vacant,  and  that  you,  with  a  desire  to  serve  God  and  the  engrandize- 
ment  of  our  Royal  Crown,  and  in  order  that  |the  Spaniards  residing  in  said 
province  shall  not  suffer,  propose  to  go  there  to  assist  and  help  the  said 
Spaniards  with  the  things  that  you  shall  take  from  these  Kingdoms,  by  our 
commaad,  and  some  married  men  with  their  wives,  and  other  people  for  the 
settlement  of  the  said  province,  all  at  your  expense,  without  obligation  on  our 
part,  nor  on  the  part  of  the  Kings,  our  successors,  to  pay  you  the  expenses 
that  you  may  make  in  excess  of  that  which  is  granted  you  in  these  capitulations ; 
and  whereas  you  entreated  me  for  the  appointment  of  Captain  General  and 
Governor  of  the  said  province,  and  other  privileges,  I  caused  a  treaty  to  be 
made  with  you  upon  the  following  capitulations  : 

First,  that  you  shall  be  obliged,  and  that  you  shall  bind  yourself,  to  take 
from  these  Kingdoms  of  Castile  to   the    said  province    of    River  Plate,  one 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  from  theoriginal  document  existing  in  the  General  Archive 
of  the  Indies  which,  in  a  copy  duly  authenticated  before  the  Consulate  of  the  United 
States  of  America  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of  group  A  No.  9  of  manuscript  documents  of  the 
"Argentine  Evidence." 


—    152   — 

hundred  married  men  with  their  wives  and  children,  to  settle  said  province, 
and  you  shall  take  with  them  your  own  wife  and  children. 

You  shall  also  oblige  yourself  to  take  two  hundred  and  fifty  unmarried 
men  for  the  discovery  and  settlement  of  said  province,  and  should  you  be 
willing  to  take  one  hundred  and  fifty  more,  you  can  do  so. 

Also,  that  you  shall  establish  in  the  same  province  two  towns,  one  in  the 
port  of  San  Francisco,  which  is  near  the  island  called  Santa  Catalina,  and 
the  other  at  the  entrance  of  the  River  Plate,  on  the  places  that  you  may 
deem  more  convenient,  taking  advice  from  such  persons  as  may  be  in  a  posi- 
tion to  give  it  to  you. 

Also,  that  you  shall  take  to  the  said  province  wheat,  barley  and  rye,  and 
all  other  seeds  that  you  may  deem  necessary  for  the  cultivation  of  the 
lands. 

Furthermore,  that  you  shall  not  take  for  the  passage  or  luggage  any  thing 
from  any  of  the  people  going  with  you,  for  this  must  be  provided  at  your  ex- 
pense, except  eight  ducats  for  every  person,  and  only  six  ducats  for  children 
under  fourteen  years  of  age  any  one  of  them  being  allowed  to  carry  the 
usual  box. 

Furthermore,  that  you  shall  have  to  take  eight  monks  of  the  order  of  San 
Francisco  who  may  be  appointed  by  our  Council  of  Indies,  to  be  employed  in 
the  education  and  conversion  of  the  natives  of  said  country,  said  monks  to  be 
taken  and  supported  at  your  cost. 

Also,  that  you  shall  be  obliged  to  furnish  the  vessels  for  the  people  that 
you  shall  take  to  said  province,  said  vessels  to  be  not  less  than  four  or  five, 
of  which  one  to  be  new,  of  one  hundred  tons,  two  brigs  and  one  caravel;  and 
inasmuch  as  the  said  bdgs  might  be  an  inconvenience,  we  refer  the  matter 
to  the  officers  of  Sevile,  so  that  upon  consulting  with  Sebastian  Cabot  and 
other  persons  they  may  decide  whether  it  is  convenient  to  take  them  rigged 
or  loose. 

Furthermore,  you  are  to  take  four  loose  brigs  with  all  their  appurtenances, 
to  be  disposed  of  as  convenient  in  the  said  province,  also  that  you  shall  have 
to  take  iron,  and  other  necessary  valuables  to  deal  with  the  natives  of  that 
country,  for  according  to  the  laws  dictated  by  us  for  the  good  government  and 
good  treatment  of  the  natives,  you  are  forbidden  to  take  from  the  Indians  any 
victuals  nor  any  other  thing  unless  for  its  price. 

Also  that  you  are  obliged  to  take  some  arms  for  the  people  of  the  said 
province. 

Also  that  you  shall  be  obliged  to  take  two  thousand  yards  of  cloth,  one 
thousand  shirts,  two  thousand  pairs  of  shoes,  five  hundred  red  caps  to  be  dis- 
tributed among  the  conquerors  and  settlers  of  said  province,  and  to  keep  a 
record  of  the  cost  prices,  so  that  the  persons  among  whom  the  said  goods 
shall  be  distributed,  shall  pay  you  the  amount  or  value  thereof,  according  to 
the  cost,  with  one  increase  of  three  times  the  amount  and  the  terms  of  pay- 
ing, the  promissory  obligation  of  payment  to  be  made  conjointly  tand  in 
series  of  ten. 

Furthermore,  yon  shall  bind  yourself  to  take  one  thousand  quintals  of 


—  153  — 

iron  and  one  hundred  quintals  of  steel  to  help  said  people,  so  that  they  can 
make  the  necessary  tools  for  their  undertakings. 

You  shall  also  be  obliged  to  take  three  forges  for  the  use  of  said  people, 
some  mechanics,  and  plenty  of  provisions  for  the  people  that  you  are  about  to 
take  to  said  province  not  only  during  the  voyage  but  for  eight  months  after 
their  arrival,  so  that  they  may  saw  and  have  sufficient  food  for  some  time 
after,  and  that  you  shall  also  take  oars  and  nails  and  all  the  rope  necessary 
for  your  vessels. 

Furthermore,  you  are  obliged  to  take  six  complete  sacred  vestments  to 
celebrate  mass  in  the  churches  now  existing  in  the  said  province,  and  for 
those  which  may  hereafter  be  built. 

And  upon  performing  and  accomplishing  the  things  before-mentioned 
and  every  one  of  them  contained  in  the  foregoing  chapters,  and  obeying  said 
new  laws  and  ordinances  dictated  by  us,  we  promise  you,  Juan  de  Sanabria,  to 
make  and  grant  you  the  following  privileges: 

First,  I  give  permission  and  authority  to  you,  the  said  Juan  de  Sanabria, 
so  that  by  his  Majesty  and  in  his  name,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Royal  Crown 
of  Castile  and  Leon,  shall  discover  and.  settle,  by  virtue  of  your  contract, 
two  hundred  leagues  upon  the  coast,  from  the  mouth  of  the  River  Plate  and 
that  of  Brazil,  beginning  in  latidude  thirty-one  degrees  South  and  from  there 
towards  the  equinoctial  line,  that  you  may  settle  an  extension  of  land  from  the 
mouth  of  the  entrance  of  said  river  on  the  right  hand  side  to  the  said  thirty- 
one  degrees  latitude,  upon  which  you  shall  have  to  build  a  town  having  access 
through  said  river,  for  you  and  all  those  with  whom  His  Majesty  made  con- 
tracts for  the  discovery  of  all  that  remains  undiscovered  on  the  thirty-one  de- 
grees as  well  as  everything  lying  on  the  left  hand  side  to  the  point  which  is 
contracted  with  the  Bishop  of  Plasencia,  which  two  hundred  leagues  to  ex- 
tend in  width  to  the  South  sea;  and  which  discovery  and  town  you  may  make 
as  long  as  you  find  no  opposition  from  any  other  Governors  who  had  already 
discovered  or  done  something  upon  the  same  land  at  the  time  of  your  arrival, 
for  in  that  case  you  are  not  to  do  anything  that  may  injure  that  which  you 
may  find  in  the  same  land,  even  if  you  find  it  within  the  boundaries  of  your 
jurisdiction,  in  order  to  avoid  inconveniences  which  may  arise,  as  it  has  al- 
ready occurred,  unless  he  be  some  of  the  settlers  of  said  Province  of  the 
River  Plate,  for  to  such  we  command  that  they  shall  consider  you  as  our  Gover- 
nor of  said  Province,  in  conformity  with  the  authority  given  you,  and  they 
shall  leave  to  you  the  jurisdiction  of  all  they  may  have  discovered  or  settled, 
and  consider  you  as  our  Governor  in  spite  of  their  having  settled  it,  and  you 
will  inform  us  in  case  that  you  should  find  some  Governor  or  Captain  that  is 
not  a  settler  of  the  said  Province. 

Furthermore,  believing  it  to  be  convenient  to  the  service  of  God,  our  Lord, 
and  to  honor  your  person,  we  promise  to  give  you  the  title  of  Governor  Gen- 
eral of  said  two  hundred  leagues  on  the  coast  of  said  Province  of  the  River 
Plate  from  the  mouth  of  said  River  Plate,  and  Brazil  from  thirty-one  de- 
grees latitude  South,  and  thence  to  the  equinoctiajl  line  as  above  stated,  and 
from  the  remaining  piece  of  land  from  the  mouth  of  the  entrance  of  said  river 


—  154  — 

on  the  right  hand  side,  to  said  thirty-one  degrees  latitude,  for  all  the  days  of 
your  natural  life,  and  of  one  heir  of  yours,  which  shall  be  your  son,  and  of 
other  descendant  capable  and  sufficient,  and  in  defect  of  a  descendant,  an- 
other person  that  you  inay  appoint  and  indicate,  which  shall  be  capable  and 
sufficient,  as  before  stated,  with  a  salary  of  three  thousand  ducats  every  year, 
and  a  pension  of  fifteen  hundred  to  you,  the  said  Juan  de  Sanabria;  also  every 
year,  during  the  term  of  your  administration,  to  be  counted  from  the  day  on 
which  you  shall  set  sail  from  the  port  of  Sanlucar  de  Barrameda,  and  which 
three  thousand  ducats  shall  be  paid  you  and  your  heir  as  well  as  the  fifteen 
hundred  ducats,  from  the  rents  belonging  to  us  of  the  said  country  during  the 
term  of  your  administration,  and  in  no  other  way;  for  in  case  that  such  rents 
should  not  exist  we  shall  not  be  liable  to  pay  you  anything. 

Furthermore,  I  shall  grant  you  the  title  of  Adelantado  of  said  two  hun- 
dred leagues  under  your  Government,  for  you  and  for  one  heir,  your  successor, 
whom  yott  may  appoint,  and  shall  grant  you  the  office  of  High  Constable  of  the 
lands  under  the  said  Government,  and  to  one  of  your  heirs  appointed  by  you. 
Furthermore,  we  give  you  permission  to  build  on  the  same,  upon  con- 
sultation and  consent  of  the  officers  of  His  Majesty,  two  fortresses  on  the  sites 
and  places  which  you  and  said  officers  may  deem  necessary  for  the  defense 
and  pacification  of  the  said  lands,  and  will  grant  you  the  possession  of  the 
same,  perpetually  for  you  and  your  successor,  with  a  salary  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  farthings  for  every  one  of  said  fortresses,  said  salary  to 
commence  whenever  you  shall  complete  them,  fenced  and  seen  by  the  officers, 
which  fortresses  you  shall  build  at  your  own  expense,  without  His  Majesty 
nor  the  Kings  coming  after  him  being  obliged  to  pay  you  for  what  you  may 
spend  in  said  fortresses. 

Furthermore,  whereas  you  have  asked  us  to  grant  you  some  portion  of 
the  lands  and  of  the  Spanish  vassals  on  the  said  province  of  River  _  Plate, 
with  the  title  which  we  inay  think  proper,  we  shall  abstain  for  the  present  to 
do  it,  not  having  full  information  of  the  matter;  but  I  say  and  promise  that 
upon  being  informed  of  what  you  may  discover  and  settle,  we  shall  reward 
you  according  to  your  services  and  your  outlays,  with  titles  and  lands,  per- 
petually for  you  and  for  your  heirs  and  successors,  and  it  is  our  wish  that, 
while  we  are  informed  of  the  facts,  some  provision  shall  be  made  for  your  ser- 
vices and  labors,  and  it  is  convenient  that  you  enjoy  the  twelfth  part  of  all  the 
profits  and  revenues  that  we  may  have  every  year  from  said  two  hundred 
leagues,  less  the  expenses,  after  having  made  you  said  gratuity.  We  also 
give  you  permission  and  authority  to  take  from  these  Kingdoms  and  territo- 
ries, and  from  the  Kingdom  of  Portugal,  or  from  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  or 
Guinea,  either  you  personally,  or  whoever  holds  your  power  of  attorney,  to 
said  Province  of  River  Plate,  fifty  negro  slaves  free  of  all  duties. 

Furthermore,  we  give  you  permission,  and  to  all  the  people  which  shall 
presently  go  with  you  to  said  province,  or  who  may  be  there,  or  may  go  here- 
after to  settle  the  country,  to  import  free  of  duty  for  a  term  of  ten  years  from 
the  day  upon  which  the  capitulations  shall  have  been  signed,  everything  ap- 
pertaining to  the  support  of  their  houses. 


—  155 

Fuithermore,  we  grant  to  said  Province  of  River  Plate  and  its  inhabitants 
and  residents,  for  a  term  of  ten  years  from  the  date  on  which  the  capitulations 
have  been  signed,  the  privilege  of  not  paying  from  the  gold,  silver  and  pearls 
found  in  said  province,  over  one-eighth  part. 

Also,  that  you,  the  said  Juan  de  Sanabria,  shall  be  obliged  to  take  to  said 
province  a  lawyer  as  Lieutenant,  and  it  is  our  wish  that  out  of  the  revenue  and 
profits  that  we  may  have  in  said  province,  a  salary  shall  be  given  him  of  two 
hundred  thousand  farthings  from  our  own  treasure  and  one  hundred  thousand 
out  of  yours,  making  in  all  three  hundred  thousand  farthings,  said  salary 
to  begin  on  the  date  of  sailing  with  your  fleet,  said  lawyer  to  be  proposed  by 
you  to  our  Council  of  Indies,  so  that  he  may  be  approved  if  he  should  have 
the  necessary  qualifications. 

Furthermore,  you  shall  be  provided  with  our  Letter,  so  that  the  Warden 
of  the  dock  yard  of  Sevile  shall  allow  you  to  keep  your  effects  and  victuals 
for  your  expedition. 

Furthermore,  we  shall  give  you,  and  we  do  give  you,  hereby,  permission 
and  authority  to  entail  in  your  name  and  that  of  your  heirs  and  successors, 
everything  which  by  virtue  of  the  capitulations  shall  come  to  you  forever,  and 
to  make  an  entailed  estate  of  it,  and  that  should  you  die  after  your  departure 
from  Sanlucar  de  Barameda,  though  having  appointed  your  heir,  your  wife 
shall  enjoy,  for  life,  half  of  your  estate,  and  that  your  heir  shall  not  dispose  of 
more  than  said  half  as  long  as  your  wife  lives,  and  that  at  her  death  your  heir 
shall  have  the  whole  of  the  estate  forever. 

We  also  give  you  permission  and  authority  to  revise  and  modify  the 
taxes  upon  the  towns  according  to  the  laws  upon  the  assessments  made  by  us, 
as  you  progress  in  the  task  of  pacifying  and  settling  the  country;  and  to 
divide  the  contributions  of  the  Indians  among  the  Spaniards  residing  in  the 
said  province,  and  those  who  may  go  there  to  settle  the  land,  all  according  to 
the  law  governing  the  system  of  taxation  and  the  appointment  of  the  said 
contributions  and  the  head  towns;  and  it  is  our  wish  and  command  that  the 
contributions  thus  divided  among  said  Spaniards  shall  not  be  collected  by 
.agents,  but  that  the  Governor  shall  receive  them  from  your  hand,  or  any 
other  person  appointed  by  us,  in  compliance  with  the  laws. 

We  also  give  you  permission  and  authority  to  give  and  distribute  tracts 
of  land  in  the  said  Government  among  the  residing  Spaniards,  so  that  they 
may  cultivate  and  rear  and  settle,  and  to  take  your  part  without  prejudice  to 
the  natives  of  any  other  land. 

We  also  give  you  permission  to  buy  the  necessary  bread  for  your  fleet, 
according  to  the  laws  of  these  Kingdoms. 

All  of  which  we  grant  you,  the  said  Juan  de  Sanabria,  provided  you  shall 
be  held  obliged  to  leave  these  Kingdoms  with  your  said  fleet  with  the  shortest 
possible  delay,  not  exceeding  ten  months  from  this  date. 

Now  therefore,  and  upon  your  doing  as  before  stated,  and  in  the  manner 
aforesaid,  and  keeping  and  fulfilling  the  requirements  of  said  new  laws  and 
ordinances  and  all  the  other  things  therein  contained,  and  all  the  other  in- 
structions that  we  may  hereafter  give  and  make  for  said  land  and  for  the  good 


-  156  - 

treatment  and  conversion  to  our  Sacred  Catholic  Faith  of  the  natives  of  said 
land,  I  do  say  and  promise  that  the  capitulations,  and  everything  therein  con- 
tained, shall  be  fulfilled  as  stipulated;  and  in  case  that  you  should  fail  to  ful- 
fill them  as  stated,  His  Majesty  shall  not  be  obliged  to  comply  with  these  sti- 
pulations, nor  anything  contained  therewith,  but  shall  punish  you  and  proceed 
against  you  as  against  a  person  who  does  not  keep  his  obligations  and  diso- 
beys the  commands  of  his  King  and  natural  Master.  In  testimony  whereof, 
1  order  these  presents  to  be  given,  signed  by  my  own  hand,  and  legalized  by 
Francisco  de  Ledesma,  His  Majesty's  Secretary. 

Dated  at  the  City  of  Madrid,  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  the  month  of 
July,  fifteen  hundred  and  forty-seven  years. — I,  the  PRINCE.  By  order  of 
His  Highness,  Francisco  de  Ledesma. — Marked  by  the  Marquis  and  Licen- 
tiate Gutierrez  Velazquez,  and  by  the  Licentiate  Salmeron,  and  by  Doctor 
Hernan  Perez. 


1571 


Capitulations   made  with  the  Adelantado  Juan  Ortiz    de  Zi- 

rate.     ( * ) 

THE  KING: 

Whereas,  acknowledging  the  many  and  faithful  services  which  you,  Cap- 
tain Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  have  rendered  in  the  conquest,  discovery  and  set- 
tlement of  the  Kingdom  of  Peru,  and  your  desire  to  continue  to  render  them 
and  to  increase  our  Royal  Crown  of  Castile,  and  to  reward  you,  I  haved  ca- 
pitulations made  with  you  regarding  the  conq^iest,  settlement  and  discovery  of 
the  province  of  the  River  Plate  in  that  portion  thereof  which  is  not  yet  con- 
quered, discovered  and  settled,  in  which  contract  there  is  a  chapter  of  the 
following  tenor :  Also,  that  we  grant  you  the  privilege  and  authority,  to  you, 
the  said  Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  and  to  your  successor  in  the  said  gov- 
ernment after  your  death,  to  make  and  cause  to  be  made  Royal  marks  and 
punches  to  assay  the  gold  and  silver  metals,  so  that  the  imports  and  Royal 
fees  which  belong  to  us  shall  be  collected,  and  to  place  the  said  marks  and 
punches  in  the  cities,  towns  and  settlements  of  mines  of  gold  and  silver  of  the 
country,  and  that  they  be  kept  in  our  Royal  vaults,  under  three  keys,  of  the 
said  towns,  as  we  have  ordered  in  Peru  and  New  Spain  and  other  places  of 
the  said  Indies,  Therefore,  and  in  compliance  with  the  said  chapter  abo\e 
named,  I  hereby  grant  permission  and  authority  to  you  the  said  Captain  Juan 
Ortiz  de  Zarate,  and  to  the  person  succeeding  you  in  the  government  of  the 
said  provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  to  open  Royal  marks  and  punches  with  which 
to  mark  and  assay  all  the  gold  and  silver  metals  that  may  be  digged  out  in 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  of  a  collection  of  documents  kept  in  the  National  Archives  of 
La  Asuncion,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  Unied  States  Consul  in  that  city,  forms  part 
of  group  A,  No.  lo  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence,"  containinr 
eight  Royal  Letters  Patent,  published  with  the  usual  formalities  at  the  city  of  La  Asuncion, 
all  of  them  amplifying  the  capitulations  made  with  the  Adelantado  J  uan  Ortiz  de  Zdrate. 


that  country,  and  to  collect  from  it  our  Royal  duties  and  fifths  that  for  any 
reason  may  belong  to  us  ;  which  marks  and  punches,  you,  and  your  successor, 
shall  put  in  the  cities  and  towns  and  settlements  of  gold  and  silver  mines  in 
the  said  provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  which  we  command  that  they  be  placed 
iu  our  vaults  under  three  locks  and  keys,  as  is  done  in  Peru  and  New  Spain 
and  in  the  other  parts  of  our  Indies.  Dated  in  Cordova,  March  the  first, 
fifteen  hundred  and  seventy.  I,  the  KING.  By  order  of  His  Majesty: — AN- 
TONIO ERASO. — This  Royal  patent  was  entered  in  the  Books  of  the  House 
of  Contracts  of  Indies,  November  twenty-seventh,  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy 
one  years.— FRANCISCO  DUARTE.— ORTEGA  DE  MELGARA.— JUAN 
GUTIERREZ  TELLO. 


DON  FELIPE,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of  Castile,  of  Leon,  of  Aragon, 
of  both  Sicilies,  .of  Jerusalem,  of  Granada,  of  Toledo,  of  Valencia,  of  Galicia, 
of  Mallorca,  of  Sevile,  of  Sardinia,  of  Cordova,  of  Murcia,  of  Jaen,  of  Los 
Algarves,  of  Algeciras,  of  Gibraltar,  of  the  Canary  Islands,  of  the  Indies, 
islands,  of  the  main  land  of  the  ocean,  Count  of  Barcelona,  Lord  of  Biscay 
and  Molina,  of  Athens,  and  of  Neopatria,  Marquis  of  Oristan  and  of  Poziano, 
Archduke  of  Austria,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  of  Brabant  and  Milan,  Count 
of  Flanders  and  of  the  Tyrol,  &c.    &c.  : 

Whereas,  acknowledging  the  many,  good  and  faithful  services  rendered 
by  Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  resident  of  the  City  of  La  Plata,  in  the  prov- 
inces of  Peru,  in  the  conquest,  discovery  and  settlement  of  the  same,  and  your 
desire  to  continue  your  services  and  to  increase  our  Royal  Crown  of  Castile, 
we  have  had  a  contract -or  treaty  made  with  you  regarding  the  conquest,  set- 
tlement and  discovery  of  the  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate  in  that  portion 
thereof  which  is  not  yet  discovered,  conquered  or  settled  ;  and  that  you  have 
offered  to  take  five  hundred  Spaniards,  of  which,  two  hundred  workmen  in  all 
kinds  of  trade,  and  farmers  to  till  and  cultivate  the  land,  and  the  other  three 
hundred  for  the  war  and  conquest  of  the  said  provinces,  and  those  who  are 
married  and  quiet,  you  can  take  along  with  you  and  their  wives  and  children, 
as  well  as  the  unmarried ;  and  that  you  will  bring  into  them  a  certain  number 
of  cattle  within  three  days  upon  your  arrival,  to  be  kept  in  the  said  provinces 
for  breeding,  and  that  you  will  settle  some  towns  :  that  you  will  have  in  readi- 
ness at  San  Lucar  de  Barrameda,  by  the  month  of  August  of  the  present  year 
seventy-four  vessels  well  manned,  armed  and  equipped  for  navigation  and 
passage  to  the  said  government,  two  of  which  to  be  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
tons,  ready  to  set  sail,  the  other  two  to  be  eighty  tons  caravels  with  the  said 
people,  and  necessary  provisions  for  their  support ;  you  shall  do  and  fulfill  all 
the  specified  stipulations  of  the  said  treaty  at  your  expense,  with  no  obligation 
on  our  part  nor  on  the  part  of  the  Kings  who  may  come  hereafter,  to  pay  you 
for  your  outlays.  In  the  said  treaty  there  are  two  chapters  of  the  following 
tenor  :  First. — We  grant  you  the  government  of  the  River  Plate,  of  that  which 
is  now  discovered  and  settled,  as  well  as  of  all  which  you  may  hereafter  dis- 
cover and  settle  in  the  provinces  of  Paraguay  and  Parana,  as  well  as  in  the 


—  159  — 

other  American  provinces,  by  you  and  by  your  captains  and  lieutenants  whom 
you  may  appoint  for  the  coast  of  the  Northern  sea,  and  for  that  of  the  South 
in  the  district  of  demarcation  which  His  Majesty,  my  father,  the  Emperor, 
gave  and  granted  to  Governor  D.  Pedro  de  Mendoza,  and  after  him  to 
Alvar  Nuiiez  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  and  to  Domingo  Ayala  with  the  salary  (illegible) 
and  in  the  order  in  which  they  obtained,  for  your  natural  life  and  that  of  one 
son  of  yours  whom  you  may  appoint,  or  if  you  have  none,  in  the  person  whom 
you  may  appoint  while  living  or  at  the  point  of  death  ;  {illegible')  as  we  grant 
you  the  said  government  without  prejudice  to  the  other  governments  that  we 
have  given  to  Captains  Serpa  and  Pedro  de  Silva:  We  also  grant  you,  the  said 
Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  the  appointment  of  Governor,  Captain  General 
and  Chief  Justice  of  said  province  of  the  River  Plate  for  the  said  two  lives,  or 
one  son  or  heir  or  successor  whom  yoii  may  appoint,  as  above  stated.  There- 
fore, in  compliance  with  the  said  treaty  and  the  above  named  two  chapters 
herein  annexed,  it  is  our  will  that  you  shall  now  and  hereafter,  during  your 
natural  life,  be  our  Governor  and  Captain  General  and  Chief  Justice  of  the 
said  provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  in  all  that  has  been  discovered,  conquered 
and  settled  as  well  as  all  that  may  be  conquered,  discovered  and  settled  in 
the  future  by  you,  in  the  provinces  of  Paraguay  and  Parana  and  in  all  the 
others  comprised  in  the  said  provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  in  the  manner  and 
in  the  district  and  demarcation  in  which  it  was  given  to  the  said  Pedro  de  Men- 
doza, Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  and  to  Domingo  de  Ayala  :  and  have 
our  justice,  criminal  and  civil,  with  the  offices  of  justice.  And  by  this  edict 
we  command  the  Councils,  Justices  of  the  Peace,  Aldermen,  officers  of  all 
cities,  towns  and  places  which  may  be  in  the  same,  or  may  be  settled,  and 
our  officers  or  any  other  peron  residing  in  the  same,  and  every  one  who  may 
be  summoned,  without  any  other  delay  or  excuse,  nor  any  further  consultation 
or  expectation  on  your  part  of  other  edict  or  mandate  from  me,  either  second 
or  third,  to  receive  from  you.  the  said  Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  the  oath 
with  the  solemnity  required  in  such  cases,  whereupon  to  receive  and  to  consider 
you  as  our  Governor  and  Captain  General,  Chief  Justice  of  the  said  provinces 
of  the  River  Plate,  for  all  your  life  ,  and  after  you  your  son  or  your  heir,  who- 
ever you  may  wish  to  appoint;  and  to  permit  you  and  him  to  use  and  exercise 
the  said  offices,  and  fulfill  and  execute  our  justice.  That  you  may,  by  your- 
self and  by  your  lieutenants,  exercise  the  said  offices  ot  Governor  and  Captain 
General,  Chief  Justice,  High  Constable  appertaining  to  the  said  government, 
or  remove  and  suppress  each  (illegible)  in  the  interest  of  our  service,  and  to 
reach  the  ends  of  justice;  and  to  appoint  substitutes,  and  decide  and  determine 
upon  all  suits  and  cases,  civil  and  criminal,  in  the  already  settled  terms  and 
those  which  may  be  hereafter  settled  by  you,  that  may  come  off  between 
Spaniards  and  natives  ;  so  that  you  and  your  said  lieutenants  and  judges  may 
carry  the  authority  attached  to  the  said  offices  and  proceed  in  accordance  with 
the  needs  of  the  settlement  and  government  of  the  said  provinces,  as  you  may 
think  best ;  and  that  you  may  use  and  exercise  the  same  offices,  and  execute 
our  justice,  everyone  and  all  shall  concur  with  their  persons  and  estates  and 
offer  you  all  the  assistance  (illegible)  that  you  may  ask,  or  be  in  need  of,  and 


—  i6o  — 

obey  and  fulfill  your  mandates,  without  hesitancy  or  contradiction  whatsoever 
in  their  part  ;  and  recognize  you  as  intrusted  with  the  use  and  exercise  of 
said  offices,  which  we  authorize  you  to  use  and  exercise  and  fulfill  and  execute 
our  said  justice  in  the  cities,  places  and  towns  which  are  settled  and  those 
which  you  may  settle  in  the  said  provinces,  by  you  and  by  the  said  lieute- 
nants, as  before  stated  ;  and  in  case  that  you  should  not  be  received  by  them 
or  by  some  of  them,  we  hereby  command  any  person  holding  the  staffs  of  our 
justice  in  the  said  cities  and  towns,  upon  being  intimated  by  you.  Captain 
Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate  or  your  lieutenant,  of  this  my  provision,  or  a  copy 
thereof  signed  by  a  Notary  Public,  to  return  them  to  you  and  not  to  use 
them  unless  with  our  special  permission  or  mandate,  under  the  penalties  to 
which  are  liable  all  persons  using  Royal  and  public  offices  without  power  or 
authority,  for  we  hereby  withdraw  such  power;  and  that  the  fines  belonging 
to  our  exchequer  and  treasury  which  you  or  your  lieutenants  may  impose 
shall  be  collected  and  handed  over  to  our  treasurer  in  the  said  provinces. 
We  also  order  that  if  you,  the  said  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  should  think  it 
convenient  to  our  service  and  to  the  execution  of  our  justice,  that  any  persons 
now  in  those  countries  should  be  banished  from  the  same,  to  appear  before 
us,  you  are  empowered  to  have  them  leave  the  country  and  make  them  do 
so  in  conformity  with  the  rules  governing  this  matter,  explaining  to  the  per- 
son thus  banished,  the  reasons  for  his  or  their  expulsion  ;  and  if  you  deem  it 
convenient  that  they  be  secret,  to  give  them  sealed,  sending  us  a  copy  there- 
of, for  our  information  ;  but  you  must  be  very  careful  not  to  banish  any  body 
unless  for  a  very  serious  cause.  And  whereas,  in  the  thirteenth  day  of  the 
month  of  January  of  the  previous  year  1558,  we  order  you  to  [make  certain 
treaty  and  capitulations  with  Jaime  Resquin,  regarding  the  discovery  and  set- 
tlement of  the  said  provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  in  which  among  other  priv- 
ileges and  favors  we  granted  him  the  grace  of  being  the  Governor  of  the 
towns  of  San  Francisco  and  Via(;a,  known  otherwise  by  the  name  of 
Puerto  de  los  Patos,  and  San  Gabriel,  and  Sancti  Spiritus,  and  of  the  town  of 
Guayra,  known  also  by  the  name  of  Villa  de  Ontiveros,  and  of  all  the  towns 
that  he  might  settle  within  two  hundred  leagues  from  the  said  River  Plate, 
to  the  Strait  of  Magalhaes  right  by  the  coast  of  the  Northern  Sea  ;  and  that 
we  gave  him  titles  and  provisions  for  the  said  government ;  and  because  the 
said  Jaime  Resquin  did  not  comply  with  the  terms  of  our  treaty  and  capitu- 
lations regarding  the  said  discovery  and  settlement,  we  hereby  declare  null 
and  void  the  said  capitulations  and  titles  which,  by  virtue  thereof,  we  ordered 
to  be  given  to  the  said  Jaime  Resquin,  so  that  they  being  valueless,  he  has  no 
right,  now  or  henceforward,  to  the  said  government  ;  and  we  declare  to  be 
under  your  rule,  Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  the  towns  above  named  and 
those  existing  within  the  two  hundred  leagues  which  we  had  given  to  the 
said  Jaime  Resquin  to  govern,  and  if  need  be  I  appoint  you  anew  Governor 
of  the  same,  that  you  and  your  successor  after  you,  may  exercise  your  author- 
ity and  jurisdiction  upon  the  same  in  the  best  manner  and  form,  by  virtue  of 
our  capitulations  and  of  the  above  named  chapter  annexed  thereto.  To 
which  end  (illegible)  and  for  the  performance  of  the  said  offices  of  our  Gov- 


—   i6x  — 

ernor  and  Captain  General  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  said  provinces ,  and  to 
fulfill  and  execute  our  justice,  we  hereby  grant  you  full  power  of  attorney  by 
this  our  letter,  and  by  said  transcript  signed  by  Notary  Public,  with  all  its 
incidents,  trusts,  and  emergencies  ;  and  it  is  our  wish  that  you  or  your  heir 
or  successor  in  the  said  government,  shall  receive  a  yearly  salary  for  the  said 
offices,  of  two  thousand  escudos,  and  an  additional  stipend,  which  makes  four 
thousand  escudos  in  all,  though  in  the  above  mentioned  appended  chapter 
appears  the  same  salary  paid  to  D.  Pedro  de  Mendoza,  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza 
de  Vaca  and  Domingo  Ayala  ;  for  it  is  our  will  that  the  said  four  thou- 
sand escudos  shall  be  given  you  as  a  salary  and  extra  pay  for  expenses,  which 
you  are  to  enjoy  from  the  day  upon  which  you  shall  set  sail  from  the  port  of 
San  Lucar  de  Barrameda,  or  the  bay  of  Cadiz,  to  proceed  on  your  voyage 
henceforth,  during  the  full  time  of  your  government,  said  salary  to  be  paid 
out,  as  we  command  our  officers  to  do,  of  the  revenues  or  rents  that  we  may 
have  from  any  source  in  the  said  provinces,  and,  in  defect  thereof,  we  are 
not  to  be  held  liable  to  pay  you  any  thing,  said  payment  to  be  credited  to 
our  officers,  in  view  of  the  account  of  it  and  of  the  transcript  of  this  our  pro- 
vision, and  in  no  other  way,  under  penalty  of  disgrace  and  a  fine  of  one 
thousand  castellanos  in  gold,  for  our  treasury.  Given  at  Baeza,  this  first 
day  of  June  of  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  years. 

I  THE  KING. — I  Francisco  de  Erazo,  Secretary  of  His  Royal  Majesty 
caused  this  to  be  written  by  his  coinmand.  Licentiate  Gomez  Zapata. — 
Alvaro  Salazar. — Licentiate  Castillo  Maldonado. — {Two  names  that  cannot 
be  read.)  This  Royal  provision  of  His  Majesty  was  recorded  in  the  Books  of 
the  House  of  Contracts,  November  twenty  seventh  1571.  It  corresponds  with 
the  original.  October  the  second,  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  one.  Before 
me  {name  illegible.) 


THE  KING:  Whereas, We,  appreciating  the  many  and  faithful  services 
that  you.  Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  resident  of  the  city  of  La  Plata  in 
the  provinces  of  Peru,  have  rendered  to  us  in  the  conquest  and  settlement  of 
the  same,  and  your  good  will  in  the  continuance  of  the  said  services  to  in- 
crease our  Royal  Crown  of  Castile,  I  have  ordered  that  a  treaty  and  capitu- 
lations shall  be  made  with  you  in  regard  to  the  conquest  and  settlement  and 
discovery  of  the  provinces  of  the  River  Plate  in  that  portion  thereof  which 
ts  still  unconquered,  undiscovered  and  unsettled,  in  which  a  chapter  is 
found  of  the  following  tenor :  Furthermore,  we  grant  and  authorize  you. 
Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  and  your  successor  in  the  said  government, 
if,  which  God  forbid,  there  should  be  a  rebellion  or  altercation  in  that  coun- 
try against  our  Royal  service,  either  by  the  natives  who  have  come  volun- 
tarily under  our  Royal  submission  or  by  some  unruly  Spaniards,  to  use  the 
armed  force  to  punish  and  persuade  them,  upon  consultation  with  your  offi- 
cers in  accordance  with  the  feeling  and  opinion  of  the  majority,  so  that  your 
successor  may  disburse  from  our  Royal  Treasury  the  amounts  that  you,  Juan 
Ortiz  de  Zarate,  as  Governor,  or  after  you,  your  said  successor,  may  draw 


l62    

for  the  said  purpose,  and  that  the  said  officers  be  paid  out  of  the  proceeds 
of  your  drafts  or  acquittance.  Therefore,  in  compUance  with  the  said  ca- 
pitulations and  chapter  attached  thereto,  we  hereby  grant  you,  the  said  cap- 
tain Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  our  Governor  of  the  said  province  of  the  River 
Plate,  and  your  successor  in  the  said  government,  authority,  in  case  of  rebel- 
lion or  altercation  against  our  service  in  the  said  provinces,  either  by  the 
natives  who  have  come  voluntarily  into  our  Royal  submission  and  domain, 
or  by  some  unruly  Spaniards,  to  start  with  armed  force  and  punish  and 
persuade  them  after  consultation  with  our  officers  in  the  said  provinces,  and 
in  accordance  with  their  opinion,  so  that  your  said  successor  may  disburse 
from  our  Royal  Treasury  the  necessary  funds;  and  we  hereby  command  our 
said  officers  to  pay  your  drafts,  or  those  of  your  successors,  for  the  said  pur- 
pose, in  gold  and  silver  coins  in  their  charge,  on  the  strength  of  a  copy  of 
this  our  letter,  signed  by  notary  pnblic,  made  at  Madrid  in  the  eleventh  day 
of  the  month  of  January  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  years,  I,  THE  KING. — 
By  order  of  His  Majesty. — Antonio  de  Erazo.  This  Royal  letter  patent  of 
His  Majesty  was  recorded  in  the  Books  of  Contracts  of  Indies  on  the  twenty 
seventh  of  November  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  one. — FRANCISCO 
DUARTE.— ORTEGA  DE  MELGARA  and  JUAN  GUTIERREZ 
TELLO. — {There  are  seven  marks  in  the  back  of  this  letter  patent.^ 


THE  KING :  Know  ye,  our  officers  of  the  provinces  of  the  River  Plate, 
that  we,  appreciating  the  good  aud  faithful  services  rendered  to  us  by  Cap- 
tain Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate  in  the  conquest  and  settlement  of  the  province  of 
Peru,  and  his  good  will  for  the  continuance  of  such  service,  and  to  in- 
crease our  Royal  Crown  of  Castile,  have  ordered  a  treaty  and  capitulations  to 
be  made  with  the  said  captain,  regarding  the  discovery,  conquest  and  settle- 
ment of  those  provinces  and  that  portion  of  the  same  which  is  yet  to  be 
conquered,  discovered  and  settled,  as  is  more  amply  explained  in  the  said 
treaty,  in  which  there  is  a  chapter  of  the  following  tenor:  Furthermore,  we 
grant  you  the  privilege  that  for  the  term  of  ten  years  the  Spaniards  who  are 
now  settling  the  said  provinces,  and  those  whom  you  are  about  to  take  thither 
and  those  who  may  follow,  shall  be  exempted  from  the  payment  of  custom 
duties,  from  the  date  of  these  said  capitulations,  upon  the  effects  that  they  may 
carry  for  the  support  of  their  persons  and  their  houses ;  but  they  shall  be  sub- 
jected to  the  payment  of  such  duties  if  they  should  sell  the  said  effects  to 
others ;  and  as  far  as  you,  personally,  and  your  successors  are  concerned,  the 
said  franchise  shall  be  understood  to  be  for  twenty  years,  not  only  upon 
goods  that  you  may  import  from  these  Kingdoms,  but  on  those  which  you 
may  send  from  those  provinces,  all  this  to  be  understood  in  regard  to  the  cus- 
tom duties,  the  payment  of  which  may  be  in  said  provinces  forgotten.  There- 
fore, in  compliance  with  the  above  named  appended  chapter,  we  hereby 
order  that  for  the  term  of  the  said  ten  years,  from  the  date  of  the  said  capi- 
tulations and  treaty,  you  shall  not  impose  duties  on  the  Spaniards  now  resid- 


—  163  — 

ing  in  the  said  provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  nor  on  those  whom  Captain  Juan 
Ortiz  de  Zarate  may  now  take  thither  for  the  discovery  and  settlement  of  the 
same,  and  upon  all  that  they  may  carry  for  the  support  of  their  persons, 
wives  and  children  and  houses,  for  I  make  a  donation  to  them  of  the  amount 
of  the  duties,  provided  they  do  not  sell  the  goods  they  may  take  thither 
within  the  stipulated  time ;  and  if  they  should  sell  or  barter  them,  they  shall 
be  obliged  to  pay  the  said  duties;  also  that  all  goods  that  the  said  Juan  Or- 
tiz de  Zarate  and  his  successors  may  take  from  these  Kingdoms  for  their  sup- 
port and  that  of  their  wives  and  children  and  houses,  or  those  which  they 
may  send  for  the  said  provinces  for  the  term  of  twenty  years  referred  to  in 
the  said  chapter,  shall  be  exempted  from  the  said  duties,  only  those  which 
they  are  obliged  to  pay  us  in  this  country,  and  we  command  our  officers  on 
the  other  islands  and  provinces  of  our  Indies  and  islands  and  continent  of 
the  Ocean,  that  though  such  goods  be  landed  on  them,  provided  they  are 
not  bartered  or  sold  to  either  parties,  (illegible)  they  are  not  to  exact  the  pay- 
ment of  duties ;  but  to  enforce  the  payment  of  such  duties  in  full,  if  the 
goods  should  be  sold  or  batered.  We  likewise  order  our  said  officers  of 
the  River  Plate  and  those  residing  in  the  city  of  Sevile  in  the  House  of  Con- 
tracts of  Indies  to  record  this  letter  patent  in  their  books,  for  the  true  per- 
formance of  its  stipulations;  and  in  order  to  make  it  known  to  all,  we  order 
that  it  shall  be  proclaimed  in  public  squares  of  the  city  by  the  city  crier  and 
notary  public. — Dated  in  Madrid  on  the  eleventh  day  of  the  month  of 
January  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  years. — I,  THE  KING. — By  order  of 
His  Majesty. — Antonio  Eraso. — This  Royal  letter  patent  of  His  Majesty 
has  been  recorded  in  the  books  of  the  House  of  Contracts  of  the  Indies  on 
the  twenty  seventh  day  of  November  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  one  yeais. 
—FRANCISCO  DUARTE.— ORTEGA  DE  MELGARA,— JUAN  GU- 
TIERREZ TELLO.  (There  were  ten  marks  on  the  back  of  this  letter 
patent.) 


THE  KING:  Whereas,  appreciating  the  many  good  and  faithful  services 
which  you.  Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  have  rendered  to  us  in  the  con- 
quest and  settlement  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Peru,  and  in  the  pacification  of  the 
same,  assisting  with  your  person,  arms  and  horses,  against  the  tyrants  who 
have  revolted  against  our  Royal  service,  and  your  goodwill  for  the  contin- 
nuance  of  your  services  and  the  incresse  of  our  Royal  Crown  of  Castile,  I  have 
ordered  that  a  certain  treaty  and  capitulations  be  made  with  you  with  regard 
to  the  conquest,  discovery  and  settlement  of  the  provinces  of  the  River 
Plate  or  that  part  thereof  which  is  yet  to  be  conquered,  discovered  and 
settled,  which  contains  a  chapter  of  the  following  tenor:  We  also  present 
you,  the  said  Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate  with  fifteen  to  twenty  quintals  of 
iron  and  steel  which  we  have  in  the  city  of  La  Asuncion  in  possession  of  our 
officers,  so  that  you  may  dispose  of  them  as  you  think  best,  and  in  com- 
pliance with  the  said  capitulations  and  chapter  appended  hereto,   I  hereby 


—  164  — 

present  you  the  said  Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate  with  the  said  fifteen  to 
twenty  quintals  of  iron  and  steel  which  we  have  in  the  said  provinces  of  the 
River  Plate,  in  possession  of  our  officers  of  the  said  provinces,  the  said  iron 
and  steel  to  be  your  property  and  which  you  may  use  to  the  advantage  of 
said  land ;  and  we  order  by  this  present  our  said  officers  in  whose  posses- 
sion the  said  iron  and  steel  may  be,  to  deliver  it  to  you  on  presentation  of 
this  letter,  and  to  take  your  receipt  for  the  same,  with  which  and  a  copy 
of  this  letter  patent,  signed  by  notary  public,  they  shall  be  released;  and  we 
order  that  they  shall  be  released  and  credited  in  account.  Dated  at  Madrid 
on  the  eleventh  day  of  January  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  years. — I,  THE 
KING. — By  order  of  His  Majesty. — Antonio  de  Eraso. — This  Royal  letter 
patent  of  His  Majesty  has  been  entered  in  the  books  of  Contracts  of  the  In- 
dies of  this  city  of  Sevile  this  twenty  seventh  day  of  November  fifteen 
hundred  and  seventy  one  years.— FRANCISCO  DUARTE.— ORTEGA 
DE  MELGARA.— FRANCISCO  TORRES  TELLO.  (There  were  seven 
marks  on  the  back  of  this  letter  patent.) 


THE  KING  :  Whereas  appreciating  the  many  and  faithful  services  which 
you.  Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  have  rendered  to  us  in  the  conquest  and 
pacification  of  the  Kingdom  of  Peru  and  your  goodwill  for  the  continuance  of 
such  services  and  to  increase  our  Royal  Crown  of  Castile,  I  have  ordered  that 
a  treaty  and  capitulations  be  made  with  you,  in  regard  to  the  discovery,  con- 
quest and  settlement  of  the  provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  of  that  portion  thereof 
which  is  still  undiecovered,  unconquered  and  unsettled  ;  which  contains  a 
chapter  of  the  following  tenor:  We  also  grant  you  commission  and  authority  to 
appoint  justices  of  the  peace,  and  judges  and  mayors,  for  the  good  govern- 
ment and  the  execution  of  our  justice,  in  some  places  and  provinces  or  districts 
in  the  settled  towns  as  well  as  those  which  may  hereafter  be  settled  in  the 
government,  and  that  our  said  officers  shall  pay  them  salaries.  Therefore, 
and  in  compliance  with  the  said  chapter  annexed  thereto,  we  hereby  give 
commission  and  authority  to  you.  Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  to  appoint, 
.when  necessary  mayors  and  judges  in  the  said  provinces  of  the  River  Plate, 
for  the  good  government  and  administration  of  our  justice,  in  the  places  and 
part  which  may  be  cphvenient,  the  said  functionaries  to  receive  their  salaries 
out  of  the  products  of  the  lands,  in  a  moderate  way,  and  which  salaries  we 
command  our  said  officers  of  the  said  provinces  to  pay  to  the  said  mayors 
and  judges  out  of  the  coins  gold  or  silver,  that  may  have  been  collected 
from  the  proceeds  of  the  said  products  in  their  possession,  and  to  take  their 
acquittances,  with  which,  and  a  copy  of  the  title  which  you  will  give  them 
in  my  name,  signed  by  a  notary  public,  we  command  that  they  be  released 
and  credited  in  account  for  what  they  may  pay.  Made  in  Madrid  on  the 
eleventh  day  of  the  month  of  January  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  years — I, 
the  KING.  — By  order  of  His  Majesty,  Antonio  de  Eraso. — This  Royal  letter 
patent  of  His  Majesty  was  recorded  in  the  books  of  the  House  of  Contracts 


-  i65- 

of  the  Indies  on  the  twenty  seventh  of  November  fifteen  hundred  and  seven- 
ty-one years.— FRANCISCO  DUARTE.— ORTEGA  DE  MELGARA. 


DON  FELIPE,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  King  of  Castile,  of  Leon,  of  Aragon,. 
of  both  Sicilies,  of  Jerusalem,  of  Navarre,  of  Granada,  of  Mayorca,  of  Sevile, 
of  Sardinia,  of  Cordoba,  of  Corcica,  of  Murcia,  of  Jaen,  of  Los  Algarves,  of 
Algeciras,  of  Gibraltar,  of  the  Canary  Islands,  of  the  Indies,  of  the  islands 
and  continent  of  the  Ocean  sea  ;  Count  of  Barcelona,  of  Biscay,  ot  Molina, 
Duke  of  Athens  and  Neopatria;  Marquis  of  Oristan  and  Poziano  ;  Archduke 
of  Asutria;  Duke  of  Burgundy  ;  Count  of  Flanders,  of  Tyrol,  etc.,  etc. 

Whereas,  appreciating  the  old,  good  and  faithful  services  that  you. 
Captain  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  have  rendered  to  us  in  the  conquest  and 
settlement  of  the  Kingdom  of  Peru,  and  your  desire  for  the  continuance  of 
the  said  services  and  to  increase  our  Royal  Crown  of  Castile,  we  have  ordered 
a  treaty  and  capitulations  to  be  made  with  you  with  regard  to  the  conquest 
and  settlement  of  the  provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  in  the  part  thereof  which  is 
still  unconquered,  undiscovered  and  unsettled;  and  that  for  its  accomplishment 
you  have  offered  to  furnish  five  hundred  Spaniards,  two  hundred  of  which 
workmen  in  all  kinds  of  trade  and  farmers  to  cultivate  the  land,  and  the 
other  three  hundred  for  the  force  and  conquest  of  the  said  provinces,  and 
that  you  will  take  those  who  are  married  with  their  wives  and  children, 
and  that  you  will  have  these  people  ready  at  San  Lucar  by  the  month  of 
August  of  ensuing  year  seventy  four,  some  of  them  armed,  and  with  neces- 
sary provisions  for  their  support,  and  make  their  passage  to  that  goverment ; 
and  that  you  will  comply  with  all  the  stipulations  contained  in  the  said  treaty 
at  your  expense,  without  obligation  on  our  part  nor  on  that  of  other  Kings 
coming  after  us,  to  pay  for  your  outlays,  in  which  treaty  there  is  a  chapter 
of  the  following  tenor :  Furthermore  we  grant  you,  the  said  Juan  Ortiz  de 
Zarate  and  all  residents  and  inhabitants  of  the  said  goverment  and  those 
who  may  go  hereafter,  the  privilege  not  to  pay  to  our  Royal  officers  duties 
upon  the  gold  ,  silver,  pearl  and  precious  stones  which  may  be  discovered  in 
the  mines  henceforth,  but  one  tenth  part,  which  privilege  we  grant  you  for 
the  term  of  ten  years  from  the  day  upon  which  the  fusion  and  making  of  the 
said  metal,  stones  and  valuable  pearl  shall  have  been  made.  Therefore,  in 
compliance  with  the  said  capitulations  and  the  appended  chapter,  we  hereby 
command  that  for  the  term  of  ten  years  from  the  day  upon  which  the  first 
fusion  of  the  gold  and  silver  and  pearl  that  may  discovered  and  fused  in  the 
said  provinces,  they  shall  not  be  obliged  to  pay  more  than  the  said  tenth.  And 
to  make  it  known  by  all,  we  order  that  it  be  proclaimed  in  all  cities,  villages  and 
places  of  the  said  provinces.  Madrid,  the  eleventh  day  of  January  1 570  years — 
I,  THE  KING.  I,  Antonio  de  Eraso,  Secretary  of  His  Majesty,  caused  this  to 
be  written  by  his  order  on  the  back. — Doctor  Vazquez. — Licentiate  of  D.  Go- 
mez Zapata. — Doctor  Luis  de  Molina. — Licentiate  Salazar. — Doctor  Aguilera. 
— Acdo.  Cotello  Maldonado. — Registered  :  Diego  de  Aguirre,  Chief  Chancellor 
of  the  Kingdom. — This  provision  was  recorded  in  the  books  of  the  House  of 


—  i66  — 

Contracts  of  Indies,  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  November  fifteen  hundred 
and  seventy-one. — Francisco  Duarte.  —  Ortega  de  Melgara. — Ignacio  Gutie- 
rrez Tello. 

The  said  Royal  provision  was  proclaimed  in  the  usual  way  this  Tuesday 
eleventh  day  of  the  month  of  October  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy-five  in 
the  public  square  of  this  city  in  the  residence  of  the  said  Adelantado  by  the 
city  crier,  liiigo  Lopez,  and  published  in  the  presence  of  the  undersigned 
Luis  Marquez,  notary  of  the  goverment  and  witnesses,  Captain  Rui  Diaz 
Melgarejo,  Riquelme  de  Guzman,  and  Francisco  Espindola,  residents  of 
this  city — Before  me — LUIS  MARQUEZ — Notary  of  the  Government. 


SZSCOIVD    FART 


I54I-I8I0 


ACTS  OF  POSSESSION 
and  Jurisdiction  of  Spain  on  the  Territory 

submitted  to  Arbitration,  by  virtue  of 
the  preceding  Treaties  and  Capitulations. 


The  following-  trmislated  documents,  copied  from 

the  original  ones  and  legalized  by  the  Chiefs  of  the  Public 

Archives  where  they  are  and  by  the  Cofisuls  of  the 

United    States    of   America,    form    ;part    of 

grouj)  A,  of  manuscript  docurnents  of  the 

'  ^A  rgentine   Evidence. ' ' 


1541 


ACT  or  rossEssioir 

of  the  island  of  Santa  Catalina  by  the  O-overnor  of  the  River 

Plate,   Alvar  Zffunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca,   before  the 

Attorney  Juan  de  Araoz  and  IVitnesses 

on    the    8th    of  April.     {*) 

'  In  the  island  of  Santa  Catalina  on  the  eighteenth  day  of  April  of  the 
year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  forty-one  of  the  birth  of  Our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  before  me,  Juan  de  Araoz,  Attorney  to  their  Majesties,  and  of 
the  witnesses  undersigned,  the  most  illustrious  Lord  Alvar  Nuiiez  Cabeza  de 
Vaca,  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the  province  of  the  River  Plate  with 
two  hundred  leagues  of  the  South  Sea,  and  of  the  said  island  of  Santa  Cata- 
lina, by  their  Majesties,  exhibited  the  capitulations  and  covenant  that  His 
Majesty  made  with  him,  in  which  the  following  chapters  appeared,  to  which 
he  made  special  reference : 

Furthermore,  We  will  appoint  you  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the 
said  land  and  provinces  thus  given  in  government  to  the  said  Pedro  Mendoza 
and  of  the  said  two  hundred  leagues  of  coast  on  the  said  South  Sea,  and  of 
the  island  of  Santa  Catalina  for  all  the  days  of  your  life,  w  ith  a  stipend  of  two 
thousand  ducats  each  year,  which  you  shall  enjoy  from  the  day  you  should 
set  sail  from  the  port  of  Sanlucar  de  Barrameda,  to  be  paid  from  our  rents 
and  profits  in  said  lands,  to  be  collected  during  the  time  of  your  government,* 
and  in  no  other  manner;  all  this  in  case,  as  above-said,  that  said  Juan  Ayolas 
be  not  alive  at  the  date  of  your  arrival  on  said  land,  etc. 

Furthermore,  he  said  that,  standing  by  said  chapter  and  by  what  is  con. 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archive  of 
Indies  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of 
group  A,  No.  II,  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  •'Argentine  Evidence." 


tained  in  it,  according  to  what  His  Majesty  therein  grants  him,  he  orders 
and  commands  to  take,  and  he  took,  formal  possession,  in  His  Majesty's 
name,  of  the  said  island  of  Santa  Catalina,  with  all  annexed,  belonging  to 
it  or  which  ought  to  belong  to  it  in  whatever  way ;  and  as  evidence  of  said  posses- 
sion the  said  Governor  caused  a  cross  to  be  placed  on  a  beach  and  bay  of  the 
said  island,  which  he  named  the  Bay  of  Ramos,  and  on  which  he  walked  to  and 
fro,  cutting  some  branches  from  the  trees  therein,  so  that  now  and  forever  said 
possession  may  stand  and  appear ;  of  all  which  he  asked  me  the  said  attorney 
to  give  faith  and  testimony  signed  and  authorized  in  public  form,  in  such  a 
manner  that  it  should  be  as  a  witness  to  the  act,  for  the  safety  and  preserva- 
tion of  his  right;  and  he  asked  those  present  to  be  witnesses.  Witnesses  : 
Pedro  Dorantes,  His  Majesty's  factor  in  the  said  province ;  the  Accountant 
Felipe  de  Caceres,  Diego  Rodriguez,  Zipion  de  Grimaldo,  Bartolome  Gonzalez 
and  many  other  persons  of  the  fleet  of  the  said  Governor. — And  I,  Juan  de 
Araoz,  Attorney  to  their  Majesties  in  their  Court  and  Kingdoms  and  Lord- 
ships, being  present  with  the  said  witnesses  to  all  that  has  been  said,  at  the  sol- 
Ecitation  of  said  Governor  had  it  written,  and  annexed  to  it  my  true  sign. 

JUAN  DE  ARAOZ. 


Acts  of  Possession  of  the  Pueblo  de  Tocang-uazu,  Province  of 
Vera,  on  Zffovember  28th,  by  the  Governor  of  the  River 
Plate  Alvar  XQTunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  before  Johan 
de  Araoz,  Attorney  and  Witnesses.    (^) 

At  the  Village  and  Camp  of  Tocanguazu,  belonging  to  the  Province  of 
Vera,  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  the  month  of  November,  the  year  of  Our 
Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  forty-one,  the  illustrious 
Seiior  Alvar  Nuiiez  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  Adelantado,  Governor  and  Captain-Gen- 
eral of  the  Province  of  the  River  Plate,  appeared  before  me,  Johan  de  Araoz, 
Attorney  for  their  Majesties,  and  before  the  witnesses  mentioned  below,  and 
presented  a  Royal  Charter  granted  in  his  favor  by  reason  of  the  conquest  of 
said  province,  and  of  the  discoveries  and  settlements"  to  arise  from  said  con- 
quest, as  it  is  further  explained  in  said  capitulations,  in  which  the  said  two 
chapters  were  contained  of  which  he  wished  to  avail  himself  presently,  these 
two  articles,  by  him  exhibited,  being  the  one  after  the  other,  as  follows: 

Furthermore,  we  promise  to  appoint  you  Governor  of  the  lands  which 
you  shall  discover,  conquer  and  settle,  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Govern- 
ment granted  to  the  said  Don  Pedro  de   Mendoza,  and  within  the  said  two 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archive  of 
iTidies,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms  pait  of 
group  A.  No.  12,  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence.- 


—  lyi  — 

hundred  leagues  of  coast  line  of  the  South  Sea,  with  the  stipend  of  justice, 
payable  from  the  rents  and  profit  belonging  to  us  from  the  land  by  you  thus 
discovered,  the  salary  by  you  enjoyed  at  that  time  to  be  taken  into  account. 

Furthermore,  we  promise  to  give  you,  and  do  give  you,  the  title  of  Ade- 
lantado  of  the  lands  that  you  shall  discover  and  conquer. 

Accordingly,  said  Governor  stated  that  in  virtue  of  the  authorization 
granted  to  him  by  said  Charter,  he  has  taken  real  and  formal  possession  of  the 
land  and  its  regions  and  all  their  belongings,  from  the  Island  of  Santa  Cata- 
lina,  from  where  he  departed,  to  this  Pueblo  and  camp,  where  he  is  at  present 
with  the  army  at  his  command,  breaking  and  opening  routes,  and  mastering, 
conquering  and  pacifying  said  land:  said  possession  to  extend  over  all  that 
he  may  gain,  conquer  or  discover,  or  might  herefrom  gain,  conquer  and  dis- 
cover, in  accordance  with  said  both  chapters;  and  for  the  greater  firmness 
and  strength  of  said  possession,  and  as  evidence  of  it,  he  had  that  land  marked 
out  and  its  boundaries  set,  and  commanded  to  have  it  marked  out  and  bounded 
as  said  appointed  Province  of  Vera,  to  which  effect  he  marked  along  his  route 
by  crosses  and  posts,  he  in  said  town  and  camp  setting  as  mark  in  a  tall, 
strong  pine  tree,  by  a  stream  running  through  said  camp,  a  cross  the  height 
of  a  man  and  one  hand  more,  and  above  the  town  another  cross  made  by 
Pedro  Dorantes,  factor  of  Their  Majesties,  in  the  name  of  said  Governor,  who 
also,  as  a  sign  of  possession,  lifted  high  a  red  standard,  saying  that  all  should 
bear  witness  to  the  permanent  possession  of  the  land  which  he  then  took;  and 
to  confirm  this  possession,  said  Governor  appeared  before  me,  so  that  I  might 
grant  him  a  pubhc  document  in  due  form,  which  I  now  do,  for  the  protection 
and  preservation  of  his  right,  he  asking  those  present  to  bear  witness,  which 
they  did,  those  present  who  saw  it  all  being : — Friar  Bernando  de  Armenta, 
Commissioner,  and  Friar  Alonzo  Lebron,  Friars  of  the  Order  of  San  Fran- 
cisco; Pedro  Dorantes,  Factor  of  Their  Majesties;  Captain  Francisco  Lopez, 
Lieutenant-Governor;  Garcia  Rodriguez,  Lieutenant-Commander  of  the  Royal 
Army  ;  Don  Diego  Carva,  Agustin  de  Campos,  and  Juan  de  Camargo,  Cap- 
tains of  the  Royal  Army ;  and  Francisco  de  Gambarrota  and  Juan  Delgado, 
Ensigns  of  the  Royal  Camp. 

And  I,  Johan  de  Araoz,  Attorney  for  Their  Majesties,  being  of  one  mind 
with  the  witnesses  above-mentioned,  and  by  request  of  the  said  Governor, 
have,  in  witness  thereof,  affixed  my  sign. — Here  is  a  seal. — JOHAN  DE 
ARAOZ. 


1544 


Original  Report  of  Alvar  ZJunez,  of  all  the  Events   Occurred 
since  His  Arrival  on   the  Coast  of  Brazil  and  Kiver 
Plate;  IVherein  Appears  the  Proof  of  Bis  Hav- 
ing Taken  Possession   of  the   Island   of 
Cananea.     {*) 

'•General  report  that  I,  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  Adelantado  and 
Governor  and  Captain-General  of  the  Province  of  the  River  Plate,  by  the 
grace  of  His  Majesty,  make,  to  inform  him  and  the  members  of  his  Royal 
Council  of  Indies,  of  the  things  happened  in  the  said  province,  whither,  by 
his  order,  I  started  from  these  Kingdoms  to  relieve  and  conquer  the  said 
province." 

First.  «  On  the  second  day  of  the  month  of  December,  of  the  past  year, 
fifteen  hundred  and  forty,  I  started  out  to  sea  in  the  Bay  of  Cadiz,  with  four 
vessels,  four  hundred  men  and  forty-six  horses  and  mares,  to  go  to  the  said 
Province  of  the  River  Plate.  » 

Second.  «On  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  the  month  of  March,  of  the  past 
year,  fifteen  hundred  and  forty-one,  I  arrived  with  my  armada  at  the  Island 
of  Santa  Catalina,  which  lies  on  the  twenty-eighth  degree  on  the  coast  of  Bra- 
zil. » 

Third.  « In  this  Island  of  Santa  Catalina  I  landed  all  the  people  and 
horses,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  state  in  which  were  the  Spanish  people  resid- 
ing in  the  province,  and  so  as  to  be  able  to  send  them  notice  that  I  was  com- 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archives  of 
Indies,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of 
group  A,  No.  13,  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  «  Argentine  Evidence.  » 


—    174   — 

ing  to  their  relief,  by  order  of  His  Majesty,  and  to  take  possession  in  his  name 
of  the  said  Island. »  • 

Fourth.  «  Furthermore,  I  took  possession,  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty, 
of  La  Cananea,  which  lies  on  the  twenty-fifth  degree  more  or  less  on  the  said 
coast  of  Brazil ;  this  port  of  La  Cananea  is  fifty  leagues  distant  of  the  said 
Island  of  Santa  Catalina.  » 

Fifth.  «  On  my  arrival  in  the  said  Island  of  Santa  Catalina,  I  gave  the 
natives  of  the  same,  as  well  as  those  who  lived  on  the  said  coast  of  Brazil, 
vassals  of  His  Majesty,  good  treatment,  and  made  them  many  presents  to 
keep  them  content,  and  I  was  informed  by  them  that  fourteen  leagues  from 
that  island,  where  they  call  it  the  Biaqa,  there  were  two  Franciscan  monks, 
called  the  one  Friar  Bernaldo  de  Armenia,  a  Cordobese,  and  the  other  Friar 
Alonso  Lebron,  native  of  the  Canary  Islands,  and  a  few  days  after  the  said 
monks  came  where  I  was,  very  much  alarmed  and  irritated  at  the  Indians, 
who  wanted  to  kill  them;  and  they  themselves  said  at  the  same  time  that  the 
houses  of  the  said  Indians  had  been  burned,  and  that  for  this  they  rebelled 
and  killed  two  Christians,  one  of  which  was  called  Simon  Perera,  who  lived 
in  the  said  land;  and  I  took  the  said  Friars  with  me  and  protected  them,  that 
they  might  take  charge  of  instructing  the  Indians  of  said  countr)%  and  I  used 
great  efforts  in  quieting  them  and  making  them  their  friends.  » 
(Paragraphs  from  VI  to  XI  follow,  which  are  not  copied.) 
Twelfth.  ((  On  the  eighteenth  day  of  the  month  of  October,  of  the  said 
year  fifteen  hundred  and  forty-one,  I  ordered  the  shipping  of  all  the  men 
that  were  to  go  to  the  said  discover)',  with  twenty-six  mares  and  horses  which 
I  saved  from  the  ocean  passage,  and  I  took  them  to  the  said  river  Ytabucu, 
wherein  I  took  possession  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  and.  on  the  said  Island 
of  Santa  Catalina  I  left  one  hundred  and  forty  persons,  to  be  shipped  and  to 
proceed  to  the  said  port  of  Buenos  Ayres  by  the  sea,  and  I  commanded  Pedro 
Estopinan  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  whom  I  left  as  Captain  of  the  said  people,  that 
before  leaving  the  said  island  he  should  get  supplies  for  the  people  he  took 
with  him  as  well  as  for  the  people  that  he  might  find  in  the  said  port,  should 
they  be  in  need  ;  and  to  the  Indians  of  the  said  island,  before  my  departure,  I 
gave  many  shirts  and  caps  and  other  things  to  leave  them  contented,  and  of 
their  own  free  will  a  certain  quantity  of  them  offered  to  go  in  my  company  to 
show  me  the  way,  and  also  to  carry  the  load  of  provisions  for  the  sustenance 
of  the  people.  » 

(Paragraphs  XIII  to  XX  follow,  which  are  not  copied.) 
Twenty-first.  «  I  marched  a  long  time  through  the  said  land  and  Pro- 
vince of  Vera  without  being  able  to  hear  from  the  natives  any  news  of  the  peo- 
ple residing  in  the  said  City  of  La  Asuncion,  until  on  the  said  road  I  met  an 
Indian  native  of  the  coast  of  Brazil,  who  calls  himself  Miguel,  recently  con- 
verted, who  came  whence  were  the  said  Christians  and  was  going  *to  his 
country,  and  who  informed  me  about  all  that  svas  happening  in  the  said 
country,  and  consented  to  return  in  my  company  to  guide  and  advise  me  on 
the  road;  and  from  here  the  Indians,  which  came  from  the  Island  of  Santa 


—  175  ~ 

Catalina,  bringing  the  loads  of  supplies,  returned  very  happy  for  the  good 
treatment  given  them  and  for  the  things  given  them  in  barter. 

«  During  the  month  of  January,  of  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  forty- 
two,  I  came  to  a  river  which  is  called  Piquiri,  in  a  country  where  I  found  a 
greater  number  of  people  and  richer  in  supplies  than  what  I  had  seen  so  far, 
and  with  many  hens  and  ducks  and  game  and  fishes.  All  the  border  of  this 
river  is  inhabited  by  many  people,  and  all  the  countries  and  settlements  that 
I  passed  understand  and  communicates  through  one  language  only,  and  they 
are  all  of  a  race  called  Guaranies ;  they  received  me  with  great  pleasure  and 
satisfaction,  and  I  gave  them  of  what  I  brought,  and  gave  them  good  treat- 
ment.    Here  a  dog  bit  one  Francisco  de  Ortijon  on  the  leg.  » 

Twenty-second.  « From  this  river  Piquiri  I  sent  again  written  word, 
through  the  Indians  of  said  river,  to  the  officers  of  His  Majesty  and  Captains 
of  said  City  of  La  Asuncion,  advising  them  of  my  coming  by  command  of 
His  Majesty,  and  in  order  that  they  might  send  me  the  two  brigs  to  trans- 
port the  people  and  horses  and  make  sure  of  the  pass  of  the  river  Parana, 
as  the  people  were  warlike  and  had  killed  the  Portuguese.  In  this  river 
Piquiri  I  left  fourteen  sick -men,  besides  the  one  wounded  by  the  bite  of  a 
dog,  and  I  charged  the  Indians  to  protect  them  and  help  them  to  go  where 
I  might  be.  » 

Twenty-third.  « Through  this  country  and  province  I  marched  on 
about  five  months  without  disturbance  or  rupture  with  the  Indians,  during 
which  time  four  hundred  leagues  were  marched,  and  nearly  two  hundred  of 
them  were  cut  open  through  reeds,  fields  and  very  thick  woods.  I  always 
went  on  foot,  and  barefooted,  to  stimulate  the  men  not  to  dismay,  because 
the  heavy  work  along  the  route,  opening  roads  and  making  bridges  to  cross 
of  the  many  rivers,  we  suffered  great  and  excessive  hardships.  » 

Twenty-fourth.  «  All  this  country  of  this  Province  of  Vera  is  the  best 
land,  and  has  better  water,  rivers,  creeks,  springs,  fields  and  trees  than  I 
have  ever  seen,  and  much  game,  and  is  a  very  good  country  to  settle  in  and 
to  plant  and  raise  cattle  of  all  kinds,  and  very  healthy  ;  and  all  the  people 
living  in  this  country  are,  as  I  have  said,  of  the  race  of  the  Guaranies,  work- 
ing at  farming  and  hen  and  duck  growing,  as  the  country  people  of  our  own 
Spain;  a  domestic  people  it  is  indeed,  and  friendly  to  the  Christians,  and 
fit  to  be  won  over  with  little  trouble  to  the  knowledge  of  our  sacred  Catholic 
Faith.  » 

Twenty-fifth.  «  I  came  to  a  river  called  Igua^u,  which  flows  in  the  river 
Parana ;  and  the  river  Piquiri,  therein  where  I  passed,  joins  too  the  said 
river  Parana ;  and  as  the  crossing  of  this  river,  as  I  have  said,  is  known  to 
be  dangerous,  I  decided  to  go  with  eighteen  men,  on  certain  canoes  that  I  had 
and  bought  of  the  native  Indians,  down  the  said  river  Igau9u  to  find  the  river 
Parana,  and  that  I  did,  and  by  land  I  sent  the  other  men  and  horses  that  they 
might  go  to  the  crossing,  so  that  some  on  one  end  and  some  on  the  other 
would  hold  to  land,  and  then  we  could  then  pass  without  danger.  » 

Twenty-sixth.  « There  is  in  said  river  Igua^ii  a  waterfall,  on  account  of 
which  I  and  my  people  found  it  better  to  carry  the  canoes  by  land  until  leav- 


—  176  — 

ing  the  said  fall  behind;  and  we  carried  them  more  than  one-quarter  of  a 
league,  pulling  them  by  land  by  sheer  force  of  our  arms,  until  we  returned 
them  to  the  river  and  proceeded  by  it  till  we  arrived  to  the  river  Parana;  and 
it  pleased  God  that  those  going  by  land  and  those  in  the  canoes  arrived  alto- 
gether at  the  same  time,  for  which  reason  the  Indians  did  not  dare  attack  us, 
although  a  great  many  of  them  had  gathered  there,  and  I  began  to  unloose 
amongst  the  principal  ones  gifts  and  good  words,  with  which  I  quieted  them; 
and  with  the  canoes  I  made  four  rafts,  on  which  in  the  course  of  six  hours  I 
passed  all  the  men  and  horses  in  great  peace,  the  very  Indians  helping  me.  » 


■jK~ 


1577-1582 


ACTIOir  AGAIirST  ORTUNO  AB.BILDO 

at  Icatu  in  the  territory  of  Province   of  G-uayr^,  and   finally 
sentenced  by  Don  Juan  de  G-aray.     {*). 

The  following  were  the  proceedings  had  befoie  Sargeant  Major,  Ruy  Diaz 
Melgarejo,  Lieutenant  Governor  appointed  by  the  illustrious  Diego  Ortiz  de 
Zarate-Mendieta,  Governor  and  Captain  General,  and  High  Justice  and 
Constable  of  all  these  provinces,  now  called  New  Biscay ; 

Indictment  :  « In  the  place  and  mouth  of  the  Icatii,  on  the  tenth 
H  day  of  fche  month  of  April  of  the  year  of  the  birth  of  Our  Lord  and  Saviour,  of 
«  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy  seven :  the  Lieutenant  Governor, 
«  Captain  General  and  High  Justice  in  these  Provinces  of  Guayra,  Ruy  Diaz 
«  Melgarejo,  commenced  these  proceedings  against  Ortuiio  de  Arbildo,  Cons- 
«  table  of  these  and  neighboring  provinces  of  Ciudad  Real.  The  said  Gover- 
«  nor  had  issued  a  proclamation  ordering  that  no  one  should  dare  to  annoy 
«  or  insult  any  Indians  as  the  Spanish  dwelled  in  the  houses  of  the  Indians, 


( * ) .  This  is  a  translated  extract  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  National 
Archives  of  Paraguay,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  La 
Asuncion,  forms  part  of  group  A,  No.  14  of, the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evi- 
dence." This  document,  and  several  others  which  will  be  printed  in  this  book,  from  the 
same  procedence,  has  not  been  translated  word  by  word,  with  all  the  ancient  and  long  forms 
of  that  time,  but  inasmuch  as  they  may  fill  the  purpose  of  evidencing  the  exercise  of  the 
Spanish  jurisdiction  over  the  lands  lying  between  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the  eastern  banks 
of  the  rivers  Parana  and  Uruguay,  to  wit :  the  Provinces  of  Guayra  and  Tape,  in  which' the 
Territory  submitted  to  the  Arbitration  is  situated ;  and  also  to  prove  the  existence  in  the 
said  provinces,  of  an  administrative,  judicial  and  political  mechanism  showing  an  organized 
society. 


((  for  the  River  was  so  overflown  that  the  natives  did  not  venture  to  take  our 
«  said  Governor  and  his  soldiers  to  the  Villa  del  Espiritu  Santo  where  he  is 
u  to  fulfill  the  orders  given  him.  To-day  an  Indian  chief  named  Sebastian 
«  came  to  his  Excellency,  saying  that  Arbildo  had  taken  from  him  his  sister 
((  who  is  a  grand  daughter  of  the  chief  of  all  these  tribes  of  the  Icatu  and 
«  Indians  thereof,  and  that  he  was  much  troubled  thereby;  that  last  night,  the 
«  said  Arbildo  ordered  the  doors  of  his  house  to  be  closed  and  made  a  young 
«  man,  Juan  Ruiz,  who  used  to  sleep  with  the  said  Arbildo,  leave  him ;  that 
«  Arbildo  took  his  sister  by  force  and  threw  her  in  his  bed,  and  sent  a  shirt 
«  and  some  pants  to  the  ranch  of  the  said  Indian  Sebastian  as  her  price ;  and 
«  our  Governor  considering  the  declarations  of  the  said  Indian  and  that  there 
«  were  complaints  of  troubles  among  the  Indians,  and  that  on  account  of 
i(  these  they  may  rise  and  kill  the  few  Spaniards  who  are  here,  and  the  settle- 
«  ments  may  by  depopulated ;  and  as  the  Indian  girl  is  of  the  best  family,  of 
«  most  distinguished  parents  and  ancestors,  of  these  tribes,  and  because  it 
«  had  been  agreed  beforehand  to  marry  her  to  a  chief,  and  the  said  Arbildo 
«  knew  of  this,  and  that  not  only  he  prevented  the  said  marriage  but  he  took 
((  away  the  said  Indian  girl  against  the  will  of  her  parents  and  relatives,  and 
«  after  the  Governor  had  ordered  that  he  should  not  speak  to  her  as  she  was 
«  the  daughter  of  a  chief,  using  force  and  by  his  fault  putting  in  danger  the 
«  lives  and  settlements,  now,  in  order  to  allay  this  feehng  it  was  necessary  to 
«  take  the  said  Indian  girl  away  from  the  ranch  of  the  Constable  and  depo- 
«  sit  her  in  another  house  so  as  to  do  justice  to  the  Indians  and  because  it 
«  is  convenient  for  the  service  of  God  and  Royal  Justice,  I  order  the  present 
«  proceedings  to  be  commenced  against  the  said  Arbildo,  for  the  above 
«  reasons  and  because  he  is  a  wicked,  restless  and  troublesome  man,  as  itap- 
«  pears  by  other  torts  committed  by  him,  in  the  city  of  Santa  Fe,  as  stated 
«  in  the  proceedings  had  against  him  in  the  said  city  and  which  cause  the  trip 
«  to  be  disturbed,  speaking  badly  to  the  Indians,  which  was  against  the  com- 
«  mands  of  the  King;  all  this  can  be  seen  from  the  investigation  referred  to. — 
«  RUY  DIAZ  MELGAREJO— Passed  before  me.— ALONSO  DE  ONTI- 
VEROS,  Notary  of  the  Government.)) 


Juan  Ruiz,  the  companion  of  Arbildo,  testified,  after  takihg  the  due  oath, 
that  Arbildo  had  endeavored  to  have  the  Indian  girl  delivered  to  him,  that 
her  name  is  Maria,  that  they  refused  to  give  her  up  and  gave  him  another  one 
named  Leonor  and  others,  and  thereupon  Arbildo  tried  to  persuade  the  chief's 
son-in-law  to  give  her  up,  that  for  three  nights  Arbildo  did  not  sleep  in  the 
house  and  that  Arbildo  told  Ruiz  to  take  his  hammock  to  Don  Antonio  and 
sleep  there,  and  that  early  this  morning  Arbildo  took  the  said  Indian  Maria 
to  the  ranch,  and  last  night  the  doors  were  closed  and  he  did  not  want  to 
open  them,  that  Macaru,  the  grand-father  of  the  said  Maria  refused  to  give 
her  up,  as  he  did  not  want  her  to  go  out  of  the  land,  wishing  to  marry  her  to 
Alonso,  that  Arbildo  took  her  by  force,  and  that  Arbildo  had  been  in  prison 
in  Santa  Fe  de  Lujan. 


—  179  — 

Francisco  Montanes  testified  substantially  to  the  same  facts  and  to  the 
bad  chararter  of  Arbildo. 

On  the  same  day,  the  said  Lieutenant  Governor  ordered  the  imprison- 
ment of  the  said  Ortuno  de  Arbildo  who  was  put  in  irons,  in  the  house  of 
Diego  de  Oviedo,  resident  of  Ciudad  Real  which  is  in  this  place  and  mouth 
of  the  Piquiri. 

On  the  tenth  day  of  the  month  of  April  the  Lieutenant  Governor  ordered 
before  the  Notary,  Alonso  de  Ontiveros,  an  inventory  to  be  made  of  the 
property  of  the  said  Arbildo.  The  said  Indian  Sebastian  declared  that  he 
saw  Arbildo  take  down  the  hammock  of  the  girl  and  took  her  away  with  him. 
The  Indian  girl  Leonor  testified  that  the  said  Arbildo  called  the  Indian  girl 
Maria,  and  that  she  covered  herself  and  that  Arbildo  took  her  by  the  arm, 
brought  her  to  his  hammock  where  he  remained  with  the  girl  until  the  wit- 
ness fell  asleep.  On  the  twelfth  day  of  April,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
seventy  seven,  the  Lieutenant  Governor  had  Alonzo  Sanchez  Cano  appear 
before  him,  and,  after  being  duly  sworn,  he  testified  substantially  to  the  same 
facts  as  the  previous  witnesses. 

On  the  same  day,  month  and  year  Antonio  Aiiasco  corroborated  the 
testimony  of  the  other  witnesses  and  advised,  as  the  others,  that  the  Indian 
girl  Maria  should  be  returned  to  her  grand-father  so  that  she  could  marry 
her  promised  husband.  Diego  de  Zufiiga  followed  and  made  the  same  de- 
clarations. 

On  the  1 3th  of  April  1577,  the  Lieutenant  Governor  Ruy  Diaz  Melgarejo. 
went  to  the  homes  of  the  Indians  of  Diego  de  Oviedo  where  Arbildo  was  im- 
prisoned, and  after  Arbildo  was  duly  sworned,  he  was  asked  whether  he  had 
taken  away  the  said  Indian  Maria,  sister  of  Sebastian,  from  the  ranch  of  the 
said  brother  :    he  answered  that  he  had  not. 

He  said  that  a  boy  of  his  had  told  him  that  Maria  had  requested  to  have 
her  hammock  placed  in  the  ranches  of  the  Indians  of  Arbildo,  and  that  he 
had  consented ;  he  said  that  she  had  not  been  in  his  hammock  all  night, 
that  he  had  demanded  her  of  the  said  Sebastian,  her  brother,  but  not  of  her 
other  relatives,  because  the  brother  was  sufficient,  according  to  the  Indian 
usage;  that  at  the  first  request  he  refused,  but  at  the  second  request 
he  consented,  because  he  gave  Sebastian  two  girls  that  had  been 
apportioned  to  him  (Arbildo).  He  said  that  the  five  girls  sent  to 
him  in  lieu  of  Maria  were  not  because  they  wanted  Maria  to  marry  her 
promised  husband  but  because  the  Indian  wanted  clothing  for  them.  He 
declared  that  he  did  not  know  of  any  order  of  the  Governor  prohibiting  any- 
one from  having  Indian  girls.  He  admitted  that  the  above  witnesses  had 
requested  him  not  to  take  the  girl  on  account  of  the  consequences  and  that  he 
w^ould  not  do  it,  and  that  the  said  Captain  who  now  questions  him  did  tell 
him  not  to  think  of  the  matter  anymore  and  to  abandon  his  idea  and  that 
he  had  so  promised.  He  said  he  did  not  remember  having  gone  to  the  ranch 
of  Sebastian  and  taken  the  hammock  to  his  ranch  noc  having  brought  there 
Maria;  he  testified  also  as  to  his  past  conduct  and  said  that  he  was  about 
forty  years  of  age,  and  further  assured  that  he  was  not  in  bed,  one  single 


—  fSb  — 

moment  with  Maria,  and  that  Juan  Ruiz  had  gone  away  of  his  oWn  volition 
as  he  had  done  three  days  previously. 

After  this  testimony  the  one  of  Juan,  an  Indian,  servant  of  Arbildo  was 
taken.  He  said  that  Martin,  Arbildo's  boy,  had  been  ordered  by  Arbildo 
to  carry  the  hammock  and  that  it  was  placed  next  to  Arbildo's  and  that  th« 
Indian  girls  had  told  him  that  Maria  had  been  with  Arbildo. 

Juan  Merino,  Treasurer  of  His  Majesty,  was  the  next  witness  and  sub- 
stantially testified,  mostly  by  hearsay,  to  the  facts  of  the  preceding  witnesses. 

The  boy  Martin,  through  Francisco  Montafies,  the  interpreter,  declared 
that  he  had  gone  for  the  hammock  of  the  said  Indian  girl,  sent  by  the  said 
Arbildo,  his  master,  that  the  girl  had  followed  him,  and  that  he  heard  from 
the  other  Indian  women  that  she  and  Arbildo  had  been  together.  In  a  peti- 
tion of  Arbildo  addressed  to  the  Governor,  he  asks  that  as  he  is  going  in  a 
canoe  to  Espiritu  Santo,  the  irons  put  on  him  be  taken  off  as  the  river  is  of 
dangerous  navigation  and  he  might  perish:  the  Governor  thus  ordered  it*.      ~ 

On  the  same  day  Arbildo  obtained  two  bondsmen,  Juan  Porras  and  Miel- 
chor  Moreno. 

On  the  twenty-  third  of  April  of  the  said  year  in  the  settlement  of  Espi- 
ritu Santo,  Nicolas  Armas  made  an  inventory  of  the  property  of  Arbildo, 
which  was  taken  charge  of  by  Juan  Ruiz  who  was  to  keep  it  secretly  until 
ordered  to  deliver  it  by  our  Lieutenant  Governor.  On  the  same  day  the 
Lieutenant  Governor  Rui  Dias  Melgarejo  ordered  the  said  Indian  girl  Maria 
to  appear  before  him,  and  through  the  interpreter  Montafies,  she  declared 
that  one  day,  she  did  not  know  whether  it  was  the  person  indicted,  she  heard 
some  one  speak  to  her  brother  Sebastian  ;  he  was  accompanied  by  Juan  Ruiz; 
he  asked  Sebastian  for  her,  in  order  to  take  her  away,  and  Sebastian  refused; 
saying  that  our  Captain  would  never  consent  ;  to  this  Arbildo  answered  that 
when  the  Captain  saw  all  the  things  he  had  given  for  her,  he  would  ac- 
quiesce ;  that  Sebastian,  angered,  left  the  hammock,  leaving  the  clothed 
there  ;  that  Arbildo  then  called  her,  and  she  did  not  want  to  go  ;  he  ordered 
her  to  take  down  the  hammock  which  was  in  the  ranch  of  the  said  Sebastiart 
and  an  Indian  did  so  and  and  put  it  next  to  his  in  the  ranch  ;  that  she  waS 
asked  by  Arbildo  during  the  night  to  go  to  his  bed,  and  she  refused  and 
covered  herself  with  her  hammock ;  that  the  said  Constable  went  in  her 
search,  took  her  by  the  arm  and  her  hammock  was  torn  to  pieces  in  hei" 
resistance  and  that  finally  he  took  her  by  force  to  his  bed  and  that  Arbildo 
had  her  all  night  there,  against  her  will;  and  that,  notwithstanding  she  told 
him  that  she  was  to  be  married  to  an  Indian  Chief,  as  agreed  to  by  het 
brother  and  grand-father,  Arbildo  assaulted  her,  saying  that  the  Chief  had 
another  woman  already,  which  was  a  falsehood,  because  Alonso,  the  said 
Chief,  is  in  this  town  in  order  to  marry  her  by  the  church.  ■     •  ■ 

Francisco  Perez  de  Cana  testified  by  hearsay  to  the  above  facts.  Al6if>sb 
de  Cordova  corroborated  the  testimony  of  Francisco  Perez  de  Cana  and  in- 
sisted on  the  bad  character  of  Arbildo.  -     t 

Laurencio  Menalisto  said  that  he  did  not  come  "with  the  Captain- from 
the  Falls  ( Salto  )  of  Piquiriaca  by  way  the  River, ' '   he  came  with  thfe'  hoftcfe 


—  I»I  - 

by  land  and  he  heard  that  if  the  Governor  were  not  to  come  soon  from  the 
Parana,  Arbildo  would  be  garroted,  and  he  testified  to  the  restless  character 
of  Arbildo. 

Francisco  Esquibel  was  the  next  witness,  and  he  said  that  "on  the  coast 
of  the  Icatu, "  coming  with  the  Captain  and  being  detained  there  because  the 
river  was  overflown,  he  heard  of  the  above  facts,  and  that  Arbildo  was  his 
eompanion,  and  of  others  of  the  Great  Fall  (  Salto  Grande  )  of  the  Parana, 
and  that  Arbildo  had  proposed  to  them  to  return  while  the  Captain  was 
going  in  search  of  the  Tupies  Indians,  and  that  Arbildo  was  of  bad  character. 

Juan  de  Riera  testified  that  he  came  by  land  with  the  horses  to  this  Villa 
Rica, del  Espiritu  Santo  and  that  he  learned  of  all  that  "the  said  Ortuno  de 
Arbildo.  committed  m  f he  coast  of  t/fe  Iguati't,  with  the  said  Indian  girl  Maria;" 
he  testified  also  to  Arbildo's  rebellious  disposition  as  shown  in  the  Salto 
Grande  del  Parana. 

The  Lieutenant  Governor  then  took  the  due  oath  and  he  said  that  «  the 
«  rii^er  ;being  overflown,  our  Captain  was  detained  some  days  in  the  Mouth 
»  of  the  Icatu,  and  he  dwelled  in  the  houses  of  the  Indians  distributed  to  the 
«  High  Constable,))  and  he  testified  that  Arbildo  had  repeatedly  requested 
him  to  get  the  girl  for  him  and  he  had  refused  for  reasons  of  policy,  and  sub- 
stantially repeated  the  facts  of  the  indictment,  saying  the  Chief  of  those 
Indians  was  the  head-man  of  all  the  other  Indians  of  this  River  Icatu. 

After  all  the  said  declarations,  in  due  form  of  law,  were  submitted,  the 
Lieutenant  Governor  ordered  that  the  case  be  closed,  and  that  costs  of  it  be 
determined:  he  also  commanded  that  a  true  copy  of  the  proceedings,  signed 
and  sealed  in  the  proper  manner  be  given  to  Diego  de  Zuniga  to  be  delivered, 
together  with  the  person  of  Arblido,  at  Ciudad  Real  to  the  Most  Excellent 
Diego  Ortiz  de  Zarate  Mendieta,  Governor  of  all  these  provinces,  and  that 
sufficient  property  of  Arbildo  be  sold  at  auction  to  pay,  if  he  is  not  able  to  do 
so,  the  said  costs. 

The  said  Arbildo  was  notified  of  this  and  he  assented:  the  costs  were  de- 
termined and  after  their  payment,  the  rest  of  the  property  was  delivered  to 
Arbildo  by  the  said  Ruiz  who  had  it  in  deposit. 

A  copy  of  the  proceedings  was  given  to  the  said  Diego  de  Zuniga  for  the 
Governor,  as  ordered  by  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo. 
Thereupon,  Arbildo,  as  resident  of  Ciudad  Real,  Province  of  Parana,  on  the 
twenty  eigth  day  of  January  fifteen  hundred  and  eighty  addressed  to  the 
Lieutenant  General  Juan  de  Garay  a  petition  in  which  he  declares  that 
Captain  Rui  Diaz  de  Melgarejo  had  drawn  certain  secret  proceedings  against 
him  on  account  of  an  Indian  girl,  refusing  to  give  him  copy  thereof,  and  that 
these  proceedings  were  now  in  the  hands  of  His  Excellency,  the  Governor 
of  the  Provinces,  as  General  and  High  Juitice,  and  asked  that  a  copy  should 
be  given  him  of  all  the  proceedings  so  that  he  could  appeal  or  defend  him- 
self in  any  other  due  form  of  law. 

In  the  city  of  La  Asuncion,  on  the  third  day  of  September  one  thousand 
five  hundred  and  eighty-two,  the  General  Juan  de  Garay,  being  in  Superior 
Court,  ordered  that  the  Notary  should  take    copy  of  the  papers  and  that  at 


182 


the  first  session,  any  answer  to  be  given  be  presented  on  the  thirteenth  day  of 
the  said  month  of  September  of  the  same  year:  Ortuiio  de  Arbildo  appeared 
before  the  General,  in  the  presence  of  the  said  Notary  and  witnesses,  and 
Arbildo  said  that  he  had  nothing  to  add  nor  allege  but  what  he  had  already 
said  in  his  previous  declarations  which  he  ratified,  denying  everything  said 
by  the  witnesses,  and  he  asked  that  the  sentence  be  pronounced. 

The  Governor  Juan  de  Garay  then  sentenced  as  follows,  closing  the 
case,  which  took  place  and  was  duly  tried  in  Iguatii. 

' '  Considering  the  ijidictment  and  steps  against  Ortuno  de  Arbildo  in  the 
' '  Province  of  Guaira,  contained  in  'these  proceedings  sent  to  the  Illustrious 
"  Adelantado,  I  sentence  him,  taking  due  account  of  the  long  imprisonment 
"  that  the  said  Arbildo  has  suffered,  and  the  great  cost  and  expense  to  which 
"  he  has  been  subjected,  to  banishment  for  three  years,  out  of  the  province 
* '  of  Guaira,  to  be  deprived  for  the  said  three  years  of  the  Indians  belonging 
"  to  him  in  the  said  provinces  and  to  pay  the  additional  costs  of  the  action.  ' 

This  sentence  was  notified  to  Ortuiio  de  Arbildo,  who  promised  to  duly 
obey  it. 


1567 


Title  granted  in  favor  of  Captain  Rui  Diaz  de  IMEelgarejo,  ap- 
pointing him  Lieutenant  Oovernor  of  the  Province  of  la 
Guayr^,  and  of  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  in 
the  Province  of  Coracivera,  to  be  settled 
and  apportioned.    {*) 

Captain  Juan  de  Ortega,  Lieutenant  Governor  and  Captain  General 
of  these  Provinces  of  River  Plate,  by  the  magnificent  Senor  Francisco  de 
Vergara,  Governor  and  Captain  General  in  all  the  said  provinces,  in  the 
name  of  His  Majesty,  said,  that  whereas,  as  is  known  by  all  the  conquerors  and 
settlers  of  these  provinces,  Captain  Gonzalo  de  Mendoza,  deceased,  Lieute- 
nant Governor  and  Captain  General  in  the  provinces  of  River  Plate,  with 
the  consent  of  His  Majesty,  ordered  the  foundation  and  settlement  of  the 
town  situated  upon  the  river  Parana  and  Piquiri  under  the  title  of  Villa  Real, 
with  the  people  and  everything  necessary  for  its  population  and  support,  for 
the  service  of  God  our  Lord,  His  Majesty  and  the  general  good  of  these  pro- 
vinces; to  be  done  by  Captain  and  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  said  town, 
Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  who  established  and  founded  and  supported 
the  said  town,  in  the  service  of  His  Majesty  according  to  the  instructions 
which  were  given  him,  until  such  things  and  events  having  occured,  in 
which  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  was  to  busy  himself  in  the  service 
of  His  Majesty  and  the  general  welfare ;  he  was  sent  for  by  the  said  Gover- 
nor Francisco  de  Vergara,  and  he  came  to  this  city  and  fitted  up  the  caravel 


(*)  These  translations  are  taken  from  the  original  documents  existing  in  the  General  Ar- 
chives of  the  Indies,  copies  of  which  duly  legalized  by  the  Consul  of  the  United  States  of 
America  at  Sevile,  form  part  of  group  A,  number  15  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Ar- 
gentine Evidence." 


—   i84  - 

that  was  to  go  to  Spain,  and  other  things,  business  and  journeys  intended  to 
be  made;  in  the  mean  time  that  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  was  engaged  in 
the  above  occupations,  he  was  replaced  until  his  return  to  the  government  by 
Alonso  Riquelme  de  Guzman  under  instructions  as  appears  in  the  power  of 
Attorney,  instructions,  and  acts  in  possession  of  Martin  de  Orue,  Chief  Notary 
of  the  Government  and  Mines  of  these  said  provinces,  to  which  I  refer. — 
Whereupon  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  residing  in  this  city  with  his  wife  and 
children  met  with  a  certain  mishap  and  trouble  in  consequence  of  which  he 
has  been  detained  and  prosecuted  by  the  Royal  Court  and  sentenced;  and 
while  in  this  condition  and  serving  the  said  sentence,  Juan  Castafio  and 
Francisco  Montaiies  and  Juan  Moyano  arrived  in  the  said  city  from  the 
said  town  with  news,  letters  and  advices  about  what  had  happened  in  the 
said  town,  by  which  it  was  ascertained  that  Father  Escalera  and  Juan  Garcia, 
clergymen,  and  Luis  Osorio,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  Bernabe  de  Cuenca, 
and  Nfcolas  Colman,  Aldermen,  with  most  of  the  residents  of  the  said  town, 
Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  have  revolted  and  deserted  with  the  intent  to  go 
to  sea,  leaving  the  church  in  distress,  and  robbed  of  everything  there  was  in 
it,  depriving  the  natives  of  the  administration  of  the  Sacraments  and  Divine 
Serx'ices,  and  Christian  doctrine,  which  His  Majesty  has  so  much  recom- 
mended ;  carrying  with  themselves  the  treasury  of  His  Majesty  belonging  to 
the  title,  and  many  of  the  natives,  men  and  women  with  great  noise  and 
scandal,  contrary  to  the  services  of  God  Our  Lord  and  of  His  Majesty,  to  the 
detriment  and  injury  of  the  said  town,  and  risk  and  danger  of  the  few  re- 
maining Spaniards.  To  remedj^  which  and  to  prevent  the  total  destruction 
of  the  said  town  and  country,  after  taking  the  best  advice  for  the  benefit  of 
the  service  of  God  Our  Lord,  His  Majesty,  and  general  welfare,  upon  infor- 
mation in  writing,  and  in  conformity  thereto,  I  decided  to  remove  from  the 
government  and  administration  of  the  said  town  and  land,  the  said  Alonso 
Riquelme  de  Guzman,  as  I  do  hereby  remove  him,  and  he  is  removed, 
separated  and  detached  ;  and  to  reinstate  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melga- 
rejo,  so  that  he,  as  founder  and  sustainer  of  the  said  town  and  land,  returns 
to  reform  and  support  it  in  the  service  of  God  Our  Lord  and  of  His  Majesty, 
as  he  did  and  could  do  by  virtue  of  the  said  power  of  Attorney  and  instruc- 
tion, and  according  to  the  same,  and  much  better,  if  possible,  to  govern  and 
administer  the  Spanish  people  and  their  children  there  residing,  and  which 
power  I  now  renew  to  the  ends  above  named,  and  help  of  the  land  and  its 
district  under  his  charge,  as  well  as  the  natives  contracted  and  those  who  may 
be  hereafter  contracted  ;  doing  justice  to  all  the  parties  in  every  thing  suitable 
to  the  service  of  God  Our  Lord  and  of  His  Majesty,  and  general  welfare,  duly 
and  fully ;  for  I,  uniting  force  with  force,  and  might  with  might,  in  the  name 
of  His  Majesty,  as  far  as  his  Royal  service  is  concerned,  and  principally  that 
of  God  Our  Lord,  and  for  the  gcod  settlement,  pacification  and  perpetuity 
of  the  conquerors  and  settlers  of  all  these  said  provinces  and  the  natives  of 
the  same  ;  and  in  order  to  prevent  scandal  and  tumults  and  other  similar  oc- 
currences, great  or  small,  like  those  which  have  taken  place  in  the  said  town ; 
and  that  the  Christiau  doctrine  and  Holy  Baptism  which  are  propagated  and 


_  i85  - 

professed  among  the  natives  shall  be  maintained  and  not  forgotten  :  and 
that  the  hands  shall  not  be  withdrawn  from  the  plough,  as  the  example  of  our 
Redeemer  and  His  Holy  Gospel  teach  us  ;  do  grant  full  power  of  Attorney  to 
the  said  Captai.i  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  for  every  thing  therein  contained  in  full  or 
in  detail  and  in  connection  therewith,  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  giving  for 
stated  and  specified  all  the  clauses  and  stipulations  usually  expressed  in  sim- 
ilar trust  and  powers  of  Attorney,  either  special  or  general;  which  power 'hfc 
shall  make  use  of  in  accordance  with  its  provision  and  instructions,  for  the 
time  it  may  suit  the  service  of  His  Majesty,  or  at  any  convenience,  i-n  his 
name,  or  any  other  person  who  might,  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  govern 
these  provinces,  or  something  to  the  contrary  would  be  ordered  ;  and  which 
power,  commission  and  authority  I  grant  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  for  the 
reasons  already  explained,  and  many  others  that  may  be  expressed  and  de- 
clared for  the  extreme  necessity  and  imminent  datiger  existing  ;  and  in  order 
to  remedy  the  said  evil,  and  being  in  accord  with  the  said  opinions  and 
proofs,  understanding  that  His  Majesty  will  give  his  approval  and  consent, 
though  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  has  not  served  out  his  sentence, 
and  referring  furthermore  to  the  foregoing  statements,  to  impress  upon  the 
minds  that  an  extreme  necessity  like  this  has  no  law  ;  I,  hereby,  in  the  name 
of  His  Majesty,  do  command  the  said  Alonso  Riquelme  de  Guzman,  in  par- 
ticular, and  all  settlers  and  residents  and  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Villa 
Real,  its  land  and  district,  those  who  may  be  there  at  present,  and  those 
who  absented  themselves  from  the  said  town,  as  well  as  those  who  are  now 
in  the  way  to  the  support  of  the  said  country  and  land,  to  revere  and  obey 
and  receive  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  as  their  Captain  and  Lorti 
Chief  Justice  in  the  form  and  manner  above  stated,  and  to  comply  with  the 
orders  and  edicts  which  he,  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  in  behalf  of  his 
Royal  service  and  the  general  welfare  he  may  dictate,  under  death  penalty 
and  loss  of  half  of  their  estate  and  deprivation  of  servants  for  those  who  would 
disregard  the  said  orders  or  edicts  ;  and  to  give  him,  under  said  penalties  m 
case  of  contravention,  all  the  aid  and  help  that  he  may  ask,  and  be  in  need 
of.  Furthermore  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty  I  command  the  said  Captain 
Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  that  in  case  there  should  be  a  safe  way  to  go  from  the 
said  town  of  Villa  Real  to  the  Kingdoms  of  Spain  and  the  Roman  Court  in 
order  to  solicit  and  obtain  any  thing  convenient  to  him,  not  to  go  through 
until  he  advices  me  or  any  other  person  governing  these  provinces  in  the 
name  of  His  Majesty  with  reliable  information  that  the  said  road  is  safe  ;  and 
the  proper  person  shall  have  been  appointed  to  govern  the  said  town  and 
country  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty  and  for  his  service,  and  which  person 
shall  have  ordered  him,  by  act  and  testimony  in  due  form,  to  leave  and  pro- 
ceed on  his  voyage  with  the  help  of  Our  Lord,  and  given  him  the  order  he 
should  have  for  leaving  said  town.  In  testimony  whereof  I  gave  this  present 
power,  commission  and  authority  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty  to  the  saM 
Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  in  his  favor,  in  the  name  aforesaid,  before  the 
,  said  Martin  de  Orue,  Chief  Notary  of  Mines  and  the  government  of  these 
provinces,  which  I  ordered  him  to  legalize,   and  to  draw  from  it  as  many 


—  i86  — 

copies  as  may  be  necessary,  holding  in  his  possession  the  original  signed  by 
my  name,  made  in  the  city  of  La  Asuncion  on  the  river  Paraguay,  province 
of  the  River  Plate  this  Friday  fifth  day  of  September,  year  of  the  birth  of 
Our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  fifteen  hundred  and  sixty-seventh,  in  the  presence 
of  witnesses  Pedro  Corral,  Lieutenant,  and  Bartolonie  de  la  Marilla,  Auditor, 
and  Adame  de  la  Oberiaga,  Treasurer,  officers  of  His  Majesty  in  these  pro- 
vinces, and  Alonso  de  Valenzuela,  Alderman,  and  Luis  Marquez,  Attorney  of 
the  city,  and  Alonso  de  Encinas,  all  residents  of  this  said  city.  Juan  de  Or- 
tega.    By  order  of  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  Martin  de  Orue. 


Chapters  and  instructions  which  I,  Captain  Juan  de  Ortega,  Lieutenant- 
Governor  and  Captain-General  in  these  provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  make 
ar;d  give,  with  the  consent  of  His  Majesty,  in  connection  with  the  above 
power^of  attorney  to  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  to  be  made  use  of  in  the 
seryice  of  God,  our  Lord,  of  His  Majesty,  and  of  the  general  welfare  of  the 
country,  to  which  he  is  bound  by  the  terms  of  the  said  power  of  attorney,  to 
wit : 

1. — That  he  shall  not  take,  nor  consent  to  be  taken,  from  this  city 
nor  from  the  roads  thereof,  any  Spanish  individual  nor  his  son,  except  the 
forty  persons  appointed  by  me  by  letter  in  view  of  the  great  need  in  which 
this  City  of  La  Asuncion  is  of  men  and  arms;  nor  take,  or  consent  to  be 
taken,  foreign  Indians,  male  or  female,  from  the  towns  and  countries  of  the 
Indians  who  are  distributed  and  apportioned  ;  nor  take,  or  allow  to  be  taken, 
Indians  from  any  division  or  town  farther  than  one  or  two  journeys,  even  if 
said  Indians  should  like  to  go  on  of  their  own  volition,  either  under  pretext' 
of  going  in  search  of  grass,  or  otherwise,  for  they  would  risk  their  lives 
through  hunger  or  other  causes ;  and  also  on  account  of  their  being  needed 
as  friends  for  the  service  of  their  patrons,  and  to  help  to  appease  the  rebel- 
lious Indians  in  so  many  parts  of  the  country  where  they  have  taken  arms 
against  the  Government. 

2. — Upon  arrival,  with  the  help  of  God  our  Lord,  of  the  said  Cap,tain  Rui 
Diaz  Melgarejo  and  his  people,  in  the  said  town  of  Villa  Real,  he  shall  con- 
fer with  the  said  Alonso  Riqueleme  de  Guzman,  in  regard  to  the  matterses 
of  his  friendly  mission,  without  talking  nor  discussing  old  or  new  topics,  nor 
creating  or  recalling,  directly  or  indirectly,  any  passion,  either  by  himself  or 
through  third  parties;  but  treating  him  as  a  loyal  friend  and  brother,  without 
trying  to  undertake  any  suit  against  him  nor  produce  evidence,  public  or  pri- 
vate, to  sustain  it,  and  to  help  and  abate  as  much  as  possible  the  said  Alonso 
Riquelme  whenever  he  should  come  to  this  city,  permitting  him  to  biing  his 
estate  and  his  servants  freely,  without  prejudice  to  third  parties  and  to  the 
natives,  all  of  which  I  request  the  Most  Reverend  Father  Francisco  Prieto  to 
look  into  and  examine.  Said  Father  is  the  curate  of  the  Cathedral  Church 
of  this  city,  now  appointed  Vicar  and  Reformer  of  the  Church  of  Villa  Real 
arid  Protector  of  the  native  Indians  in  compliance  with  the  will  of  His  Majes- 
ty in  discharge  of  his  Royal  conscience.     With  regard  to  the  agreement  made 


—  i87  — 

by  said  Captains  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  and  Alonso  Riquelme  de  Guzman,  in 
the  City  of  La  Asuncion,  it  shall  be  fulfilled  by  both  parties  without  difference 
or  break  whatsoever. 

3, — The  church  being  reformed,  as  well  as  everything  in  connection  with 
the  service  of  God  our  Lord  and  the  Divine  worship,  and  the  doctrine  of  the 
natives  of  the  land ;  and  informed  of  the  place  and  condition  in  which  are 
the  priests  and  the  persons  who  left  the  said  town  of  Villa  Real  with  all  pos- 
sible speed  and  through  the  best  and  safest  means,  the  Notary  of  His  Majesty 
shall  proceed  to  reduce  and  bring  to  the  town  the  said  persons  with  their  ef- 
fects and  estate,  without  provoking,  directly  or  indirectly,  any  scandal  or 
riot,  in  just  fear  of  God  and  of  His  Majesty,  and  having  for  aim  the  Divine 
and  Royal  service  and  the  general  welfare  and  the  good  settlement  and  paci- 
fication of  these  provinces.  And  whereas  this  is  a  very  important  subject,  I 
charge  it  upon  his  conscience,  leaving  to  his  prudence,  good  judgment  and 
experience  the  best  methods  and  pacifying  means  to  be  adopted,  so  that 
there  shall  be  no  killing  or  bloodshed;  otherwise  great  calamities  and  incon- 
veniences may  be  looked  for. 

4. — Upon  having,  with  the  help  of  God  our  Lord,  brought  the  people 
and  reduced  the  said  priests  and  the  people  of  the  said  town,  he  shall  reform 
the  said  town  as  may  be  convenient  to  the  service  of  His  Majesty,  so  that 
there  may  stay  and  reside  in  it  sixty  men  in  all  and  not  more;  and  if  it 
should  be  necessary  for  the  pacification  and  preservation  of  the  said  town  to 
withdraw  some  private  persons,  let  it  be  done,  and  an  equal  number  of  thosp 
new  going  from  this  city  to  stay  there  shall  remain,  and  the  rest  of  the  peo- 
ple shall  return  with  their  own  arms,  without  selling  or  exchanging  them  on 
the  first  voyage  to  be  made,  with  God's  help,  to  come  to  this  city. 

5, — If,  what  God  forbid,  the  absented  people  should  not  be  able  to  re- 
turn, then  forty  men  and  not  more  can  remain  and  reside  in  the  said  city, 
and  the  remainder  shall  return  to  this  city  on  the  said  Alonso  Riquelme's 
first  voyage  with  all  their  arms,  as  stated  before. 

6. — Before  the  coming  of  the  said  Alonso  Riquelme,  or  any, other  peo- 
ple, the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  with  the  aid  and  assistance  of  the 
people  which  he  may  think  convenient,  shall  search  and  dig  the  metals 
which  are  to  be  brought  as  sample  from  the  country  to  this  city,  for  it  is  im- 
portant that  His  Majesty  and  his  Kingdoms  know  and  see  that  there  are 
riches  in  these  lands  and  provinces,  so  that  they  send  vessels  and  people  to 
settle  the  lands  and  increase  the  Crown  of  Castile,  and  principally,  that  the 
natives  may  be  induced  into  the  yoke  and  place  of  our  Holy  Catholic  Faith,  and 
when  the  said  metals  have  been  dug,  and  the  people  left  under  the  required 
spiritual  and  temporal  safeguard,  they  will  come  personally  with  the  said 
metals  and  people,  bringing  the  said  Alonso  Riquelme  and  suspicious  per- 
sons by  river  or  by  land,  as  may  be  more  convenient,  so  that  everything, 
with  the  help  of  God  our  Lord,  may  safely  reach  this  city. 

7. — Should  said  priests  and  people  who  have  absented  themselves  re- 
fuse to  return  by  request  or  admonitions,  they  are  to  be  required,  in  the  name 
of  God  our  Lord  and  of  His  Majesty,  and  of  the  general  welfare  of  all  these 


provinces,  to  return  to  the  said  town,  to  serve  God  our  Lord  and  His  Majes- 
ty, protesting  against  them,  if  they  should  not  do  so,  all  evils,  wrongs  and 
deaths  of  Spaniards  and  natives,  abandonment  of  towns  and  countries,  and 
■if- after  the  three  said  requirements  should  they  insist  upon  their  hardihood 
and  pertinacity,  he  shall  try  by  all  means  and  forms,  and  with  all  possible 
safety,  to  avoid  desertion  of  their  people  and  avoid  that  the  natives  lend 
them  assistance  for  their  journey;  but  on  the  contrary,  that  they  shall  throw 
obstacles  in  their  way  and  deny  them  provisions,  doing  in  this  respect  all 
that  he  may  think  convenient  to  the  service  of  God  our  Lord  and  His  Majes- 
ty and  general  welfare  of  these  provinces,  using  the  time  and  convenience 
necessary  to  have  them  return  without  killing,  bloodshed,  scandal  and  dan- 
-gers  to  the  natives  of  the  lands,  according  to  the  will  and  command  of  God 
and  His  Majesty,  taking  advantage  of  the  help  of  the  natives  to  attain  that 
■end,  for  from  their  desertion  it  is  evident  that  evils  and  injuries. are  to  be 
looked  for,  and  many  privations  and  labors  may  occur  if  God  our  Lord  does 
not  remedy  it. 

8. — And  if  the  said  priests  and  absented  persons  at  the  time  he  shall 
arrive  in  their  pursuit  at  the  settlement  of  Igotu,  where  they  stopped,  should 
have  departed  from  there,  and  he  should  have  noticed  that  they  are  in  Cora;- 
tibera,  four  or  five  journeys  farther  on,  he  shall  go  there  with  all  the  possible 
-safety,  and  make  there  the  above-named  endeavors  to  bring  back  the  same 
'priests  and  people ;  but  he  shall  not  pass  further  on,  and  with  or  without 
thenl  he  shall  return  with  all  speed  to  the  said  town  of  Villa  Real. 

9« — As  to  the  digging  and  working  of  the  metals  from  the  mines,  he 
shall  proceed  with  the  necessary  safety,  so  that  in  this  first  instance  all  the 
metal  may  be  dug  from  any  part  and  place  where  it  may  be  found,  in  order 
to  bring  samples  thereof  to  this  city,  as  before  stated,  so  that  order  may  be 
given  to  work  the  mines  with  more  hands,  forges  and  tools  than  at  present ; 
and  if  it  should  be  necessary  he  may  have  trees  cut  for  buildings  near  the 
said  mines  and  in  a  moderate  way,  for  with  planting  and  sowing  there  is  Jess 
need  of  food  and  more  facilities  for  digging  the  said  metals,  and  with  the  aid 
of  God  our  Lord  a  town  may  be  founded,  and  then  the  lands  for  cultivation 
•and  brood  shall  be  distributed  among  the  residents,  as  is  customary  when  a 
new  town  is  founded. 

10a — And  having  noticed  that  on  this  side  of  the  Parana,  on  the  road  to 
•be  followed  by  land,  until  the  place  where  said  mines  and  metals  were  dis- 
covered, which  is  before  reaching  the  river  called  Yacarey,  there  is  certain 
tribe  or  tribes  of  people  with  whom  no  intercourse  has  been  had  before,  which 
might  obstruct  the  way  out  and  back  ;  in  such  a  case  he  shall  try  all  he  pos- 
sibly <:an  to  induce  them  to  serve  God  and  His  Majesty,  and  to  press  them 
vigorously  by  the  force  of  arms  and  the  assistance  of  friendly  Indians,  so  as 
•  to  secure  a  free  and  safe  passage  upon  the  said  road, 

11. — In  everything  else  that  may  occur,  according  to  the  times  and  dis- 
position of  the  country,  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  shall  act  and 
proceed  as  it  may  be  most  convenient  to  the  service  of  God  our  Lord,  and 
-ef  His  Majesty,  aad  most  useful  and  profitable  for  the  general  welfare,  as   I, 


-^  189  — 

in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  trust  he  will  do  as  a  noble  gentleman  under  obli- 
gation to  serve  God  our  Lord  and  temporally  His  King  and  natural  master, 
is  to  be  trusted.  Dated  in  the  said  city  of  La  Asuncion  on  Friday  the  fif^h 
day  of  September  of  the  year  of  our  Lord,  fifteen  hundred  and  sixty  seventl?^. 
I  signed  it  by  my  name,  and  in  corroboration  and  strength  I  ordered  it  to  be 
legalized  by  Martin  de  Orue,  Chief  Notary  of  the  Government  and  mines  of  these 
provinces,  in  the  presence  of  witnesses  at  the  reading  and  signing,  Pedro 
Corral  and  Bartolome  de  la  Marilla,  and  Adame  de  la  Oberriaga,  officers  of 
His  Majesty  in  these  provinces,  and  Alonso  de  Valenzuela,  Alderman,  and 
Riii  Marquez,  Attorney  of  the  said  city,  and  Alonso  de  Encinas  ;  Juan  de 
Ortega. — By  order  of  the  Lieutenant  Governor,   Martin  de  Orue, 


1567> — In  the  city  of  La  Asuncion,  on  the  river  Paraguay,  provinti^ 
of  the  River  Plate,  Friday  the  fifth  day  of  the  month  6f  September,  year  of 
the  birth  of  Our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  fifteen  hundred  and  sixty  seventh,  in 
the  residence;  of  the  Most  Magnificent  Lord  Captain  Juan  de  Ortega,  Lieute- 
nant Governor  and  Captain  General  in  these  provinces  of  the  River  Plate, 
and  being  there  present  the  said  Lieutenant  Governor  and  Captain  Rui  Diaz 
Melgarejo,  and  the  persons  and  witnesses  herein  after  described,  before  me 
Martin  de  Orue,  Chief  Notary  of  the  Government  and  mines  of  these  said 
provinces,  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  said  :  that  whereas  it  appear^ 
from  the  powers  of  Attorney  that  the  said  Lieutenant  Governor  has  granted 
and  given  him  to-day  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  and  from  the  instructions 
contained  in  the  said  power  of  Attorney,  he  is  going  to  aid,  reform  and  sup- 
port the  town  of  Villareal,  founded  and|settled  on  the  banks  of  the  Parana  and 
Piquiri,  by  the  said  Lieutenant  Governor,  he  had  been  asked  that  for  the 
keeping  and  fulfilment  of  the  said  power  and  instruction  he  shall  profess 
fealty  as  a  nobleman  in  the  usual  way,  and  therefore  and  bringing  to  effect 
the  solemnity  and  fulfilment  of  the  said  profession  of  fealty,  that  I,  the  siid 
l^Iotary  should  give  faith  and  testimony  that  he  in  the  hands  of  Alonso  die 
Valenzuela,  Alderman  of  this  city  and  nobleman  who  was  there  present,  made 
profession  of  fealty  by  putting  his  hands  together  and  placing  both  in  the 
hands  of  the  said  Alonso  de  Valenzuela  saying  these  words  :  I  do  make  pro- 
fession of  fealty  one  and  two  and  three  times  ;  one  and  two  and  three  times'; 
one  and  two  and  three  times,  as  a  nobleman,  according  to  the  law  of  Spain', 
swearing  to  keep,  fulfill  and  maintain  the  power  and  instructions  and  dlauSefs 
and  chapters  therein  contained  as  best  and  loyally  that  I  may  be  able  to  do, 
and  everything  convenient  to  the  service  of  God  Our  Lord,  and  to  that  of 
^His-Majesty,  and  the  general  welfare  of  these  provinces  and  their  settlers  and 
natives  ;  and  that  I  shall  not  go  back  upon  any  part  of  the  said  stipulation, 
so  help  me  God,  under  penalty  of  being  looked  upon  as  an  infamous  perjurer 
and  a  despicable  man.  The  said  Lieutenant  Governor  asked  me,  the  said 
Notary,  to  give  him  a  testimony  thereof,  and  keeping  this  original -in  my  pos- 
;Session,  to  give  another  one  to  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  ;  and  at.his,,^^- 
quest  and  that  of  Captain  Rui  Diaz,  I  gave  the  present  testimony  in  thips^id 


—  190  — 

month  and  year  above  named,  and  the  said  Lieutenant  Governor,  who  was 
there  present,  and  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  signed  the  same  by 
their  names  in  the  presence  of  witnesses  Pedro  Corral  y  Bartolo7ne  de  la  Ma- 
rilla  and  Adame  de  la  Oberriaga,  officer  of  His  Majesty,  and  Rui  Marquez, 
Attorney  of  the  city,  Alonso  de  Encinas,  Juan  de  Ortega,  Rui  Diaz  Melga- 
rejo.— Before  me,  Martin  Orue. 


1567. — In  the  town  called  Ciudad  Real,  in  the  province  of  Parana, 
Friday  seventh  day  of  November,  year  of  the  birth  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
fifteen  hundred  and  sixty-seventh,  in  the  presence  of  the  undersigned  notary 
public  and  witnesses,  there  being  present  the  most  magnificent  Lord  Alonso 
Riquelme  de  Guzman,  Captain  and  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  said  town  and 
of  the  province  of  Parana,  by  the  most  magnificent  Lord  Francisco  de 
Vergara,  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  these  said  provinces  of  River 
Plate,  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  appeared  Captain  Ruiz  Diaz  Melgarejo, 
and  there  being  a  multitude  of  people  gathered  at  the  doors  of  the  said 
Captain  Alonso  de  Riquelme,  produced  a  written  paper  signed  by  the  most 
magnificent  Lord  Captain  Juan  de  Ortega,  Lieutenant  Governor  and  Captain 
General,  legalized  by  Martin  de  Orue,  Chief  Notary  of  the  Government  and 
the  mines,  and  asked  me  to  read,  intimate  and  notify  the  same  to  the  said 
Captain  Alonso  Riquelme  and  residents  there  present,  and  at  his  request  I 
did  read,  intimate  and  notify  the  said  writing  above  named  to  the  said  Captain 
Alonso  Riquelme  and  residents  present  and  the  witnesses  to  the  said  notifica- 
tion, Rodrigo  Garcia  Mosquera,  Luis  Perez,  Fernan  Gallego,  Caspar  Horti- 
gosa,  Notary  Apostolic,  residents  of  the  said  town,  and  requested  to  act  as 
such.  Whereupon  the  said  Captain  Alonso  Riquelme,  having  seen  the  said 
writing  by  himself,  and  in  the  name  of  the  residents  of  this  said  town  of 
Ciudad  Real,  said,  that  h?  obeyed  the  order  of  the  said  Lieutenant  Gover- 
nor, and  in  compliance  with  the  same,  he  took  the  staffs  of  justice,  and 
placed  them  in  the  hands  of  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  so  that 
His  Lordship  may  do  and  administer  justice  in  the  said  town  ;  and  requested 
me  the  said  Notary,  to  give  him  a  testimony  thereof,  and  those  present  to  act 
as  witnesses  :  and  I,  the  said  Notary,  give  testimony  of  what  I  saw  and 
.heard  and  happened  before  me  on  the  said  day,  month  and  year  above 
named  ;  and  I  signed  the  same  by  my  name.  Juan  de  Parras,  Notary 
Public. 


1574 

The  Adelantado  Juan  Ortiz   de  Zarate   grants   power   of 

Attorney  in  favor  of  Captain  Rui  Diaz  de  Melgarejo 

to  undertake  an  expedition  in  search  of  food 

and  provisions. 

The  Adelantado,  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  Knight  of  the  Order  of  Santiago, 
and  Governor  and  Captain  General  and  Lord  Chief  Justice  in  these  provinces 
of  the  River  Plate  by  the  Majesty  of  the  King  Don   Felipe,    our   Master, 


—  191  — 

making  use  of  the  powers  and  provisions  which  I  hold  from  His  Majesty  for 
every  thing  contained  in  the  power  of  Attorney,  which  are  not  here  inserted 
on  account  of  its  length  and  notoriety,  in  obedience  to  your  rank.  Captain 
Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  resident  of  the  city  of  La  Asuncion,  present  in  this  my 
Royal  camp,  and  in  consideration  that  you  are  a  nobleman,  deserving  to  be 
trusted  with  that  which  shall  be  hereafter  explained,  I  select  and  appoint  you 
Captain  of  His  Royal  Majesty  and  mine,  in  his  name ;  and  whereas  at  this 
moment  I,  and  the  people  of  my  fleet,  are  in  extreme  need  of  provisions  and 
food  for  our  support,  and  it  is  necessary  to  send  for  it  without  delay,  trust- 
ing on  your  good  offices  and  experience,  and  that  you  will  try  to  act  in  the 
service  of  God.  our  Lord,  and  of  His  Majesty  and  the  welfare  of  this  fleet, 
I  grant  you  full  power  of  Attorney  to  proceed  with  the  two  brigs,  at  present 
in  this  fleet,  which  are  the  brigs  which  you  brought  here  called  San  Cristo- 
bal, and  the  other  one  which  I  ordered  to  be  built,  on  the  island  of  San 
Gabriel,  called  San  Gabriel ;  and  with  the  men-of-war,  soldiers  and  mariners 
and  my  officers,  to  sail  around  the  said  provinces  of  this  said  River  Plate,  to 
the  points  and  places  which  you  may  think  convenient,  and  try  as  best  you 
can  to  bring  all  the  provisions  of  corn,  mandioca  and  beans,  and  meat,  and 
fish,  and  any  other  eatables  that  you  may  find,  and  return  immediately  to 
this  fleet  where  I  remain;  and  I  command  the  Captain  Francisco  del  Riego 
who  goes  on  the  small  brig  and  the  soldiers  and  mariners  to  follow  you,  and 
to  go  in  your  company  and  to  obey  the  orders  that  you  may  give  them,  and  I 
command  the  Knights  and  their  servants,  soldiers,  pilots  and  masters,  and 
the  rest  of  the  officers  going  on  the  said  brigs  to  hear  and  obey  you  as  Captain 
of  His  Majesty  and  mine,  and  to  obey  your  orders  and  commands  and  decrees, 
under  the  penalty  that  you  may  see  fit  to  inflict,  which  penalty  I  give  you  full 
power  to  impose  upon  the  rebels,  for  such  as  you  may  impose  have  my 
approbation,  and  I  command  them  to  hear  and  obey  you  as  such  Captain  of 
His  Majesty  and  mine  in  his  name,  for  the  same  full  power  which  I  have 
received  from  His  Majesty,  I  transfer  to  you  with  free  and  general  adminis- 
tration, and  I  command  that  it  be  so  accomplished  by  all,  under  penalty  of 
death  for  those  who  did  the  contrary. 

I  also  give  you  this  power  so  that  in  case  you  '  could  not  return  to  this 
island  and  fleet,  where  I  remain,  with  the  necessary  promptness,  for  the 
service  of  God  and  of  His  Majesty,  and  for  the  benefit  and  support  of  the 
people,  that  you  may  proceed  as  you  may  think  best,  to  which  end  I  grant 
you  full  power  signed  by  my  name  and  legalized  by  the  undersigned  Notary, 
made  on  the  island  called  Martin  Garcia,  in  the  provinces  of  the  River  Plate, 
on  the  twenty  third  day  of  the  month  of  February  of  the  year  of  our  Lord, 
fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  fourth.  Witnesses  present  :  Captain  Jtian 
Alonso  de  Quiro,  Hernando  de  Montalvo,  Treasurer,  Rodrigo  Gomez,  Ad- 
miral, the  Adelantado  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate. — I,  the  said  Adelantado,  do 
state  that  whereas  in  the  commission  above-named  which  I  gave  you. 
Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  to  make  the  said  trip  to  search  and  bring 
provisions  and  for  no  other  purpose,  it  is  my  wish  that  this  said  comrhission 
shall  be  understood  for  the  other  voyages  though  it  be  not  so  stated   in  the 


—   192   — 

said  commission,  until  I  may  dispose  otherwise.  Dated  April  the  thirteenth, 
fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  four. — Adelantado  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate. — By 
order  of  His  Lorsdship  Pedro  de  Xeres,  Notary. 


1575 

The  Adelantado  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zdrate  grants  Captain  Rui 

Diaz  Melgarejo  as   his   Encomienda  three  hundred 

and   fifty  two   "fires"  of   Indians   in  the 

Province   of  Guayra. 

Adelantado  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  Knight  of  the  Order  of  Santiago, 
Governor  Captain  General,  Chief  Justice  and  High  Constable  in  all  this 
Government  and  provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  newly  entitled  the  provinces 
of  La  Nueva  Vizcaya  by  the  Majesty  of  the  King  Don  Felipe,  our  Master: 
considering  that  you,  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  have  been  a  resident  of 
these  provinces  thirty  five  years,  more  or  less,  and  that  during  that  time  you 
have  served  His  Majesty  well  and  loyally,  whenever  it  has  been  convenient 
to  his  Royal  service,  and  that  you  have  been  present  at  the  entrance  and 
discoveries  which  have  been  made,  and  at  the  punishment  of  the  native 
Indians  of  these  provinces  in  revolt  against  the  service  of  God,  our  Lord,  and 
of  His  Majesty  ;  and  having  been  informed  of  your  devotion  and  zeal  and 
willingness  to  serve  His  Majesty,  with  which  you  settled  the  city  of  Puerto 
Real,  in  the  province  of  Guaira,  on  the  river  Parana,  at  great  and  excessive 
sufferings  and  expense,  conquering  as  you  have  conquered  all  or  most  of  the 
natives  of  those  provinces,  bringing  them  into  submission  to  His  Majesty  and 
servitude  of  the  Spaniards  residents  of  the  said  city,  and  that  you  gave  and 
dedicated  the  houses  that  you  built  for  your  residence  in  the  said  city,  to  be 
used  as  a  fortress  of  His  Majesty ;  also  that  you,  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz, 
with  the  zeal  above-mentioned,  have  tried  to  discover,  and  have  actually 
discovered,  a  great  wealth  of  copper  metal  in  the  said  province,  where  it  is 
hoped,  with  the  help  of  God,  that  gold  will  be  discovered,  in  the  service  of 
God,  our  Lord,  with  the  propagation  of  our  holy  Catholic  Faith  in  those 
provinces  and  the  foundation  of  other  towns  on  the  same,  whereby  the  Royal 
Crown  of  Castile  and  Leon  shall  be  very  much  benefited,  and  that  in  one  of 
the  places  where  you  discovered  the  said  metals,  at  your  cost  and  labor,  you 
built  and  settled  a  town  and  fortress  called  El  Espiritu  Santo,  where,  I  am 
informed,  lead  mines  have  been  discovered,  and  God  will  grant  that  silver 
shall  be  found  also  there,  so  that  every  thing  may  result  in  His  holy  service^ 
and  in  that  of  His  Majesty,  and  in  the  good  and  benefit  of  all  the  Spaniards 
residents  and  inhabitants  of  all  these  Governments  and  provinces,  the  said 
town  being  founded  under  the  name  of  Espiritu  Santo,  upon  the  road  of  the 
fort  of  San  Francisco  which  I  intend  to  settle  with  the  help  of  God,  pur 
Lord  ; 

And  furthermore,  that  you,  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  left  this  city  on  a 


—  193  — 

caravel  built  in  the  same  city  to  take  the  news  to  His  Majesty  of  all  the  events 
that  had  taken  place  in  these  provinces,  and  that  owing  to  a  storm  you  reached 
the  coast  of  Brazil  and  arrived  at  San  Vicente,  a  town  of  His  Highness  the 
King  of  Portugal,  where  you  learned  that  I,  with  my  fleet,  had  entered  Rio  ' 
Grande  del  Parana ;  and  considering,  as  you  did  consider,  to  be  convenient, 
as  it  really  was,  to  the  service  of  God,  our  Lord,  and  to  that  of  the  Majesty  of 
the  King  Don  Felipe,  our  Master,  and  to  me  in  his  Royal  name,  to  come,  as 
you  did  come,  to  help  me  on  the  said  caravel,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the 
Bishop  and  other  persons,  God  granted  that  you  should  reach,  as  you  did 
reach,  the  port  of  San  Gabriel  with  the  said  help,  just  in  time  when  I  and  all 
my  men  were  in  great  distress  and  need  of  provisions,  owing  to  the  many 
wrecks  and  hardships  that  I  had  endured,  and  to  the  war  that  I  sustained 
with  the  natives  of  those  provinces,  in  all  which  you  have  acted  as  a  faithful 
nobleman  and  loyal  vassal  of  His  Majesty  and  jealous  of  His  Royal  service  : 
Therefore,  in  consideration  of  the  respectability  and  merits  of  your  person,  in 
the  name  of  His  Majesty,  and  by  virtue  of  the  Royal  powers  of  Attorney 
granted  me,  and  which  are  not  herein  inserted  and  specified  owing  to  their 
notoriety,  I  give  and  commend  you  a  lot  of  Indians  in  the  said  provinces  of 
Guaira  where  three  hundred  and  fifty  two  « fires »  (*)  of  Indians  are  sub- 
jected to  the  Caciques  in  the  following  manner:  Firstly,  in  the  mouth  of  the 
river  called  Piquiri,  six  houses  whose  Cacique  is  called  Andres  Yai,  where 
there  are  fifty  one  « fires  »  of  Indians  more  ;  on  the  same  river  Parana,  under 
the  fall,  seven  houses,  of  the  first  one  of  which  Juan  Orllarimais  the  Cacique, 
who  has  seventeen  «  fires,  »  and  Tapiaita  is  Cacique  of  the  five  having  forty 
nine  «  fires,  »  and  Domingo  Erepachi  is  Cacique  of  the  other  with  five  «  fires  » 
of  Indians  :  on  the  river  called  Uvay  there  are  seven  houses,  the  principal  of 
which  is  Caspar  Tayaoba,  having  in  all  sixty  eight  «  fires  »  on  the  said  river : 
further  down,  under  the  first  fall,  another  house  of  Indians,  the  principal  of 
which  is  Miguel  Carachi,  with  ten  «  fires  »  on  the  above-named  river  Piquiri, 
one  house  of  Indians,  whose  principal  is  Francisco  Moroacen,  having  forty 
five  (( fires  »  on  the  river  Paranapanema,  seven  houses  of  Indians  whose 
principal  Cacique  is  called  Tacainy.  From  these  seven  houses  having  one 
hundred  and  seven  «  fires  »  the  said  principal  withdrew,  and  with  the  remain- 
ing five  another  Cacique  called  Urumutin  went  away,  and  were  followed  by 
other  Indians  from  a  river  called  Pirapo  ;  consequently,  there  are  in  all  three 
hundred  and  fifty  two  «  fires  »  at  your  service  and  obedience,  considering 
yourself  as  the  person  to  whom  they  have  been  commended,  under  the 
obligation  to  comply  with  the  ordinances  and  rules  'with  regard  to  the 
allotment  of  Indians,  and  those  that  I  may  dictate  and  publish  in  the  -mune 
of  His  Majesty  ;  and  I  recommend  you  to  give  them  a  good  treatment  and 
the  religious  education  of  the  said  Indians,  which  I  impress  upon  your  cons- 
cience in  discharge  of  His  Majesty's  and  mine.     I  give  you  the  said  lot  of 


(*)     By  «fire»  (fuego)  it  is  here  understood  one  Indian  with  his  wife  and  children, 
although  a  «  fire  »  usually  corresponds  to  many  more. 


—  194  — 

Indians  in  the  aforesaid  manner,  and  I  commend  them  to  you  for  all  your 
life  and  for  that  of  one  legitimate  son  of  yours  in  the  manner  in  which  His 
Majesty  has  made  donation  of  the  Indians  that  are  commended  in  all  the 
Indies  of  the  Ocean.  I  command  all  and  any  of  the  Judges  and  Justices  of 
His  Majesty  of  the  said  city  of  Puerto  Real,  and  of  all  other  cities,  villages  and 
places  of  all  these  Governments  and  provinces  who  may  be  called  upon  by 
this  letter,  to  help  you  in  the  actual  and  bodily  possession  of  the  said 
allotment,  under  penalty,  in  case  of  contempt,  of  three  hundred  golden  cas- 
tellanos,  to  be  appHed  to  the  treasury  of  His  Majesty.  Made  in  the  city  of 
La  Asuncion  of  the  said  provinces  of  the  Nueva  Vizcaya,  on  the  seventh  day 
of  the  month  of  July  of  the  year  of  our  Lord,  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy 
fifth. — Adelantado  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate. — By  order  of  His  Lordship,  Luis 
Marquez,  Notary  of  the  Government. 


1575 

The  Adelantado  Juan    Ortiz  de  Zdrate  appoints  Captain 

Rui  Diaz  de  Melgarejo  his  Lieutenant  Governor  and 

Captain  General  of  Ciudad  Real,  in  the  Province 

of  Guayra,  and  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu 

Santo,  in  the  Province  of  Coracivera, 

and  gives  him  instructions. 

Adelantado  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  Knight  of  the  Order  of  Santiago, 
Govarnor  and  Captain  General,  Lord  Chief  Justice  and  High  Constable  of 
this  Government  and  provinces  newly  entitled  Nueva  Vizcaya  by  the  Majesty 
of  the  King  Don  FeHpe,  our  Master,  considering  that  you.  Captain  Rui  Diaz 
Melgarejo,  an  old  9onqueror  in  these  said  provinces  and  government,  have 
served  His  Majesty  in  the  same,  well,  loyally  and  diligently  in  every  thing 
that  has  been  done  for  their  conquest  and  settlement,  at  your  expense  and 
labor ;  and  that  you  are  a  nobleman  possessing  honest  and  good  qualifications 
to  take  charge  of  matters  in  connection  with  the  Royal  service,  specially  of 
those  at  the  service  of  God,  our  Lord,  and  of  His  Holy  Catholic  Faith,  which 
you  will  serve  as  a  good,  faithful  and  christian  catholic,  and  for  the  firm 
confidence  which  I  have  in  your  person  and  good  judgment,  I  hereby  in  the 
name  of  His  Majesty  and  by  virtue  of  his  Royal  authority,  which  by  its 
notoriety  and  publicity  known  to  all  are  not  herein  inserted  ;  I  appoint  and 
selectyou  as  my  Lieutenant  Governor  and  Captain  General  and  Chief  Justice 
of  Ciudad  Real  in  the  province  of  Guayra,  and  of  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu 
Santo,  in  the  province  of  Coracivera,  which  you  are  about  to  settle  in  the 
name  of  the  Majesty  of  the  King  Don  Felipe  and  of  His  Royal  Crown  of 
Castile  and  Leon,  in  the  name  of  myself,  the  said  Adelantado,  and  in  pur- 
suance of  the  treaty  and  capitulations  which  I  have  taken  with  His  Majesty 
in  regard  to  the  conquest  and  settlement  of  all  these  provinces  of  the  River 
Plate  newly  entitled  Nueva  Vizcaya,  as  stated,  in  order  that  as  my  Lieutenant 


—  195  — 

in  all  the  three  offices,  you  may  have  under  your  charge  and  administration 
the  said  two  towns  with  all  their  districts  and  jurisdiction  as  long  as  it  may 
please  me,  and  no  longer  ;  and  to  use  and  exercise  as  my  said  Lieutenant 
Governor,  Captain  General  and  Chief  Justice,  the  said  offices  and  charges  in 
all  the  things  and  cases  connected  therewith,  governing  and  administering 
justice  to  the  parties  either  ex-officio  or  by  request,  and  heading  the  men,  and 
leading  the  same  in  war  and  in  peace,  as  you  may  judge  best  and  in  a 
manner  as  accomplished  as  I,  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  can  and  must  do, 
by  virtue  of  the  said  Royal  power  of  Attorney  which  I  command  you  to 
exhibit  in  the  Councils  of  Ciudad  Real  and  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo, 
together  with  this  my  title  and  provision,  so  that  you  shall  be  admitted  in  the 
said  offices,  and  considered  as  my  Lieutenant ;  also  that  you  shall  be  paid 
the  salaries  and  fees  belonging  to  the  said  offices,  and  that  you  shall  be 
honored  with  all  the  preeminence  and  prerogatives  due  all  persons  holding 
said  offices  of  His  Majesty,  to  which  end  I  hereby,  in  the  name  of  His 
Majesty,  command  them  to  consider  you  as  my  Lieutenant  in  the  said  offices, 
the  said  Council  taking  first  your  oath  of  office  and  the  usual  bond,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  and  regulations  regarding  officers  of  His  Majesty.  For  all  the 
above-said,  and  for  every  thing  or  part  thereof,  I  grant  you  as  ample  a  power 
of  Attorney  as  I  have  it  myself  from  His  Majesty,  for  ail  the  said  Royal 
provisions,  with  all  their  incidents  and  connections,  with  free  and  general 
administration  ;  and  I,  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  command  all  the 
residents  and  inhabitants  of  the  said  Ciudad  Real,  and  the  said  Villa 
Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  to  obey  and  revere  you,  and  to  consider  and 
recognize  you  as  my  Lieutenant  Governor  and  Captain  General  and 
Chief  Justice,  and  to  comply  with  your  orders  and  decrees,  which  they 
must  not  oppose  nor  break,  under  penalty  of  bodily  punishment  and  fines 
that  are  imposed  upon  the  transgressors  and  violators  of  such  orders  and  de- 
crees, which  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty  and  His  Royal  Justice  are  issued 
and  published,  besides  other  penalties,  bodily  or  pecuniary,  which  in  the 
name  of  His  Majesty  and  mine  you  might  dictate,  to  be  executed  upon  the 
persons  and  estates  of  the  rebels,  for  their  punishment  and  as  an  example  for 
others.  I  also  grant  you  full  power  to  make  and  appoint  allotments  of  In- 
dians and  Yanagonas,  not  only  of  those  who  may  be  vacant  and  unalloted,  but 
of  those  which  may  become  vacant  and  conquered  and  discovered  in  the 
country  and  towns  of  Indians  called  Yviroyaras,  in  this  manner :  that  in  Villa 
Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  which  you  are  about  to  settle  as  stated,  you  shall 
commend  the  allotments  of  the  Indians  for  three  lives,  as  ordered  by  His 
Majesty,  that  is  to  say,  for  the  life  of  the  father  and  after  him  that  of  the  son, 
and  after  the  son  that  of  the  grandson,  and  there  being  no  male,  the  daugh- 
ter, and  in  defect  of  both,  the  legitimate  wife  of  the  first  patron;  and  in  Ciu- 
dad Real  for  two  lives,  like  other  allotments  that  have  been  given  so  far. 
Besides  all  things  they  are  to  be  marked  and  registered  in  the  census  by 
towns  and  houses  and  caciques  individually,  with  the  Indians  which  were 
their  subjects,  in  order  to  avoid  litigations  in  the  future,  as  by  omitting  the 
census  there  might  be  trouble.     After  the  said  visit  and  registry  shall  have 


—  196  — 

been  made,  the  said  Indians  are  to  be  assessed  for  the  amount  that  they  can 
possibly  give  without  injury  to  their  lands,  before  I  confer  and  approve  such 
allotments  of  Indians,  that  you.  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  in  the  name  of 
His  Majesty  and  mine,  shall  make  to  the  conquerors  which  are  worthy  of  the 
grant  according  to  their  qualifications  and  services,  as  ordained  by  His  Ma- 
jesty, provided  all  my  instructions,  provisions  and  commands  in  conformity 
with  the  law  shall  be  maintained  and  complied  with,  there  being  no  appeal 
nor  supplication  against  them.  I  also  grant  you  power  and  authority  spe- 
cially, to  appoint  in  case  of  absence  your  Lieutenants,  both  in  the  said  Ciu- 
dad  Real  and  the  said  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  with  such  power  and 
commission  that  you  may  judge  convenient  and  necessary,  every  one  of 
which  you  may  revoke,  and  appoint  others  at  your  will,  so  that  you  and  your 
Lieutenants,  in  your  absence  from  the  said  towns,  may  grant  any  appeal 
from  the  said  residents  and  inhabitants  of  the  said  towns  and  provinces,  not 
only  before  His  Majesty  and  the  members  of  His  Royal  Council,  but  before 
me  in  conformity  with  the  law  as  ordered  by  His  Majesty.  Dated  in  the 
City  of  La  Asuncion,  of  the  Provinces  of  Nueva  Vizcaya,  Friday,  the  four- 
teenth day  of  the  month  of  October,  and  year  of  the  birth  of  Our  Saviour, 
Jesus  Christ,  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy-fifth.  Adelantado  Juan  Ortiz  de 
Zarate.  By  order  of  His  Lordship,  Louis  Marquez,  Notary  of  the  Govern- 
ment 


1576 

Confirmation  of  the  previous  appointment  by  Diego  Ortiz 
de  Zarate  Mendieta. 

Know  all  men  who  may  see  this  letter,  that  I,  Diego  Ortiz  de  Zarate 
Mendieta,  Governor,  Captain-General,  Chief  Justice  and  High  Constable  in 
these  Provinces  and  Government  ot  the  River  Plate,  newly  entitled  La  Nueva 
Vizcaya,  do  hereby  say,  that  in  conformity  with  Royal  provisions  and  capitu- 
lations of  His  Majesty,  and  in  His  Royal  name,  and  also  in  conformity  with 
the  appointment  made  in  my  favor  by  the  Most  Illustrious  Sefior  Juan  Ortiz 
de  Zarate,  Knight  of  the  Order  of  Santiago,  Adelantado,  Governor,  Captain- 
.  General,  Chief  Justice  and  High  Constable  in  all  these  provinces  and  Gov- 
ernment, by  a  clause,  extensive  and  luminous,  of  his  testament  and  last  will, 
to  all  of  which  I  refer,  approving  and  ratifying  the  full  power  of  attorney 
which  the  said  Adelantado,  now  deceased,  granted  to  the  Captain  Rui  Diaz 
Melo'arejo,  appointing  him  his  Lieutenant-General,  Governor,  Captain-Gen- 
eral and  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  Ciudad  Real  and  of  La  Villa  Rica  del  Espiri- 
tu Santo,  in  all  their  provinces,  for  the  support,  government  and  adminis- 
tration of  the  same,  and  for  everything  contained  and  declared  in  the  said 
power  of  attorney,  to  which  I  refer,  without  making  exception  of  anything, 
but  on  the  contrary,  leaving  it  in  all  its  entirety  and  vigor,  and  now  corrob- 
orated in  the  said  name  of  His  Majesty;  and  because  it  is  so  convenient  to 
His  Royal  service  and  to  the  general  welfare  of  all  these  provinces  and  Gov- 


—  197  — 

ernment,  I  hereby  give  and  grant  to  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo 
the  same  power  of  attorney  which  the  late  Adelantado  had  given  and  granted 
him,  as  ample  and  general  as  if  it  had  been  made  and  granted  by  me,  before 
a  notary  public  and  witnesses,  with  all  the  solemnity  required  by  such  power 
of  attorney  which  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  will  maintain,  as  well 
as  comply  with  the  instructions  given  by  the  said  late  Adelantado  with  regard 
to  the  order  and  method  he  shall  keep  in  reference  to  his  commands  regard- 
ing the  service  of  God  our  Lord  as  well  as  that  of  His  Majesty,  the  good  and 
preservation  of  everybody,  Spaniards  and  natives ;  and  in  the  name  of  His 
Majesty  I  command  all  the  settlers  and  conquerors  of  the  said  Ciudad  Real 
and  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  residents  and  inhabitants  which  may  hereaf- 
ter come  to  the  said  towns  from  any  other  parts  and  places  of  these  provinces 
and  from  the  Kingdoms  of  Spain  and  the  coast  of  Brazil,  that  after  this  pro- 
bation and  new  power  of  attorney  shall  have  been  read  and  published,  they 
shall  obey  and  revere  the  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  as  if  he  were  my 
own  person,  and  to  keep  and  fulfill  his  orders  and  commands,  and  not  to  op- 
pose the  same  in  any  way  or  form,  under  penalty  of  death  and  confiscation 
of  half  their  estates,  which  shall  be  applied  to  the  Treasury  of  His  Majesty, 
besides  other  penalties,  bodily  and  pecuniary,  which  may  be  incurred  by  the 
rebels  against  the  Governors,  Captains  and  Justices  who,  in  the  name  of  His 
Majesty  and  by  virtue  of  His  Royal  power  of  attorney,  may  dictate  for  the 
good  of  His  Royal  service ;  and  that  said  penalties  and  every  one  of  them 
shall  be  imposed  and  executed  upon  the  rebels  and  transgressors,  so  that  they 
may  serve  as  punishment  to  the  said  rebels  and  as  a  warning  and  example  to 
the  others.  And  I  give  for  granted  and  specified  all  the  clauses,  conditions 
and  validity  which  may  be  necessary  for  the  approbation  and  ratification  of 
this  new  power  of  attorney  appended  to  that  of  the  said  late  Adelantado,  with 
all  its  incidents  and  connections,  with  free  and  general  administration.  In 
proof  of  which  I  pledge  my  person,  my  estates,  and  those  I  may  own  hereaf- 
ter. In  testimony  whereof,  I  grant  this  present  letter  and  ratification  and 
new  power  of  attorney  before  the  Notary  Public  and  of  the  Council,  and  the 
witnesses  hereinafter  mentioned,  in  the  City  of  La  Asuncion,  in  the  residence 
of  the  Governor,  Tuesday,  the  sixth  day  of  the  month  of  March,  year  of  the 
birth  of  Our  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy-six.  And 
the  said  Governor  signed  it  with  his  name  upon  the  register  in  the  presence 
of  the  following  witnesses:  Joan  Delgado,  Martin  Rui  Guerra  and  Diego  Mar- 
t'lnez.  And  I,  Bartolome  Gonzalez,  Notary  Public  of  His  Majesty  and  of  the 
Council  of  this  City  of  La  Auncion,  was  there  present  with  the  said  witnesses 
at  the  granting  of  this  saids  power  of  attorney,  which,  by  request  of  the  said 
Governor  who  signed  the  original  in  my  possession,  I  caused  to  be  here 
written,  putting  my  signature  in  testimony  of  truth :  Notary  Public  and  of  the 
Council. 


1576. —  In  this  Ciudad  Real,  Palm  Sunday,  after  mass,  being  the  fif- 
teenth day  of  April   fifteen  hundred  and   seventy  six,  the  greater  part  of  the 


—  igS  — 

residents  and  inhabitants  of  this  city  being  assembled  by  request  of  Captain 
Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  Lieutenant  Governor,  Captain  General  and  Chief  Justice 
before  me,  Alonsode  Hontiberos,  notary  of  the  Government,  Juan  Lopez,  city 
crier  of  this  city,  read  this  power  of  attorney  in  the  presence  of  witnesses 
Diego  de  Zuftiga,  Diego  de  Oviedo,  Juan  Merino  and  many  other  residents 
of  the  said  city,  and  I  hereunto  affixed  my  hand  in  testimony  of  truth.  Before 
me. — Alonso  de  Hontiberas,  notary  of  the  Government. 


1579- —  Juan  de  Garay,  Lieutenant  General,  Governor  and  Captain 
General  and  Chief  Justice  and  High  Constable  in  these  provinces  and  Govern- 
ment of  the  River  Plate  for  the  Most  Illustrious  Licentiate  Juan  de  Torres  de 
Veray  Aragon,  of  the  Council  of  His  Majesty,  and  Judge  of  the  Royal  Chan- 
cery of  the  city  of  La  Plata,  Adelantado,  Governor  Captain  General,  Chief 
Justice  and  High  Constable  in  these  said  provinces  and  Government,  in  pur- 
suance of  the  Royal  provisions  given  and  granted  to  the  most  Illustrious 
Juan  de  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  deceased,  and  by  virtue  and  on  the  strength  of  the 
last  clause  in  his  will  and  testament  under  which  he  died  and  departed  this 
life  during  which  he  appointed  as  his  successors  in  the  said  Government  and 
offices  above  named  the  person  who  would  marry  Dona  Juana  de  Zarate,  uni- 
versal heir  approved  by  His  Majesty;  all  of  which,  as  it  is  public  and  noto- 
rious, is  not  herein  inserted :  and  I  appeared  before  the  council  and  Govern- 
ment of  this  city  of  La  Asuncion  with  the  power  of  attorney  and  provisions 
which  the  said  Adelantado  granted  me,  and  after  taking  the  required  oath  I 
offered  the  bonds  required  in  these  cases,  which  were  approved  and  received; 
and  since  then  to  the  present  day  I  have  governed  and  do  govern  the  said 
provinces,  trying  to  maintain  them  in  peace  and  justice,  and  I  mean  to  do 
the  same  hereafter  with  the  will  and  help  of  God  our  Lord,  busying  myself 
with  the  things  that  may  be  most  convenient  to  His  Divine  service  and  to  the 
Majesty  of  the  King  Don  Felipe,  our  Master,  in  whose  name  and  that  of  the 
Adelantado  I  have  done  it,  and  mean  to  do,  and  because  the  Illustrious  Ge- 
neral Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  has  been  governing  and  supporting  for  many  years 
the  Ciudad  Real  and  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  in  all  the  provinces 
of  Guaira  and  Coracivera  and  other  territories  where  he  has  served  and  does 
serve  God  our  Lord  and  His  Majesty,  and  being  well  and  fully  obeyed  by 
the  Spaniards  and  our  children,  and  also  by  the  natives  of  the  said  provinces , 
making  use  of  the  power  of  attorney  and  authority  granted  me  by  the  said 
Adelantado  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  and  after  his  death  with  the  approbation 
and  ratification  of  Governor  Diego  Ortiz  de  Zarate  Mendieta,  and  by  my  hav- 
ing brought  the  new  provision  and  powers  of  attorney  from  the  said  Adelan- 
tado, as  before  stated ;  it  is  resolved  in  the  said  name  of  His  Majesty  and  in 
that  of  the  said  Adelantado  Juan  de  Torres  de  Vera  y  Aragon,  to  send  to 
the  said  General  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  new  and  final  approbation  and  ratifica- 
tion of  all  the  said  powers  of  attorney  which  he  has  used  and  is  using,  ad- 
ding strength  to  strength  and  substance  to  substance :  I  do  hereby  give  and 
grant  unto  him  as  ample,  full  and  general  power,  commission  and  authority 


—  199  — 

as  it  may  be  necessary,  so  that,  acting  as  such  Lieutenant-general  in  the  said 
provinces  of  Guaira  and  Caracibera  and  their  district  and  jurisdictions,  he 
shall  excercise  the  functions  of  his  offices,  governing  and  administering  jus- 
tice, civil  and  criminal,  procuring  the  service  of  God  and  of  His  Majesty  so' 
that  under  the  auspices  of  this  name  and  title  this  justice  may  be  maintained 
and  administered,  with  tendency  to  mercy  rather  than  to  severity,  and  keep- 
ing the  natives  in  peace  and  obedience  and  in  the  good  doctrine  of  our  Holy 
CathoHc  Faith ;  and  that  he  may  be  obliged  in  the  civil  and  criminal  suits 
that  may  come  before  him  for  trial,  to  grant  appeals  before  whom  His  Majesty 
may  command ;  and  to  appear  with  this  power  of  attorney,  approbation  and 
ratification  before  the  Council  and  Government  of  the  said  Ciudad  Real  where 
he  shall  be  received  and  obeyed  with  aew  oath  and  bonds,  as  usual.  And  I 
hereby  command  all  the  residents  and  inhabitants  of  the  said  Ciudad  Real 
and  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  and  their  districts  and  jurisdictions,  to  obey 
and  revere  the  said  General  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  and  to  abide  by  and  fuUfill  his 
orders  and  decrees  humbly  and  obediently,  under  the  penalty  which  he  may 
impose  or  which  may  be  imposed,  bodily  or  pecuniary,  to  be  executed  upon  the 
persons  and  estates  of  the  rebels  and  transgressors,  because  for  all  the  above 
stated,  and  for  every  thing  in  particular,  I  do  grant  full  authority  to  the  said 
General  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo  with  all  its  connections  and  incidents  and  free 
and  general  administration,  giving  as  already  specified  all  the  other  clauses, 
force  and  firmness  required  by  law,  that  may  impart  strength  and  validity  to 
all  the  above  stated.  In  proof  of  certainty  and  safety  of  every  thing  above 
slated  I  affix  my  hand  hereunto,  and  command  Luis  Marques,  notary  of  the 
Government  to  legalize  it,  for  further  corroboration,  and  that  an  original  re- 
cord thereof  be  kept  in  his  possession,  to  which  the  present  were  witnesses. 
— Hernando  de  Montalvo,  Treasurer,  Luis  Peralta  and  Juan  Velazquez 
Prieto. —  Dated  in  the  City  of  La  Asuncion  on  the  twentieth  day  of  Septem- 
ber, fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  nine  years. — Juan  de  6^<a:r<2y,  by  order  of 
the  said  General,  Luis  Marquez,  notary  of  the  Government.  I,  Bartolome 
Gonzalez,  notary  public  in  all  the  Indies,  islands  and  lands  of  the  Ocean  sea, 
and  of  the  council  of  this  city  of  La  Asuncion,  and  resident  of  the  same,  do 
hereby  testify  to  all  who  these  presents  may  see,  that  the  most  Illustrious 
General,  Juan  de  Garay,  on  Monday  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember of  the  previous  year,  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  eight,  appeared  be- 
fore the  council  of  this  said  city,  with  the  powers  of  attorney  and  provisions 
which  he  brought,  to  govern  these  provinces  and  government  of  the  River 
Plate,  for  the  most  Illustrious  Licentiate  Juan  de  Torres  de  Vera  y  Aragon  as 
successor  to  the  said  Governor,  Captain  General  and  Chief  Justice  and 
High  Constable  and  Adelantado  for  life,  in  the  same  provinces,  as  legitimate 
husband  of  Dona  Juana  de  Zarate,  deceased,  and  approved  by  His  Majesty 
and  universal  heir  of  her  father  above-named  by  virtue  of  the  said  power  of 
attorney  which  were  seen  and  read  in  the  said  council ;  the  said  General 
Juan  de  Garay,  after  taking  the  oath  in  form  and  giving  the  bonds  according 
to  law  and  custom,  was  proclaimed  and  obeyed  as  Lieutenant  General  in  all 
these  provinces  and  government,  by  virtue  of  which  he  has  governed  and 


200    

governs,  and  administered  royal,  civil  and  criminal  justice,  and  is  as  such 
obeyed  and  revered  without  any  opposition.  The  said  powers  of  attorney 
brought  by  him  are  in  my  possession  signed  by  the  said  Adelantado  Juan  de 
Torres  de  Vera  y  Aragon.  In  the  city  of  La  Plata  on  the  ninth  day  of  the 
month  of  April  of  the  said  year  seventy  eight. —  Signed  and  legalized  by 
Juan  Prieio,  notary  public  of  His  Majesty  and  council  of  the  said  city  of 
.  La  Plata  and  its  jurisdiction:  and  also  signed  and  legalized  by  Francisco 
Logrono,  notary  public,  and  by  Hernando  de  la  Hoz,  notary  of  province.  In 
testimony  whereof  I  give  these  presents  signed  with  my  name,  and  read  be- 
fore the  witnesses  in  the  said  city  of  La  Asuncion  on  the  twentieth  day  of 
September  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy  ninth  year  of  the  birth  of  Our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.  Witnesses  Hernando  mde  Montalvo,  Treasurer,  Luis  de  Pe- 
ralta  ?ind  Juan  Velazquez  Prieto. — Bartolome  Gonzalez,  notary  public  and  of 
the  council. — \,  Juande  Escalante,  notary  public  and  of  the  council  of  this 
city  of  Santa  Fe  and  its  district,  made  this  copy  from  the  originals  of  the 
said  titles  and  letter  of  allotments  which  remained  in  possession  of  Captain 
Manuel  de  Frias,  and  which  copy  is  a  true  one  corrected  and  revised  by 
order  of  the  said  Juan  Sanchez,  Justice  of  the  peace  of  this  city  and  its  juris- 
diction, and  by  request  of  the  said  Captain  Manuel  de  Frias,  I  gave  these 
presents  in  the  city  of  Santa  Fe  on  the  fourtenth  day  of  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember sixteen  hundred  and  two,  in  the  presence  of  the  following  witnesses, 
when  the  copy  was  being  taken  and  revised  :  Father  Juan  Estevez,  priest,  and 
Francisco  Ruiz  and  Juan  Sanchez,  residents  of  this  said  city.  In  testimony 
of  which  I  affixed  my  hand  thereunto.  Juan  de  Escalante,  notary  public  and 
of  the  council. 

We,  Don  Francisco  Martel  de  Guzman,  Justice  of  the  peace,  and  Alonso 
Ramirez  and  Gabriel  de  Hermosilla  Sevillano,  and  Francisco  Resquin,  alder- 
men, do  hereby  certify  that  Juan  de  Escalante,  by  whom  this  copy  is  legal- 
ized, is  in  fact,  notary  pubHc  and  of  council  of  this  city,  and  all  deeds  and 
acts  executed  before  him  have  been  and  are  entitled  to  faith  and  credence  in 
court  and  out  of  court,  as  a  true  and  faithfuU  notary,  and  that  Juan  Sanchez 
by  whom  the  said  copy  is  signed  is  Justice  of  the  peace  of  this  city  and  its 
jurisdiction  for  this  present  year.  In  witness  whereof  we  gave  these  presents 
signed  with  our  names  in  Santa  Fe  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  of 
September  sixteen  hundred  and  two. — Francisco  Martel  de  Guzman. — 
Atonso  Ramirez. — Gabriel  de  Hermosilla  Sevillano. — Francisco  Resquin. 


1588 


ACT  or  rouzvDATiosr 

of  the  City  of  Vera,  Ordered  to  be  Founded  by  Licentiate  To- 
rres de  Vera  y  Aragon,  Governor  of  the  River  Plate,  in 
compliance  with  the  Capitulations  IKEade  with  the 
O-overnor   Juan   Ortiz    de    Z^rate,    his 
Father-in-law,  etc.,  in  the  place 
called  **delas  Siete  Corrien- 
tes  "  with  its  Boundaries 
and  Lordships.     (*) 

In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity,  Father  and  Son  and  Holy  Ghost, 
three  persons  and  only  one  true  God,  and  of  the  Most  Holy  Virgin  Mary, 
His  Mother,  and  of  King  Don  Felipe,  our  master,  I,  Licentiate  Juan  de  To- 
rres de  Vera  y  Aragon,  Adelantado,  Governor  and  Captain  General  and 
Chief  Justice  and  High  Constable  of  all  these  provinces  of  the  River  Plate  by 
His  Majesty,  by  virtue  of  the  capitulations  made  by  the  Adelantado 
Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  Knight  of  the  Order  of  Santiago,  my  father-in- 
law,  with  His  Majesty,  that  he  would  settle  certain  towns  in  these  provinces,  as 
is  more  amply  stated  on  the  said  capitulations  to  which  I  refer,  in  compliance 
with  the  same,  found,  set  and  settle  the  city  of  Vera  on  the  place  called  "  de 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archives  of 
Indies,  a  copy  of  which,  duly  authenticated  before  the  Consulate  of  the  United  States  of 
America  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of  group  A,  No.  i6,  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Ar- 
gentine Evidence." 


20i    — 

las  Siete  Corrientes,"  province  of  Parana  and  the  Tape,  with  the  boundaries 
and  lordships  of  the  cities  of  La  Asuncion,  Concepcion  de  Buena  Esperanza, 
Santa  Fe  and  San  Salvador,  Ciudad  Real,  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  San 
Francisco  y  Bea^a  on  the  coast  of  the  northern  sea,  for  the  present  and  for- 
ever, as  long  as  His  Majesty  will  not  be  pleased  to  dispose  through  me  other- 
wise in  His  Royal  name;  which  part  seqpis  to  be  better,  and  a  good  location, 
where  the  people  can  live  and  settle,  it  having  tilling  lands,  wood,  fisheries, 
game,  water,  pasture  for  the  sustenance  of  the  said  settlers  and  their 
cattle,  for  the  preservation  of  the  said  city,  with  many  farming  lands  to  dis- 
tribute among  the  settlers  and  neighbours,  as  His  Majesty  orders  it  by  His 
Royal  decrees,  with  the  protest  that  if  any  other  better  location  should  be 
found,  the  said  city  may  be  removed  under  the  same  name,  wherever  it  would 
be  more  convenient  to  the  service  of  God,  our  Lord,  and  of  His  Majesty,  and 
for  the  good  and  utility  of  the  settlers,  and  that  this  removal  shall  be  made  with 
the  consent  and  opinion  of  the  city  council;  and  thus,  in  the  name  of  His  Ma- 
jesty, and  by  virtue  of  His  Royal  powers  of  Attorney  which  I  hold,  and  which 
by  their  notoriety  are  not  herein  contained,  I  appoint  Judges  and  Alder- 
men, Attorney  General  of  the  city.  Mayor  of  the  same,  so  that  they  keep 
it  under  their  guard,  doing  justice  in  civil  and  criminal  matters  concer- 
ning their  offices,  inconformity  withthe  charters  and  ordinances  given  by  His 
Majesty  to  the  cities  of  the  Indies,  and  for  the  exercise  of  said  charges; 
let  them  be  known  as  appointed,  as  follows  :  Justices  of  the  peace  and 
of  the  Brotherhood,  Francisco  Garcia  de  Acufia  and  Diego  Ponce  de 
Leon  ;  Aldermen,  High  Constable  Juan  de  Rojas,  Martin  Alonso  de 
Velasco,  Hector  Rodrigo,  Acencio  Gonzalez,  Esteban  de  Vallejo,  Fran- 
cisco de  Leon,  Diego  Natera,  Francisco  Rodriguez,  Pero  Lopez ;  Sheriff, 
Melchor  Alfonso;  Attorney,  Antonio  de  la  Madriz;  Majordome,  Geroni- 
mo  de  Ibarra;  and  said  election  being  by  me  deemed  just,  it  is  herein 
established  that  it  shall  take  place  in  a  fixed  date,  for  the  present  and  forever, 
and  I  hereby  appoint  and  fix  the  elections  of  the  said  offices  to  be  made  every 
year  on  new  year's  day,  the  outgoing  officers  appointing  the  newcomers  by 
sworn  votes,  according  to  law,  they  being  in  their  city  council  at  the  time  of 
the  election,  as  God  may  dictate  in  their  consciences,  nominating  those  per- 
sons who  by  their  rightfulness  and  zeal  they  shall  deem  convenient  to  the 
service  of  God  and  of  His  Majesty,  for  the  good  government  of  the  said 
city,  as  is  done  in  the  Kingdoms  of  Peru,  and  in  all  the  Indies.  Dated  in 
the  city  of  Vera,  on  third  day  of  the  month  of  April,  fifteen  hundeed  and 
eighty-eight  years. — Licentiate  Juan  de  Torres  de  Vera.  By  order  of  His 
Lordship,  Nycuias  de  Villanueva,  Notary  Public  and  of  the  city  council. 

Upon  which,  the  said  Governor,  personally,  and  before  me,  Nycuias  de 
Villanueva,  notary  public  and  of  the  council  of  said  city  of  Vera,  took  the 
oath  of  the  said  Judges,  Aldermen  and  High  Constable,  Attorney  and  Major- 
dome,  individually,  in  due  form  in  the  name  of  God  our  Lord,  of  Saint  Mary, 
His  Mother,  and  by  the  words  of  the  Holy  Gospel,  and  by  a  sign  of  the 
cross,  that  they  will  use  well  and  faithfully  the  said  offices  of  Judges,  High 
Constable,  Attorney  and  Mayordome,   and  will  do  justice  to  the  parties  and 


—   203  — 

will  not  charge  too  high  fees,  acting  in  everything  in  the  manner  most  con- 
venient to  the  service  of  God,  our  Lord,  and  of  His  Majesty,  and  to  the  good 
of  the  Republic,  and  at  the  ratification  of  the  said  oaths  they  all  said,  every- 
one by  himself,  and  for  what  it  concerns  him,  I  do  swear,  and  amen,  promis- 
ing to  do  so.  Witnesses,  General  Juan  de  Torres  Navarrete,  Captain  Diego 
Gallo  de  Ocampo,  Field  Marshal  General  of  these  provinces,  and  Captain 
Felipe  de  Caceres,  Lieutenant  General  resident  of  this  city,  and  Licentiate 
Juan  de  Totres  de  Vera. — Before  me  Nyculas  de  Villanueva,  Notary  Public 
and  of  the  city  council. 

Whereupon  the  said  Governor  in  compHance  with  all  the  aforesaid,  being 
in  accord  with  the  said  Judges  and  Aldermen,  appointed  and  located  the 
site  for  the  church  under  the  advocation  of  Nuestra  Senora  del  Rosario, 
which  I,  the  said  Notary,  do  testify,  and  that  as  a  mark  of  possession  they 
placed  a  cross  which  they  all  worshiped. — Witness  the  above-mentioned.  Be- 
fore me,  Nyculas  de  Villanueva,  Notary  Public,  and  of  the  city  council. 

Whereupon,  on  the  day,  month  and  year  above-named,  the  said  Gov- 
ernor, together  with  the  said  Justices  and  Aldermen  went  to  the  middle  of  the 
square,  and  ordered  a  pole  to  be  posted,  in  which  to  build  the  gallows,  and  the 
said  Governor  ordained  that  no  person  should  remove  it  from  the  place  upon 
which  it  was  erected,  under  penalty  of  death,  without  permission  of  His  Ma- 
jesty, or  of  His  Lordship,  or  any  other  competent  Judge  in  the  name  of  the 
said  Governor,  and  unsheathing  his  sword,  he  dealt  two  blows  on  it  saying : 
"  In  the  name  of  the  King  Don  Felipe,  our  master,"  and  asked  that  thus  it  be 
placed  on  record.  All  of  which  I  testify.  Witnesses  the  same.  Before  me, 
Nyculas  Villanueva,  Notary  Public  and  of  the  city  council. 

And  on  the  same  day,  month  and  year  above-named,  before  me  the 
said  Notary,  the  said  Adelantado  and  Governor,  together  with  the  Justices  and 
the  soldiers,  going  about  the  said  city,  appointed  and  elected  as  common 
of  the  said  city,  for  all  its  settlers  and  inhabitants  who  came  to  settle  it, 
one  quarter  of  a  league  all  around  the  city,  with  which  the  said  settlement, 
city,  church,  gallows  and  common  were  founded,  the  said  Governor  promi- 
sing, as  he  has  already  promised,  to  improve  the  said  city,  church,  gallows 
and  common  and  everything  else,  whenever  there  should  be  a  better  oppor- 
tunity to  do  so,  in  the  name  of  God,  and  of  His  Majesty,  and  requested  me, 
the  said  Notary,  to  give  him  a  testimony  thereof,  all  of  which  I,  the  present 
Notary,  testify  that  it  so  happened  before  me,  and  that  I  saw  that  it  was  so 
done  and  accomplished,  and  I  protest,  in  the  form  already  said,  specified  and 
declared,  and  that  it  was  signed  by  the  said  Adelantado  and  Governor,  the 
Justices,  the  council  and  the  soldiery,  the  Attorney  and  the  Majordome. 
Witness  the  above-named.  Licentiate  Juan  de  Torres  de  Vera  y  Aragon, 
Francisco  ae  Acuiia,  Diego  Ponce  de  Leon,  Juan  de  Rojas  Martin,  Alonso  de 
Velasco,  Hectof  Rodrigo,  Acencio  Gonzalez,  Esteban  de  Vailcjo,  Francisco 
Leon,  Diego  Natera,  Francisco  Rodriguez,  Pero  Lopez,  Melchor  Alonso, 
Antonio  de  la  Madriz,  Geronimo  de  Ibarra. — Before  me,  Nyculas  de  Villa- 
nueva, Notary  Public  and  of  the  city  council. 

This  is  a  copy  well  and  duly  taken  from  the  Acts  of  the  establishment  of 


—    204    — 

the  city  of  Vera,  which  copy  is  exact  and  true,  corrected  and  compared  with 
the  original  left  in  my  possession.  Before  me,  in  the  presence  of  the  witnes- 
ses Juan  Alvarez  Rubiales,  Blvs  de  Venecia  and  Miguel  de  Rutia,  residents 
of  this  city.  Made  on  the  fifth  day  of  the  month  of  April,  fifteen  hundred 
and  eighty-eight  years.  In  testimony  whereof  I  set  my  hand  on  these  pres- 
ents.— Nyculas  de  Villanueva,  Notary  Public  and  of  the  city  council. 

We,  Justices  and  of  the  peace  and  of  the  Brotherhood  of  this 
city  of  Vera,  who  sign  our  names,  d  hereby  give  testimony  to  all  those 
who  may  see  these  presents,  that  Nyculas  de  Villanueva,  by  whom  this 
deed  is  signed,  is  a  Notary  Public  and  of  the  council  of  this  city  of  Vera,  to 
whose  writings  and  acts,  testified  and  signed  by  him  as  above,  entire  faith 
and  credence  is  given,  as  a  loyal  and  legal  Notary.  In  testimony  whereof 
we  signed  our  names  in  the  city  of  Vera,  on  April  the  fifth,  fifteen  hundred 
and  eighty-eight. — Francisco  Garcia  de  Acufia. — Diego  Ponce  de  Leon. 


1591 


jURisDZCTioxr  or  sfaixv 

over  the  Territory  submitted  to  Arbitration.   {*). 

Alonso  de  Vera  y  Aragon,  Captain  General  and  High  Justice  of  this  city 
of  Vera,  Province  of  Parana,  Tape,  Uruguay,  to  the  North  Sea,  San  Fran- 
cisco and  Via9a,  for  His  CathoHc  King  Phillip,  our  Lord : 

Considering  that  you,  Francisco  Ortiz  de  Leguisamo,are  a  worthy  person 
who  has  served  Her  Majesty  for  more  than  twelve  years  in  these  Provinces 
of  the  River  Plate,  in  all  the  occasions  which  have  presented  themselves,  with 
your  arms  and  horses  at  your  own  expense  and  risk  and  that  you  are  one  of  the 
first  discoverers  of  this  city  and  you  were  at  its  foundation  in  company  with  the 
Adelantado  Juan  de  Torres  de  Vera  y  Aragon,  Governor,  Captain  General 
and  High  Justice  of  all  these  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate  by  grace  of  Her 
Majesty,  in  which  city  you  have  worked  and  suffered  many  hardships  and 
hunger  in  the  conquest  of  the  natives  thereof,  all  at  your  expense  and  risk, 
and  with  your  arms  and  horses ;  in  remuneration  for  some  part  of  your  ser- 
vices, I,  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty  and  by  virtue  of  the  powers  which  I 
have  for  it,  that  because  of  their  notoriety  are  not  herein  inserted,  designate 
for  you  and  grant  an  island  of  woods,  three  leagues  from  this  city,  more  or 
less  inland,  as  a  ranch  for  your  cattle,  with  more  than  three  hundred  yards 
of  the  fields  to  me  allowed,  surrounding  said  city,  for  your  houses  and  cattle 


(*)  The  following  documents,  proving  the  jurisdiction  exercised  by  Spain  over  the 
Territory  submitted  to  Arbitration,  is  printed  on  pages  5,  6.  7  and  8  in  the  book  enti- 
tled :  "  Collection  of  Facts  and  Documents  in  reference  to  Misiones  as  an  integral  part  of  the 
territory  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes,  made  by  the  Commission  appointed  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  said  Province."  This  official  book,  duly  legalized  by  the  Government  of  Cor- 
rientes, is  presented  with  the  "Argentine  Evidence." 


2o6    

• 

pens,  the  said  island  being  named  the  Island  of  the  Le.  .  .  .  opposite,  on  the 
side  of  the  Parana  to  the  Island  of  Francisco  Lopez  Pardo,  and  on  the  side 
of  this  city  with  the  Island  of  the  undersigned  notary ;  the  said  island  as  well 
as  the  said  land  above  declared  and  apportioned.  I  grant  to  you  with  all  its 
grazing  grounds  and  waters  for  you  and  your  heirs  and  successors  so  that  you 
may  sell,  exchange,  bargain  or  do  with  it  what  you  may  desire  and  deem 
best.  And  to  give  you  title  of  the  same  he  orders  these  letters  patent  to  be 
given  to  you  signed  with  my  name  and  countersigned  by  the  present  notary 
public  and  of  the  Government.  Dated  at  the  city  of  Vera  on  the  23rd  day 
of  the  month  of  August  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety  one. — Alonso 
DE  Vera  y  Aragon. — As  ordered  by  your  honor. — Nicolas  de  Villanueba, 
notary  public  and  of  the  Government. 


1588-1593 

Distribution  of  Indians   in   "Encomiendas,"    practised    in 

the   city    of  Vera    Cruz  de  las  Siete  Corrientes   in 

tine  year  of  its  foundation  1888  and  following 

to  the  year  1593,  according  to  the  Roll 

of  the  original  which  exists  in  the 

Archives  of  the  Said  cty  City. 

In  the  city  of  Vera,  on,  the  second  day  of  the  month  of  November  one 
thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty  eight :  Alonso  de  Vera  y  Aragon,  Captain 
General  and  High  Justice  of  Parana,  Uruguay  and  Tape  to  the  North  Sea, 
San  Francisco  and  Viacja  and  Guayra  for  the  Adelantado  Juan  de  Torres  de 
Vera  y  Aragon,  Governor  Captain  General,  High  Justice  and  Officer  in  all 
these  provinces  of  the  River  Plate  for  His  Majesty  etc. :  Considering  that  it 
is  convenient  for  the  service  of  God  Our  Lord  and  of  His  Majesty  and  for 
the  increase,  maintenance  and  utility  of  this  city,  and  by  virtue  of  the  powers 
which  I  have  for  that  purpose,  that  on  account  of  their  notoriety  are  not  in- 
serted herein,  keeping  and  obeying  the  instructions  of  His  Majesty;  I,  in  the 
name  of  His  Majesty,  grant  the  towns,  caciques  and  principals  and  Indians 
subjects  thereof,  with  all  their  lands,  mountains,  waters,  fisheris,  and  game 
for  three  lives,  as  His  Majesty  orders  it,  to  the  inhabitants  and  conquerors 
of  the  new  settlements  of  these  provinces,  provided  they  be  obliged  to  give 
them  sufficient  doctrine  and  have  their  residence  in  this  city  of  Vera,  and 
horses  and  arms  for  the  conquest,  pacification,  and  maintenance  and  for  all 
things  convenient  to  the  service  of  His  Majesty,  and  with  the  condition  that 
in  case  any  one  should  go  away  from  this  city  within  five  years,  without  per- 
mision  from  the  Superior  Judge  of  the  said  city,  or  he  who  shall   have  this 


207    — 

"  encomienda"  shall  loose  it,  and  the  Indians  belonging  to  him  shall  remain 
to  be  apportioned  to  the  persons  serving  in  said  vicinity  and  "encomienda," 
and  I  thus  sign  it  with  my  name,  in  the  presence  of  the  undersigned  Notary. 
Alonso  de  Vera  y  Aragon. — Passed  before  me  Nicolas  de  Villanueva. — 
Notary  public  and  of  the  Government. 

Grantees :  1 588  on  the  and  of  October. — Apportionments :  To  Hs  Majesty : 
The  Viquis  tribe,  and  the  nation  Bayara  with  all  the  chiefs  and  principals 
which  it  may  have  and  the  Indians  belonging  thereto  and  remaining  or  sub- 
jects :  with  all  the  mountains,  waters,  etc. : — The  Adelantado  :  El  Tape  (  * ) 
with  all  the  tribes,  chiefs  and  principals  which  it  may  have,  whatever  their 
name  be,  with  all  the  Indians  belonging  there  to. 
<•••••• •••.. 

(There  follows  a  long  list  of  apportionments.) 


(*)     By  this  name  of"  Provincia  de  El  Tape  "  was  known  the  territory  lying  to  the 
left  border  of  the  river  Uruguay,  where  the  Oriental  Misiones  were  afterward  founded. 


1  612 


**LA  ARaEnrTzzgA.'* 

History  of  the  Discovery,   Settlement,    and   Conquest  of  the 

Provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  written  by  Rui  Diaz 

de  Quzman,  in  the  year  1612.     (*) 

LIB.  I.   CHAPTER  III. — Descriptionof  what  this  territory  contains. 

In  the  past  chapter  I  began  to  describe  what  there  is  contained  in  the 
terminus  and  coast  of  that  Government :  in  this  I  shall  do  so,  as  briefly  as 
possible,  of  what  there  is  at  one  and  the  other  end  of  the  River  Plate,  as  far 
as  the  interior,  wherefore  it  is  to  be  supossed,  that  in  this  territory  there 
are  many  provinces  and  settlements  of  Indians  of  various  nations  through 
which  run  very  large  rivers,  all  of  which  flow  into  the  main  stream  of  this 
of  Plate,  which  being  so  large,  the  native  Guaranis  called  it  the  Parana  Guqzu, 
as  I  have  stated:  and  thus  I  shall  take  as  margin  of  this  description  of  the  same 
River  Plate,  commencing  first  by  the  sea  on  the  right  hand,  as  we  entered 
it,  which  is  the  Cape  of  Santa  Maria,  being  ten  leagues  distant  from  an 
island  and  port  which  they  called    Maldonado,    all    plain,    leaving    in    sight 


(*)  The  following  translated  chapters  are  taken  from  the  history  of  Rui  Diaz  de 
Guzman,  writer  and  soldier,  who  had  a  very  important  part,  as  actor  and  witness  in  the 
conquest  of  the  River  Plate.  He  gives  an  account  of  the  main  deeds  of  the  first  .Spanish 
conquerors  and  a  complete  description  of  the  territory  with  the  one  submitted  to 
arbitration,  showing  also  that  the  river  Pepiri,  which  flows  into  the  river  Uruguay,  was 
perfectly  known  by  the  Spaniards  in  the  XV  century.  The  complete  work  is  printed  in  the 
I  Vol.  of  the  «  Collection  of  works  and  documents  relative  to  the  old  and  modern  History 
of  the  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  with  annotations  and  remarks  by  Pedro  de  Angelis, 
Buenos  Ayres,  1836,  »  which  exists  in  the  Congressional  Library,  at  Washington. 


2IO    

within  the  sea  the  Island  of  Lobos.  This  one  of  Maldonado  is  a  good 
port  and  has  on  the  main  land  a  lagoon  with  a  great  many  fish;  the  whole 
island  is  occupied  by  the  Charruas  Indians  of  the  said  coast,  and  they  are 
strong  and  large  people,  who  live  on  no  other  thing  but  game  and  fish;  they 
are  very  bold  in  attacking  and  very  cruel  when  fighting,  and  then  very 
charitable  and  humane  with  the  captives ;  it  has  an  easy  entrance  for  which 
reason  it  would  offer  no  security,  if  attacked  by  sea.  Further  on  lies 
Montevideo,  so  called  by  the  Portuguese,  where  there  is  a  very  favorable 
port  for  a  settlement  as  it  has  very  good  soil  for  bread,  and  grass  for  cattle,  a 
great  deal  of  game  of  bucks,  partridges  and  ostriches;  it  has,  not  very  far  from 
the  coast,  a  chain  of  mountains  that  comes  rounding  from  Brazil,  and  getting 
away  from  it,  it  continues  farther  inland  crossing  the  greater  part  of  this 
Government,  and  extending  itself  towards  the  North  it  is  understood  that  it 
again  ends  by  the  same  coast  below  the  Bay:  from  here  to  the  island  of  San 
Gabriel  there  are  twenty  leagues,  leaving  half  way  the  port  of  Santa  Lucia  : 
the  island  is  very  small  and  woody  and  lies  a  little  more  than  two  leagues 
from  the  main  land  where  there  is  a  pretty  good  port,  but  it  has  not  the 
necessary  shelter  for  the  ships  that  reach  there.  On  this  spot  flows  a  very 
large  stream,  the  Uruguay,  which  I  have  mentioned  before,  and  the  mouth 
of  which  is  nearly  three  leagues  wide,  and  within  it,  a  small  river  which  they 
called  San  Juan,  near  another  of  San  Salvador,  a  very  convenient  port;  and 
ten  leagues  farther  on,  one  they  call  Rio  Negro,  from  which,  up  stream,  to 
one  and  the  other  side,  there  flow  many  more,  specially  a  great  one  which  is 
ttatned  Pepiri,  which  is  renowned  and  said  to  have  many  people  who  possess 
gold  in  quantities  which  this  river  brings  with  its  fine  sands. 

This  Uruguay  river  has  its  source  at  the  back  of  the  island  of  Santa  Ca- 
talina,  and  flowing  towards  the  South  separates  from  the  lake  of  Los  Patos 
towards  the  West,  through  many  nations  and  populated  lands,  which  they 
call  Guayanas,  Pates,  Chovas,  Chovaras,  which  are  nearly  all  of  one  tongue, 
although  up  to  the  present  time  they  have  n'ot  seen  Spaniards  nor  have  any 
others  entered  their  lands,  except  that  which  has  been  known  about  them 
from  the  Guaranis.  And  flowing  many  leagues,  this  river  passes  through  a 
large  settlement  of  Guaranis  Indians,  called  Tapes,  which  means  city:  this 
is  one  of  the  best  and  most  populated  provinces  of  this  Government,  leaving 
aside  which  I  shall  now  go  up  the  Plate  one  hundred  and  fifty  leagues  in  the 
same  direction  through  many  nations  and  tribes  of  different  customs  and 
languages,  the  greater  part  of  which  are  not  farmers,  as  far  as  Siete  Corrientes, 
where  two  large  rivers  meet,  one  called  Paraguay  that  comes  from  the  left, 
the  other  Parana  which  comes  from  the  right :  this  is  the  principal  stream 
which  absorbs  all  the  other  rivers  that  come  from,  the  region  of  Brazil ;  it  has 
a  width,  on  the  greater  part  of  it  navigation,  of  one  league,  in  some  two  ; 
descends  three  hundred  leagues,  until  it  joins  this  one  of  Paraguay,  at  whose 
mouth  a  city  has  been  founded  which  is  called  San  Juan  de  Vera,  which  is 
in  Latitude  twenty-eight  degrees  ;  of  which  and  its  fundation  and  conquest 
we  shall  speak  in  due  place.  As  soon  as  one  enters  this  river  it  is  smooth 
and  navigable,  and  before  covering  forty  leagues  many  dry  places  and  reefs 


211    

are  discovered,  where  there  is  a  lake  on  the  left  hand  side  of  the  river  which 
is  called  Santa  Ana,  thickly  settled,  as  far  as  where  another  great  river  flows 
in  the  same  side  which  is  called  Iguazu,  meaning  Great  River;  it  comes 
from  the  back  of  the  Cananea  and  runs  two  hundred  leagues  through  a  great 
number  of  Indian  nations,  the  first  and  taller  ones  of  which  are  all  Guaranis; 
and  turning  to  the  South  it  enters  through  the  tribes  which  are  called 
Chovas,  Munoz  and  Chiquis  :  a  very  cold  country  of  large  pines  until  it  runs 
into  this  Parana,  on  which,  ascending  thirty  leagues  there  stands  that 
strange  waterfall  which  I  understand  to  be  the  most  marvelous  work  of  nature 
there  is,  because  of  the  fury  and  velocity  with  which  the  whole  body  of 
water  falls  into  this  river 


LIB.   II.     CHAPTER  \\\.— Entrance  of  the  Adelaittado  through  the  port  of 
Reyes,  and  various  disagreements  and  events. 

The  war  of  Tabera  having  ended  so  successfully,  the  Adelantado  was 
obeyed  and  respected  by  the  native  Indians,  though  on  very  bad  terms  with 
the  officers  of  His  Majesty,  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  wanted  to  take  such 
an  active  part  in  the  government,  as  to  pretend  that  the  Adelantado  should 
do  nothing  without  their  being  consulted,  on  the  ground  that  such  was  His 
Majesty's  command ;  to  which  the  Adelantado  replied,  that  he  did  not  need 
to  consult  them  on  minor  ordinary  subjects,  for  otherwise  it  would  amount  to 
conferring  upon  them,  and  not  upon  him,  the  functions  of  Governor  ;  all 
these  continuous  exactions  were  tolerated  by  the  Adelantado  with  more  for- 
bearance than  was  becoming  his  own  reputation,  in  the  interest  of  peace,  and 
to  avoid  the  accomplishment  of  their  plans.  In  spite  of  all  these  differences, 
they  all  agreed  to  make  an  entrance,  to  find  out  if  the  minerals,  of  which 
they  had  heard,  could  be  discovered,  and  to  that  end  the  Adelantado  ordered 
four  hundred  soldiers  with  their  Captains  to  be  in  readiness.  They  were  of 
those  already  drilled  :  Salazar,  Francisco  Ruiz  and  Juan  de  Ortega  ;  and  of 
the  inexperienced,  Nuflo  de  Chaves, Garcia  Rodriguez  Valenzuela,  and  Saave- 
dra,  and  other  private  individuals.  With  this  number  of  men  the  Adelantado 
left  on  four  brigs,  six  barks,  twenty  rafts,  and  some  two  hundred  canoes,  on 
the  thirteenth  day  of  December,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  forty  one, 
taking  with  him  some  captives,  and  a  number  of  friends,  both  Guaranis  and 
of  Nagases,  and  Yapirus  nations.  On  this  journey  were  the  Auditor  Fe- 
lipe de  Caceres,  Overseer  Alonso  Cabrera,  and  the  Factor  Pedro  de  Orantes. 
The  Adelantado  left  his  Aid-de-Camp,  Domingo  de  Irala,  at  La  Asumpcion  ; 
and  going  up  the  river  the  squadron  arrived  at  the  towns  of  Hieruquizava  and 
others  situated  along  that  coast,  until  reaching  the  port  of  San  Fernando, 
whence  they  proceed  to  that  of  La  Candelaria,  and  leaving  behind  the  lagoon 
Juan  de  Oyolas,  where  the  Payaguas  killed  them  under  pretext  of  peace,  as 
stated  in  the  preceding  book  upon  this  subject,  when  the  canoes  being  over- 
loaded, and  very  far  apart  on  that  account,  were  suddenly  attacked  and  all 
taken,    almost    without   resistance  ;   and  thereafter  thev  never  missed  the 


—    212    — 

occasion  when  this  presented  itself  to  commit  their  depredations,  so  that  the 
cries  of  alarm  and  sounds  of  surprise  were  many  and  continuous ;  until  the 
Adelantado  ordered  an  ambush  to  be  laid  in  a  lagoon  or  overflowed  ground, 
proper  to  harbour  some  canoes  with  concealed  people,  so  as  to  attack  them 
before  those  of  the  enemy  which  would  follow  the  navy,  as  they  usually  did, 
could  get  back.  Upon  reaching  the  place  where  the  ambush  was  laid,  a 
squadron  of  canoes  which  followed  us,  was  attacked  by  ours,  which  were  in 
waiting,  before  they  could  get  back .  and  reach  the  shore  ;  so  that,  part  of 
them  were  lost,  and  part  seized  with  many  dead,  and  the  rest,  without  a 
single  exception,  were  made  prisoners,  as  they  could  not  resist  our  muskets 
and  swords,  nor  the  arrows  of  our  friends.  The  Adelantado  ordered  all  the 
Caciques  and  other  leaders  to  be  hanged  for  their  mischiefs.  Going  further 
on,  they  touched  at  the  towns  of  the  Guajarapos,  situated  on  the  left  side,  and 
at  those  called  Guatos,  on  the  right,  on  the  river  Araguay,  with  which  they 
communicated  ;  from  this  region  they  went  to  recognize  that  land  called  Pa- 
raiso,  where  the  river,  divided  in  two  arms,  renders  the  island,  of  which  I 
have  already  spoken,  so  attractive ;  which  island  having  been  seen  by  the 
Spaniards,  they  desired,  in  view  of  the  affability  of  the  natives,  to  settle 
upon  the  same,  although  nothing  could  be  done  with  the  Adelantado  about 
this  matter,  as  he  had  the  discovery  of  the  West  in  contemplation,  besides 
some  informations  with  regard  to  the  riches  of  Peru,  and  he  said  to  them  : 
((My  friends:  let  us  go  through  the  land,  and  discover  what  there  is  in  it  ; 
«  and  in  proper  time  we  shall  settle  where  it  may  best  suit  our  purpose ;  let 
(( us  not  be  carried  away  by  the  impression  of  first  sight."  Whereupon  he 
began  to  be  hated  by  many,  particularly  by  those  who  had  been  old  residents 
who  had  some  property  on  the  land.  He  went  on  his  journey  through  that 
river  until  reaching  the  port  of  Reyes,  where  after  landing  all  the  men,  he 
gave  proper  orders  for  the  entrance  and  left  in  the  company  of  the  captains, 
and  leaving  the  navy  in  charge  of  his  cousin  Pedro  de  Estopinan,  he  started 
towards  the  North  ;  finding  on  their  way  many  towns  of  Indian  farmers,  and 
every  day  they  discovered  great  many  people,  most  of  them  in  a  friendly 
mood,  and  those  who  did  not  appear  to  be  so  disposed,  took  the  arms 
against  the  Spaniards,  opposing  their  advance,  but  our  men  punished  them 
with  moderation.  A  few  journeys  further  on,  they  arrived  at  a  very  large  town 
of  over  eight  thousand  houses.  At  a  distance  of  two  leagues  from  this  town, 
four  to  five  thousand  Indians  tried  to  resist  the  passage  of  our  men,  though 
it  was  found  to  be  a  ruse  to  gain  time  and  put  their  people  in  safety  ;  and  our 
soldiers  paid  them  for  their  audacity,  killing  many  of  them,  whereupon  they 
gave  up  the  fight,  and  our  men  reached  the  town,  which  they  found  without 
people,  but  all  the  houses  filled  with  victuals,  and  all  their  effects  consist- 
ing of  many  striped  shawls,  tiger  and  nutria  skins  and  others,  which 
our  soldiers  appropriated  ;  they  found  many  hens,  ducks  and  certain  species 
of  little  rabbits  which  they  rear  in  their  houses,  and  helped  themselves 
abundantly.  They  went  all  over  the  town,  and  found  in  the  pnncipal 
square  a  horrible  house,  of  which  I  will  say  a  few  words  on  that  account.  It 
was  situated  within  a  large  palisade  like  circle  made  of  good  strong  timber  in 


—    213    — 

the  form  of  a  pyramid,  covered  up  with  palm  leaves,  in  which  they  kept  a 
monstruous  snake,  or  serpent,  of  such  magnitude,  that  all  who  saw  it  were 
struck  with  terror.  It  was  very  thick,  and  full  of  scales  ;  its  head  was  very 
large  and  flat,  with  enormous  teeth ;  its  eyes  were  small  and  fiery,  and  seemed 
to  sparkle  ;  its  length  was  twenty-five  feet,  and  its  width,  in  the  centre,  was 
like  that  of  a  cow  ;  its  tail  was  of  hard  black  skin  partly  stained  with  various 
colors  ;  the  scale  was  as  large  as  a  plate,  and  covered  with  reddish  eyes,  all 
of  which  made  it  all  the  more  horrible  and  repulsive,  so  much  so,  that  none 
could  look  at  it,  whose  hair  did  not  stand  on  end.  The  soldiers  began  to 
shoot  at  it,  and  to  wound  it  with  their  darts  and  arrows,  and  the  snake  feeling 
itself  wounded  began  to  move  and  roll,  bleeding  profusedly  ;  it  whistled  with 
such  ferocity  that  the  whole  structure  shook  and  all  presents  were  terrified. 
It  finally  succumbed,  and  it  was  ascertained  that  the  natives  of  that  territory 
worshipped  the  serpent,  supposing  it  to  be  the  incarnation  of  Satan,  and  that 
it  spoke  and  answered  questions.  They  fed  it  with  human  flesh  from  the 
prisoners  of  war,  whom  they  brought  to  feed  that  monster,  from  which  the 
Lord  relieved  them  on  this  occasion.  After  having  taken  all  the  spoils  found 
by  the  soldiers  and  civilians,  the  ofificers  demanded  one-fifth,  claiming  that  it 
belonged  to  His  Majesty,  and  they  pressed  their  claims  on  the  Adelantado, 
as  they  had  done  on  other  previous  occasions,  and  without  further  argument 
nor  agreement,  they  began  to  harass  some  of  the  soldiers  depriving  the  latter, 
under  pretext  of  the  fifth,  of  all  they  had  acquired  ;  they  went  so  far  as  to 
claim  one  fish  out  of  five,  and  also  of  every  thing  that  had  any  value  :  this 
caused  the  soldiers  to  grow  very  much  disgusted,  and  they  say  to  the  Ade- 
lantado that  they  would  not  continue  any  further,  for  the  royal  officers  med- 
dled in  such  small  things,  and  injured  them  so  materially,  that  they  feared  it 
would  be  still  worse  on  more  important  matters.  The  Adelantado,  in  order 
to  quiet  them  down,  ordered  the  royal  officers  to  abstain  from  acting  in  such 
a  manner,  because  His  Majesty  was  not  pleased  that  taxation  of  one-fifth 
should  be  imposed  upon  insignificant  objects,  and  that  even  if  he  so  desired, 
he,  the  Adelantado,  offered  His  Majesty  four  thousand  ducats,  each  year,  which 
was  his  own  salary,  in  order  to  avoid  troubles  among  the  soldiers.  This  checked 
the  ill  feeling  among  them  for  the  time  being,  though  the  royal  officers  did  not 
seem  to  be  satisfied,  for  they  urged  the  Adelantado  to  return  to  La  Asumpcion 
where  they  had  to  attend  to  business  of  their  trade,  and  of  the  service  of  His 
Majesty,  and  inform  him  about  the  condition  of  the  country.  The  Adelanta- 
do condescended  and  returned,  though  reluctantly,  as  he  had  not  attained 
his  object,  that  is  to  say,  that  discovery  above-named.  He  went  to  the  port 
where  he  had  left  the  fleet,  and  embarked,  steering  down  the  river  towards 
La  Asumpcion,  with  some  profit,  for  he  brought  from  this  trip  over  three 
thousand  men  able  for  service,  which  increased  the  population,  and  furnished 
the  town  with  victuals  and  many  useful  things  for  the  Spaniards.  Then,  the 
Adelantado  decided  to  subdue  the  Indians  Yapirus  who  molested  the  Re- 
public with  frequent  assaults  to  the  Indians  of  the  service,  and  civilians,  to 
which  purpose  he  started  with  three  hundred  soldiers  and  one  thousand 
civiHans,    and  after  being  informed  of  their  location,    which    was   a    very 


.  214    — 

comfortable  place  having  in  front  the  river  Paraguay,  and  on  the  rear  a  lagoon, 
and  only  one  gate  where  they  had  a  bulwark  built  of  hard  timber,  he  went 
for  them.  The  Adelantado  scouted  all  the  places,  and  ordered  that  the 
civilians  should  swim  through  the  lagoon  and  take  their  positions,  doing  them 
all  the  harm  they  could  ;  and  the  Spaniards  succeeded  in  entering,  beating 
the  Indians  without  mercy,  though  the  latter  sold  their  lives  very  dearly,  for 
they  fought  with  courage.  The  Spaniards  killed  many  of  them,  and  took 
prisoners  all  they  could.  The  most  stubborn  were  killed,  and  the  rest  were 
brought  to  a  place  four  leagues  from  La  Asumpcion  and  subdued,  together 
with  other  more  friendly  Indians  called  Mogolas.  Thereupon,  the  Adelan- 
tado returned  very  much  contented,  though  somewhat  troubled  by  inter- 
mittent fever,  all  of  which  happened  in  1542. 

LIB.   II.   CHAPTER  XIII.  —  Of  a  journey  made  by  Domingo  de  Irala  to  the 
province  of  Giiayra. 

At  this  time,  there  arrived  at  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion  certain  Indian 
chiefs  of  the  province  of  Guayra  to  ask  the  General  for  help  against  their 
Tupis  enemies  from  the  coast  of  Brazil,  who  insulted  and  injured  them 
with  deaths  and  thefts  with  the  aid  of  the  Portuguese  of  the  said  coast :  they 
invoked  their  right,  as  vassals  of  His  Majesty,  to  be  attended  and  assisted, 
so  that  the  General  decided  upon  going  personally  to  the  said  province  and 
remedy  these  conflicts,  and  having  made  the  necessary  preparations,  he 
formed  a  company  of  soldiers  and  a  number  of  civilians,  and  started  with  his 
people.  He  passed  many  Indian  towns  of  that  province  where  they  were 
received  with  much  applause  and  good  will;  he  reached  the  river  Parana,  at 
a  port  situated  right  under  that  great  fall,  which  I  have  mentioned  before, 
and  there  the  General  was  warmly  received  by  the  Indians  who  furnished 
him  with  victuals  and  everything  else  that  was  needed.  The  cances  and  rafts 
having  been  brought  in,  he  proceeded  to  a  town  of  a  Cacique  called  Guayra, 
whose  hospitality  he  enjoyed.  Having  convened  the  Indians  of  the  province, 
he  gathered  a  great  number  of  them,  and  by  their  advice  and  judgment,  he 
went  on  up  the  Parana,  as  far  as  the  town  of  the  Tupis,  who  very  quickly 
took  up  the  arms  to  resist  him  by  sea  and  by  land,  with  whom  he  had  a  very 
close  encounter  on  a  very  risky  passage  of  the  river,  called  the  Ayembi  falls, 
and  he  crushed  them  and  entered  the  principal  town  of  the  territory,  with 
many  killed.  He  had  to  fight  his  way  through  those  lands,  but  very  shortly 
he  subdued  the  Indians.  After  having  concluded  several  treaties  of  peace 
with  them,  they  promised  to  stop  making  war  to  the  Indians  Guaranis,  of  that 
government,  and  not  to  trespass  upon  their  grounds,  as  they  had  done  before. 
The  Adelantado  sent  Juan  de  Molina,  by  way  of  Brazil,  as  attorney  of  the 
province,  to  report  to  His  Majesty  about  the  state  of  the  land,  and  returned 
with  his  fleet.  Upon  arriving  at  the  river  Piquiri  he  spoke  to  the  natives 
and  asked  them  if  there  was  any  possibility  of  going  down  that  fall  without 
risk  and  danger,  until  reaching  a  safer  place  for  navigation ;  to  which  the 
Indians  opposed  many  difficulties,   through   a  half  breed,   called   Hernando 


—   215  — 

Diaz.  This  was  a  youngster  of  bad  inclinations  and  worse  intentions  who 
had  a  grudge  against  the  General  who  had  punished  him  on  various  other 
occasions  for  his  mischiefs,  so  that,  making  a  very  unfaithful  interpreter  said 
to  the  General  that  the  Indians  assured  that  it  was  very  easy  to  go  down  that 
river  in  canoes,  leaving  above  the  principal  fall  which  was  utterly  unnavigahle. 
Though  the  risk  was  great,  the  General  ordered  many  canoes  to  be  carried 
by  land  and  launched  just  below  the  falls,  and  to  tow  them  with  cordage 
down  the  river  until  they  could  be  loaded  and  made  ready  for  navigation. 
They  gathered  over  four  hundred  canoes  which  were  carried  over  land  by 
thousands  of  Indians  to  a  distance  of  four  leagues,  until  they  were  floated  in 
a  small  river  which  flows  into  the  Parana.  Everything  useless  and  danger- 
ous was  left  behind,  and  going  down  the  stream  with  great  difficulty,  they 
got  out  of  the  bubbling  waters,  and  made  rafts,  each  composed  of  three  canoes 
which  were  loaded  with  everything  they  carried,  and  they  proceeded  on  their 
journey  through  this  river  escaping,  as  best  they  could,  from  the  risks  and 
dangers  which  they  met  at  every  moment,  until  they  struck  one  obstacle, 
called  the  Ocayere,  and  could  not  escape  the  danger.  More  than  fifty  rafts 
and  as  many  canoes  foundered  with  many  Indians,  and  some  of  the  Spaniards. 
They  all  would  have  perished  if  the  General  and  his  company  not  landed 
half  a  league  before  and  who,  in  sight  of  the  rafts,  proceeded  on  foot  by  the 
rocky  and  stony  banks  of  the  river.  The  General  was  nearly  exhausted  upon 
that  rough  and  deserted  land  where  he  had  been  left  alone  by  the  native 
civilians  of  the  province. 

They  were  compelled  to  leave  it  beating  the  bush  and  walking  through 
the  mountains,  as  far  as  the  first  towns.  Many  of  the  men  being  sick  and 
unable  to  walk,  the  General  ordered  them  to  be  put  in  some  of  the  canoes 
that  had  been  saved,  with  the  best  friendly  Indians  whom  they  had  brought, 
and  steer  slowly  down  the  river,  under  the  guidance  of  a  nobleman 
from  Estremadura,  by  the  name  of  Alonso  de  Encina.  This  accomplished 
his  duty  with  such  prudence  and  carefulness,  that  he  got  out  free  of  injury 
from  the  greatest  perils,  particularly  on  a  very  risky  passage  of  the  river 
where  the  waters  bubble  so  furiously,  that  there  is  nothing  that  they  do  not 
absorb  and  plunge  down  to  the  depth:  such  is  the  force  of  the  water  there, 
that  a  large  East  Indian  ship,  would  be  swallowed  down  just  as  easy  as  a 
washing  tub.  The  Indians  of  that  territory  laid  a  trap  to  the  General, 
triyng  to  cast  them  and  the  canoes  into  this  whirlpool.  Alonso  de  Encina 
ordered  all  the  Spaniards  on  shore  with  their  arms,  and  they  went  with 
some  civilians  to  reconoitre  the  passage  and  the  trap,  which  they  really 
found.  They  fought  the  Indians  so  desperately,  that  the  latter  were  obliged 
to  retreat.  The  Spaniards  proceeded  on  their  journey  very  slowly,  towing  the 
raft  and  canoes  tied  one  after  the  other  until  they  got  out  of  the  danger, 
thanks  to  the  Lord  who  was  pleased  to  save  them  from  that  Caribdis  and 
Sila.  At  this  time  they  learned,  from  information  of  the  Indians,  that  se- 
veral Spanish  vessels  from  Spain  had  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  River 
Plate. 

After  these  mishaps  and  so  much  loss  of  life,  the  General  imprisoned  the 


2l6    

interpreter  Hernando  Diaz,  and  when  he  was  to  be  hanged  he  happened  to 
run  away  from  the  prison  the  night  before  the  execution,  and  went  to  Brazil, 
where  he  met  Captain  Hernando  de  Trejo,  and  where  he  committed  other 
crimes  for  which  he  was  sent  to  a  deserted  island,  from  where  he  departed 
after  many  adventures. 

LIB.  II.  CHAPTER  XW.—Ho7i>  the  General  ordeted  to  settle  the  village 
of  Ontiveros  in  the  Province  of  Parana,  and  how  some  people  left  that 
country. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  this  Province  of  the  River  Plate  owes  a  good 
deal  Domingo  Martinez  de  Irala  since  he  arrived  with  his  fleet,  both  as 
captain  and  as  soldier,  and  still  more  afterwards  when  he  was  elected  General 
and  leader  of  the  Spanish  conquerors  who  resided  there,  striving  to  the  in- 
crease and  utility  of  the  Royal  service,  the  comfort  and  support  of  his  vassals, 
in  such  a  manner  that  it  can  be  verily  said  that  to  him  is  due  the  preserva- 
tion of  that  country  and  its  good  products,  as  has  been  seen  in  the  course  of 
this  history.  The  said  General  having  considered  that  up  to  that  date  no 
town  had  been  sustained  at  the  entrance  of  the  mouth  of  the  River  Plate,  it 
being  so  necessary  for  vessels  coming  from  Spain  to  stop  there,  decided  to 
found  a  town  on  the  limit  of  Brazil,  towards  the  East,  on  the  river  Parana,  as 
it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  use  that  road,  and  have  communication  and 
trade  on  that  coast  and  by  that  way,  inform  His  Majesty  about  the 
state  of  the  country.  It  was  justly  convenient  to  do  so,  to  avoid  the  great 
damages  and  asaults  that  the  Portuguese  in  that  the  region,  made  upon  the 
Indians  Carlos,  of  this  proviuce,  making  them  prisioners,  without  any  justific- 
ation of  war  whatsoever,  and  seUing  them  as  slaves,  depriving  tliem  of  their 
freedom  and  keeping  them  in  eternal  boudage,  wherefore, he  gave  Captain  Gar- 
cia Rodriguez  de  Vergara  full  power  to  build  up  the  town,  who  taking  with 
him  sixty  soldiers,  and  all  the  necessary  ammunitions  and  stores,left  la  Asump- 
cion  in  the  year  1554,  and  going  on  his  journey  with  good  success,  he  reached 
the  river  Parana  which  he  crossed  and  was  welcomed  on  the  other  side  by 
the  Indians  of  the  territory.  He  considered  the  locality  a  proper  one  to  set 
up  his  foundation,  he  thought  it  convenient  to  make  it  one  league  above  the 
great  fall,  in  an  Indian  town  called  Canenduyu,  who  were  very  friendly  to 
the  Spaniards.  Garcia  Rodriguez  thought  that  place  to  be  then  the  best  and 
most  suitable  to  his  purpose,  as  it  was  upon  the  road  of  Brazil,  and  on  account 
of  the  many  native  Indians  residing  there,  though  it  was  found  afterwards, 
by  the  many  damages  and  inconveniences  met  with,  that  it  was  a  bad  locat- 
ion that,  where  the  village  of  Ontiveros  was  founded  in  the  same  year,  in 
remembrance  of  the  villa  de  Ontiveros,  of  which  captain  Garcia  Rodriguez 
was  a  native.  He  resided  there  some  time  until  Domingo  de  Irala  recalled  him 
on  other  matters  of  more  importance,  and  sent  a  substitute  who  was  not  re- 
ceived, and  the  powers  of  which  he  was  a  bearer  were  not  acknowledged  by 
the  natives.  In  order  to  punish  such  contempt  and  defiance  against  the  author- 
ity and  reputation  of  the  General,  he  sent  his  son-iri-law.  Captain  Pedro  de  Se- 


317    — 

gura  with  fifty  soldiers,  who  starting  on  his  journey  about  the  year  1556,  he 
arrived  at  the  river  Parana,  in  whose  harbor  he  made  sign  to  the  other  side, by 
means  of  blazes,  asking  for  rafts  and  canoes  to  cross  over.     The   Spaniards 
of  the  town  hearing  that  Captian  Segura   was  m   the  port,  it  was   agreed  by 
the  majority  of  them  to   deny  him  the  passage  as  they  feared   his   revenge 
upon  reaching  the  town  for  their  having  refused   the  general  power.     Many 
of  the  followers  of  captain  Diego  de   Abreu,  who  were  in  the  town,    and   of 
the  mutineers  who  hanged  around  the  Indian  towns,  came  to  an  easy  unders- 
tanding among  them,  took  up  the  arms,  entered  their  canoes  and   went   on 
to  take  an  island  lyng  on  the  same  river,    in  the  crossing   of  that  passage, 
upon  the  canal  of  the  great  Fall;  and  remaining  underarms,  they  warned  him 
to  return  to  the  Asumpcion,  and  not  to  attempt  to  do  anything,  as  they  would 
not  allow  him  to  set  his  foot  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  unless  at  the  peril 
of  their  lives  and  honor,  it  being  more  probable  that  the  risk   was   on   their 
side  since  the  attacked  were  in  their  homes.     The  leader  of  these  mutineers 
was  an  Englishman  called  Nicolas  Colman  who  though  having  only  one  hand, 
the  left  one,  as  he  lost  the  right  one  during  a  scuffle,  was  the  most  stubborn 
and  decided  soldier  of  them  all,  as  he  proved  it  in  this  and  other  cases.  Capt- 
ain Pedro  de  Segura  having  been  warned  by  those  men,  and  in  view  of  their 
resistance  and  contempt,  determined  to  pass  a  night  in  concealment  and  make 
for  this  purpose  some  rafts  and  planks,  to  cross  to  the  other  side.  While  being 
engaged  in  this  operation,  and  just  on  the  point  to  start,  about  one  hundred 
big  strong  canoes,  full  of  Indians,  came  suddlenly  from  the  island  and  attacked 
the  rafts,  firing  at  them   continuously.     The   firing  was    returned  from    the 
bank,  killing  one  soldiers  and  a  few  Indians  of  the    opposite  party.     Where 
upon  the  Indians  retired,  hooting  and  swearing,    to  the    island,     which    lies 
near  the  canal  of  the  principal  fall  corresponding  to  another  island,  at  musket 
shot  from  it,   and  which  is  more  than  fouiteen  leagues  long,   and  on  this 
account,    there  is   no   other    passage  than  the  opening   between    the    said 
two   islands   through  the  lower    part,    on  the   Fall,     which    is   the    safest 
one.      After    continuing    the    defense    of   the    passage    for    eight    conse- 
cutive days,  and  urged  by  necessity,  captain  Pedro  de  Segura  returned   with 
his  company  to  Asumpcion,  where  the  General  heard  the  news    of  the    con- 
tempt with  great  indignation,   and    decided   to    inflict   the  most   severe  and 
deserved  punishment.     The  Indians  natives  of  the  province  held  at  the  time 
the  General  in  great  esteem,  and  there  was  no  order  given  by   him  that  was 
not  inmediately  obeyed.      In  a  very  short  time  he  built  up  a    church   in  this 
city,  now  the  Cathedral  of  the  bishopric,  all  made  of  hard  timber,  solid  walls, 
and  covered  by  hard  palms,  they  also  built  up  other  structures  and  town  halls, 
which  embellished  that  noble  city,  so  that  this  republic  was  so  enlarged, 
provisioned  and  its  population  so  increased.     There  was  such  abundance  and 
comfort,  that  it  had  never  been  so  prosperous  ever  since.      For  in  addition  to 
the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  the  good  climate,  there  is  plenty  of  game,   fish, 
fowls,  etc. ,  in  that  land,  where  Providence  showered  its  gifts  with  lavish  hands, 
as  we  have  seen  nowhere  in  such  a  profusion.   Though  his  first  intention  was 
not  to  found  a  city  in  it,  it  has  been  growing  with  the  time,  and  the  persever- 


ance  of  its  mhabitants.  It  lies  upon  the  river  Parana,  to  the  East,  on  high, 
plain  ground,  and  is  shaded  by  groves,  and  with  good  fields.  Its  extent  was 
formerly  over  one  league  long,  by  ever  one  mile  wide,  though  it  is  now  di- 
minuished.  Besides  the  cathedral,  it  has  a  panochial  school  for  Spaniards, 
and  two  or  three  more,  one  for  the  natives  which  is  called  San  Bias,  and  the 
other,  Santa  Lucia,  to  which  many  and  plenary  indulgence  is  conceded  by  the 
Pope.  There  are  three  convents  of  friars,  St.  Francisco,  Our  Lady  of  Mercy 
and  Father  Jesuits,  and  one  hospital  for  Spaniards  and  natives.  The  plan  of 
this  city  is  not  drawn  by  blocks  and  lots  of  one  size ,  but  disposed  by  broad  and 
narrow  streets,  crossing  the  principal  ones,  as  in  some  places  of  Castile.  It  is 
not  entirely  healthy,  the  effluvium  from  the  river  producing  some  fevers  and 
affections  of  the  eyes  owing  to  the  intense  solar  heat,  though  this  is  modified 
by  the  coolness  of  that  large  river.  It  abounds  with  fishes  of  all  kinds,  and  the 
country,  as  I  have  said  before,  with  deers,  and  other  game,  and  wild  boars. 
There  are  many  antas  of  the  size  of  cows,  which  are  very  harmless,  and  of  good 
flesh;  they  have  a  small  trunk  and  a  very  high  cervix,  which  is  the  best  part 
of  the  animal  to  eat;  they  are  killed  by  night  in  their  watering  places,  and  by 
day  in  rivers  and  lagoons.  There  are  also  many  tigers,  ounces,  bears  and  leo- 
pards whiclf  are  not  very  carnivorous :  in  the*  bush  there  are  a  great  variety 
of  fruits,  both  sweet  and  sour,  which  are  consumed  by  the  natives.  The  coun- 
try has  a  pleasing  appearance,  with  its  lakes  and  rivers,  fields  and  woods,  in 
which  there  are  ostriches  and  partridges  in  great  number.  Finally,  it  abounds 
with  everything  necessary  to  life  and  the  support  of  men.  It  being  the  first 
foundation  made  upon  this  country,  I  thought  it  was  not  amiss  to  treat  in  this 
chapter  on  its  goods  qualities  and  on  account  of  its  beings  the  mother  of  all 
who  saw  the  first  light  in  it,  and  whence  all  the  population  of  the  other  cities 
of  the  said  province  proceed. 

LIB.    II.     CHAPTER  XV. — His  Majesty  appoints  Juan  de  Sattabria   Gov- 
ernor of  the  Province. 

After  the  arrival  of  Alvaro  Nuiiez  Cabeza  de  Vaca  in  Castile  as  a 
prisoner  from  this  Province,  and  his  case  was  examined  by  the  Council  of  His 
Majesty,  as  has  been  said  somewhere  else,  this  government  was  pretended 
by  many  gentlemen  ;  among  them  a  nobleman  from  Valencia,  a  man  of 
wealth,  to  whom  the  petition  was  granted,  though  Juan  de  Sanabria,  another 
gentleman,  resident  of  Trujillo  asked  His  Majesty  to  confer  the  office  on  him 
in  view  of  his  merits  and  qualifications  ;  the  result  being  disputes,  duels  and 
passions  between  the  aspirants,  which  do  not  concern  the  purpose  of  my 
history.  His  Majesty  decided  to  concede  the  grace  to  Juan  de  Sanabria, 
conferring  upon  him  the  title  of  Adelantado  of  those  Provinces,  as  others  had 
been  before  him  ;  and  having  been  making  preparations  for  the  start  from 
Sevile,  he  died  from  disease,  after  having  expended  great  part  of  his  estate; 
on  account  of  his  death,  his  son  Diego  de  Sanabria,  inherited  the 
right  to  the  succession  of  this  government  according  to  stipulations 
agreed  upon  with  his  father.     But  having  been   detained  at  the  Court  on 


219    — 

some  other  bussiness,  he  was  prevented,  by  lack  of  time  to  go  himself  on  the 
expedition,  and  ordered  the  same  to  start  from  the  port  of  San  Lucar.  The 
expedition  set  sail  in  the  year  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty  two,  on 
one  vessel  and  two  caravels,  with  Dofia  Mencia  Calderon,  who  had  been  the 
wife  of  the  Adelantado  Juan  de  Sanabria,  and  two  daughters,  Dofia  Maria 
and  Doiia  Mencia.  Following  their  voyage,  they  reached  the  Canary  Is- 
lands ;  among  the  men  came  as  Corporal  Juan  de  Salazar  de  Espinosa,  to 
whom,  due  to  steps  taken  by  him,  on  account  of  his  having  been  an  old 
servant  of  the  Duke  of  Berganza,  His  Majesty  gave  him  permission  to  return 
to  this  Province,  and  many  other  gentlemen  and  noblemen,  such  as  Cristo- 
val  de  Saavedra,  native  of  Sevile,  son  of  the  Postmaster  of  said  city,  Hernando 
de  Trejo  ;  and  Captain  Bezerra  with  his  wife  and  children  in  a  vessel  of  his 
own.  They  pursued  their  trip  with  good  luck  and  made  for  a  harbor  on  the 
coast  of  Brazil,  and  thence  came  to  the  island  of  Santa  Catalina,  and  to  the 
Laguna  de  los  Patos,  at  whose  entrance  Bezerra's  vessel  was  lost ;  and  although 
every  body  was  saved,  they  lost  every  thing  they  had.  On  arriving  in  this  ter- 
ritory Salazar  was  discharged  on  account  of  differences  with  the  Chiefmate  of 
the  fleet,  and  Captain  Hernando  de  Trejo  was  appointed  as  chief.  Many  of 
the  people  became  disgusted  and  went  over  to  Brazil,  Hernando  de  Trejo 
having  been  left  accompanied  by  very  few  people.  In  order  to  draw 
some  benefit  of  this  landing  for  the  service  of  His  Majesty,  they 
agreed  to  found  a  town  upon  that  coast,  and  Hernando  de  Trejo 
gathered  up  all  the  soldiers  he  could,  arid  in  the  year  of  one  thous- 
and live  hundred  and  fifty  three  he  founded  a  town  called  San  Fran- 
cisco. It  is  the  widest  and  safest  port  on  that  coast.  It  is  situated  at  25°, 
more  or  less,  thirty  leagues  from  the  Cananea,  on  the  side  of  Brazil,  and  the 
same  distance  from  Santa  Catalina,  on  the  side  of  River  Plate  ;  it  is  a  very 
bushy  coast  surrounded  by  great  woods.  This  town  was  continued  with  Her- 
nando de  Trejo' s  assistance,  who,  by  this  time,  had  become  the  husband  of 
Doiia  Maria  de  Sanabria,  the  Adelantado' s  daughter.  By  this  marriage 
t?hey  had  as  issue  the  Most  Reverend  Doctor  Fray  Fernando  de  Trejo, 
Bishop  of  Tucuman,  born  in  that  Province. 

The  town  having  been  set  up,  they  informed  His  Majesty,  who  was  very 
much  pleased,  as  this  route  would  be  a  very  convenient  stopping  place  for 
the  conquest  and  settlement  of  that  country  and  its  trade  up  to  Peru  and 
other  western  parts.  On  the  following  year  the  settlers  suffered  many  hard- 
ships and  privations,  and  as  they  were  unexperienced  people  they  did  not  try 
to  provide  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  nor  to  look  for  victuals  in  that  country, 
though  it  afforded  much  food  in  fish  and  game.  Doiia  Mencia  and  other  ladies 
of  the  expedition  suffered  mostly,  and  Hernando  de  Trejo,  moved  by 
their  entreaties,  decided  to  abandon  the  place  and  give  up  the  foundation  of 
the  town  ;  and  upon  a  general  consent  they  determined  to  start  by  land  in 
the  direction  of  La  Asumpcion.  Half  of  the  expedition  and  the  women 
went  up  the  river  Itabucu,  and  the  other  half  through  land,  as  far  as 
the  brow  of  the  hills,  with  orders  to  reunite  every  night.  They  took 
Cabeza   de  Vaca's  route,    until   one  day  a  company   of  the  soldiers  going 


220    

through  land  with  Captain  Saavedra,  separated  from  the  others  in  search  of 
grass,  palmetto  and  other  food,  and  having  gone  too  far,  they  could  not  find 
their  way  back ;  a  search  being  made  through  the  woods  they  were  all 
found  dead  from  starvation  near  the  trees  and  palms  where  they  had  arrived 
to  cut  and  eat  roots  and  trunks.  On  this  occasion  thirty-two  soldiers 
perished,  and  those  who  had  been  left  with  Captain  Saavedra  joined  those 
of  the  river,  who  went  with  Hernando  de  Trejo.  Having  left  the  canoes, 
they  climbed  up  a  high  and  abrupt  mountain  from  the  top  of  which  they  dis- 
covered some  very  extensive  fields,  all  settled  by  native  Indians,  by  whom 
they  were  received,  particularly  by  the  Cacique  called  Gapua.  Crossing 
that  territory,  they  reached  the  river  Igazu.  From  there  they  proceeded 
to  the  river  of  Atibajiva,  which  is  the  Province  most  settled  of  the 
Guaranis,  of  those  regions.  There  they  rested  for  many  days.  Well 
provided  with  the  needful,  they  continued  on  their  journey,  and  going 
through  great  plains  they  came  to  an  Indian  town,  the  principal  Cacique  of 
which  was  called  Suravane,  who  gave  them  a  friendly  reception  and 
hospitality.  From  there  they  went  on  towards  the  river  Ubay  to  an  Indian 
town  called  « Asiento  de  la  lglesia»  (Church's  seat)  because  Hernando  de 
Trejo  built  a  house  for  prayer  where  the  Indians  were  instructed  and  the 
priests  said  mass  ;  from  this  the  name  remained  to  this  town.  They  went 
down  this  river  in  canoes  and  rafts  to  an  Indian  town  called  Aguaras, 
above  the  Roque  town,  where  they  were  well  received  and  fed,  for 
which  reason  they  decided  to  stay  there  longer  and  even  to  make  a 
foundation,  in  the  meantime  informing  Domingo  de  Irala,  who  had 
received  the  news  by  way  of  Brazil,  that  His  Majesty  had  given  him  that 
government,  of  every  thing  that  happened;  a  few  months  later,  having  re- 
ceived correspondence  from  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  they  proceeded  in 
their  way,  and  after  many  journeys  through  the  country  between  the  Parana 
and  Paraguay,  they  reached  La  Asumpcion  where  General  Irala  asked  Her- 
nando de  Trejo  the  reason  why  the  port  of  San  Francisco  had  been  depo- 
pulated, and  not  giving  a  satisfactory  explanation,  he  held  him  in  prison 
until  His  Majesty  would  dispose  otherwise.  At  this  time  there  arrived,  through 
the  river  Parana,  certain  people  from  the  coast  of  Brazil,  among  them  Capt- 
ain Salazar,  and  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  married  to  Doiia  Elvira  de  Contreras, 
Captain  Bezerra's  daughter,  whom  we  have  mentioned  before,  and  other 
noblemen,  Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  one  of  them  being  Cipion  de  Goes, 
with  his  brother  Vicente  de  Goes,  children  of  an  honest  gentleman  of  that 
Kingdom,  called  Luis  de  Goes.  They  were  the  first  ones  who  introduced 
cows  in  this  Province.  They  brought  them  through  land  for  many  leagues, 
and  then  through  the  river  in  rafts,  each  holding  seven  cows  and  one  bull,  in 
charge  of  a  man  called  Gaete  who  arrived  with  them  at  La  Asumpcion  with 
much  fatigue  and  difficulty.  He  was  paid  one  cow  for  his  trouble.  Hence 
the  saying  in  that  country  «  They  are  dearer  than  Gaete  s  cows.n  Rui  Diaz 
Melgarejo  and  Salazar  were  well  received  by  General  Irala,  without  allusion 
to  their  former  disputes  and  differences,  as  may  have  been  inferred  from  this 
history. 


221    

LIB.    III.     CHAPTER  lU.—  Of  the  settlements  which  at  this   time   were 
ordered  by  the  Governor  to  be  established,  and  what  happened  in  them. 

The  Governor  having  taken  into  consideration  the  many  Spanish  people 
in  the  country-  and  the  little  comfort  they  enjoyed,  as  they  had  not  partaken 
of  the  distribution  of  Indians  in  that  city;  and  having  taken  counsel  and 
opinions  as  to  what  should  be  done  in  this,  consulting  the  prelate  and  Royal 
officers  and  other  principals,  it  was  decided  to  build  some  dwellings  where 
those  that  wished  and  had  no  shelter,  might  be  accommodated.  With  this 
resolution  he  selected  a  settlement  of  the  province  of  Guayra,  as  this  was  a 
station  on  the  way  to  Brazil,  incorporating  to  it  the  few  people  that  had 
remained  in  the  village  of  Ontiveros  which  were  sent  to  the  new  settlement; 
the  Governor  commended  this  to  the  care  of  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo. 
It  was  resolved  to  build  another  in  the  province  of  the  Xarayes,  up  the  river 
Paraguay,  three  hundred  leagues  from  La  Asumpcion,  as  this  was  one  of  the 
best  territories  of  that  Government  and  nearer  Peru,  and  he  had  heard 
reports  of  the  great  riches  in  that  vicinity.  To  this  end  the  Governor 
appointed  Nuflo  de  Chaves  as  General;  the  expeditions  and  proposed  settle- 
ments being  announced,  many  soldiers  and  neighbors  of  La  Asumpcion 
enlisted,  and  being  drilled  and  well  prepared.  Captain  Melgarejo  started^ 
with  one  hundred  soldiers  on  his  journey.  Arriving  at  the  port  of  Parana  he 
passed  to  the  other  side  of  that  river  to  the  settlements  called  Guayra;  and 
considering  the  location  and  condition  of  the  said  land,  he  laid  the  founda- 
tion three  leagues  above  the  village  of  Ontiveros  and  called  it  Ciudad  Real, 
to  which  he  added  and  incorporated  the  people  of  the  former,  as  it  was 
badly  situated  and  too  close  to  that  dangerous  waterfall.  And  although  the 
spot  where  this  foundation  was  laid  was  not  very  favorable,  withal  it  was 
better  than  the  other;  this  was  done  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1557.  It  is 
surrounded  by  thick  woods  and  groves  on  the  very  Parana  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Piquiri,  of  unhealthy  climate,  because,  besides  the  vapors  coming 
out  from  the  said  woods,  it  lies  on  the  Tropic  of  Capricon,  and  for  this 
reason  the  sun  is  very  strong  and  injurious,  causing  in  the  month  of  March 
acute  fevers,  heavy  drowsiness  and  other  fevers,  although  the  natives  are  not 
much  afflicted  and  can  stand  them  better;  and  thus  that  river  was  found 
thickly  settled  by  natives,  this  discomfort  being  compensated  by  the 
abundance  of  game  and  fish  and  all  kinds  of  bird.  Some  of  the  people  on 
the  river  emigrate  during  the  month  of  March  and  April  to  other  rivers 
that  come  from  inland,  all  of  which  are  thickly  settled  and  of  a  healthier 
climate,  as  they  run  through  higher  ground.  There  were  enrolled  in  this 
province,  in  all  the  rivers  adjoining  this  city  forty  thousand  «  fires,  »  each 
«  fire  »  understood  to  mean  one  Indian  with  his  wife  and  children,  although 
it  usually  corresponds  to  many  more  ;  these  were  commended  to  sixty  neigh- 
bors, and  during  several  years  they  remained  very  quiet  and  peacefull,  and 
were  well  served  and  respected  by  all  the  Indians  of  that  province,  and  well 
provided  with  the  products  of  the  earth  such  as  wine,  sugar,  cotton,  wax  and 
cloths  which  they  wove  with  their  looms,   so  that  they  were   considered  the 


most  comfortable  in  that  Government,  until,  in  the  course  of  time,  the  personal 
service  became  scarce,  and  the  natives  of  the  river  with  their  continuous 
journeys  and  the  trips  they  took,  and  the  rough  work  given  them,  brought 
about  a  great  diminution  and  misery  to  this  city,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  course 
of  this  book,  with  other  things  that  happened  in  that  country. 

LIB.   III.      CHAPTER  XI.— Of  the  Journey  to  Peru  made  by  the  Goverttor, 
attd  the  people  that  he  took  in  his  company. 

When  Nuflo  de  Chaves  arrived  at  La  Asumpcion,  fearing  he  would  not  be 
well  received  by  the  Governor  on  account  of  the  old  edicts  they  had  had  in 
the  arrest  of  Alvaro  Nufiez  and  for  his  failure  to  obey  in  his  settlement  the 
instructions  given  him  leaving  the  Government  of  the  said  province,  he 
endeavored  by  all  manners  to  congratulate  the  Governor  and  other  persons 
of  importance.  Thus  w'ith  his  good  efforts  he  won  many  friends,  and  in 
especial  the  Bishop,  who  at  that  time  had  just  married  a  niece  of  his,  to  Don 
Diego  de  Mendoza,  his  brother-in-law,  and  who,  using  his  influence,  all  his 
demands  were  satisfied  recomending  the  Governor  than  it  behooved  his 
honor  to  personally  conduct  that  journey  and  start  for  Peru,  to  report  to  the 
Royal  Audiencia  and  to  the  Viceroy  his  affairs  and  accession  to  the  Govern- 
ment, all  of  which  could  perpetuate  him  with  great  honor.  With  these 
reasons  and  others  of  very  little  foundation,  he  was  persuaded  to  put  it  into 
effect,  making  great  preparations  with  war  material,  such  as  ships,  horses, 
arms  and  ammunition.  Many  persons  of  note  joined  this  expedition,  such 
as  the  Accountant  Felipe  de  Caceres,  the  Factor  Pedro  de  Orantes,  Captain 
Pedro  de  Segura  with  his  wife  and  children,  Cristobal  de  Saavedra,  Ruy 
Gomez  Maldonado,  Attorney  General  of  the  province,  and  other  gentlemen, 
neighbors  and  conquerors,  and  the  Bishop  Don  Fray  Pedro  Fernandez  de  la 
Torre  with  seven  priests,  clergymen  and  devotees,  forming  in  all  more  than 
three  hundred  Spaniards ;  the  Governor  leaving  as  his  Lieutenant  in  that 
city,.  Captain  Juan  de  Ortega,  and  in  the  province  of  Guayra,  Alonso  Ri- 
qnelme  de  Gnzman.  And  on  the  following  year,  1564,  he  started  from  La 
Asumpcion  with  all  his  fleets,  which  consisted  of  twenty  sail  and  oar  vessels, and 
as  many  large  boats,  and  other  craft,  rafts  and  canoes,  in  which  went  most 
of  the  Spanish  people  with  their  servants  which  were  more  than  two  thous- 
and persons,  not  counting  many  Indians  of  their  dependencies,  that  went  by 
land  in  charge  of  Captain  Nuflo  de  Chaves,  with  whom  went  many  other 
soldiers,  until  they  made  the  port  of  Guajarapos  on  the  border  of  the  river 
Aracay,  province  of  Itatim,  where  they  took  more  than  three  thousand 
natives,  persuaded  by  the  words  and  promises  offered  by  Nuflo  de  Chaves, 
through  interpreters ;  whereupon  they  determined  to  leave  their  native  land 
and  go  to  the  foreign  one,  making  this  journey  in  which  they  passed  great 
hardships  and  wants,  a  great  many  of  them  perishing  from  hunger  and  thirst. 
And  when  these  Indians  arrived  thirty  leagues  this  side  of  Santa  Cruz,  they 
halted  on  a  stretch  of  land  that  seemed  favorable,  calling  it  Itatin,  after  the 
name  of  the  province  whence  they   started  and  was   their  own.     There  they 


—    223    — 

settled  and  laid  out  their  farms,  and  the  Spanish  people  went  through  the 
same  want  since  their  start  from  La  Asumpcion.  And  after  all  the  fleet  had 
anchored  at  a  spot  towards  Santa  Cruz,  Nuflo  de  Chaves  took  possession 
of  the  command  and  government  of  the  same,  not  consenting  that  the 
Governor  or  any  other  person  should  meddle  in  the  administration  of  peace 
or  war,  wherefore  great  many  were  discontented.  For  this  reason  the  neces- 
sary order  did  not  prevail  as  some  remained  behind  with  their  relatives  and 
friends  and  others  went  forward  with  their  wives  and  children.  In  this  order 
they  arrived  at  Santa  Cruz,  where,  owing  to  the  lack  of  food  they  suffered 
greatly  from  hunger,  and  lost  a  great  part  of  their  service  of  the  Yanaconas 
they  carried  with  them.  And  together  with  this,  all  the  dependencies  and 
tribes  of  that  province  rebelled  against  the  Spaniards,  as  far  as  the  Samoco- 
sis,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  Guapay,  with  whom  Nuflo  de  Chaves  had 
heavy  encounters  and  quarrels  that  cost  several  lives  on  both  sides,  as  they 
were  joined  by  the  Chiriguanos  their  neighbors,  causing  harm  and  loss  to 
our  people  and  intercepting  the  communication  and  the  way  to  Peru.  To 
remedy  this,  Nuflo  de  Chaves  sailed  forth  with  the  purpose  of  pushing 
ahead,  with  fifty  soldiers,  leaving  orders  with  his  Lieutenant  Hernando  de  Sa- 
lazar,  to  inmediately  arrest  Francisco  de  Vergara  and  other  of  his  friends 
and  take  away  their  weapons  so  that  none  should  be  able  to  gb  to  Peru  until 
he  returned.  And  the  Lieutenant  executed  this,  and  the  request  and  protests 
made  in  this  case  were  of  no  avail.  And  thus,  Francisco  de  Vergara  and 
others,  gave  orders  to  send  despatches  to  Peru  and  report  this  grievance  to 
the  Royal  Audiencia;  for  this  trip,  Garcia  Mosquera,  a  plucky  youth,  son  of 
Captain  Rui  Garcia,  who  has  been  and  is  a  great  servant  of  His  Majesty,  and 
to-day  lives  in  that  Kingdom,  offered  himself.  On  his  arrival  at  the  city 
of  La  Plata,  he  advised  the  Royal  Audiencia  of  what  was  occurring,  and  with 
this  knowledge,  orders  were  sent  not  to  hold  them  in  that  country,  but  to 
set  them  free  to  go  to  their  affairs  in  Peru,  and  although  this  order  was 
given  and  convoyed,  it  was  not  obeyed,  because  Hernando  de  Salazar,  out 
of  mischief,  put  difficulties  in  the  way,  not  allowing  the  departure  of  all  that 
wanted,  wherefore  it  became  necessary  to  fight  for  it.  And  starting  on  the 
journey,  sixty  soldiers  gathered,  some  with  their  wives  and  children,  and  took 
the  way  of  the  plains  of  Manso,  so  as  not  to  meet  Nuflo  de  Chaves,  who  they 
had  heard  was  returning  from  Peru  by  the  hill  which  is  called  the  Cuchilla, 
thus  avoiding  any  trouble  with  one  another,  as  according  'to  information, 
Nuflo  had  accomplished  his  purpose  quite  well  with  Governor  Lope  Garcia  de 
Castro.  It  was,  therefore,  very  wise  to  avoid  him,  although  running  the  risk 
of  encountering  the  Chiriguanos  Indians  who  attacked  them  often,  inter- 
cepting the  way  they  were  following:  here  they  killed  a  friar  of  Nuestra  Se- 
nora  de  las  Mercedes  and  other  Spaniards,  out  of  which  dangers  it  pleased 
Our  Lord  to  spare  them,  arriving  Sctfely  at  that  kingdom,  which  they  entered 
by  the  frontier  of  Tomina  by  the  road  called  Cuzcotoro,  which  is  to-day  very 
much  trodden  by  the  Chiriguanos  that  go  back  aiid  forth. 


1588-1593 


TITLB   AXVD  COIMClMIISSZOZf 

in  favor  of  Rui  Diaz   de  Gl-uzman,   granted  by  tbe  Lieutenant 

O-overnor  Alonso    de   Vera    y    Aragon,    by    virtue   of 

power  of  attorney  given   him  by  the   G-overnor 

of  the  River  Flate,  Xiicentiate  Juan  de  Vera 

y  Ar^gdn,  for  the  conquest  of  the  Province 

of  los  IMEiaras  on  the  Faran^.     {*) 

In  the  section  of  the  Patronage,  Est  i.° — Drawer  6.° — Parcel  52-16 — are 
found  the  proofs  of  the  merits  and  services  rendered  by  Captain  Rui  Diaz  de 
Guzman,  in  which,    in  pages  176   to    201,  appear   the  following  documents: 

Captain  Alonso  de  Vera  y  Aragon,  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Chief  Jus- 
tice in  these  provinces,  and  Captain  General  of  the  provinces  of  los  Miaras, 
by  the  Governor-Licentiate  Joan  de  Torres  de  Vera  y  Aragon,  Governor  Cap- 
tain General,  Chief  Justice,  and  High  Constable  in  all  these  said  provinces 
and  government  of  the  River  Plate  by  His  Majesty,  by  virtue  of  the  authority 
given  and  granted  to  me  by  the  said  Governor,  the  tenor  of  which  is  as  fol- 
lows: 

Licentiate  Juan  de  Torres  de  Vera  y  Aragon,  Adelantado,  Governor 
and  Captain  General  and  Chief  Justice  in  all  these  provinces  of  the  River 
Plate  by  His  Majesty  etc.  Whereas  you.  Captain  Alonso  de  Vera  y  Aragon, 
have  served  His  Majesty  for  the  last  twenty  two  years,  both  on  the  Kingdoms 


( * )  These  are  translations  of  the  original  documents  existing  in  the  General  Ar- 
chives of  Indies,  copies  of  which,  duly  authenticated  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile, 
form  part  of  group  A,  No.  17  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


226    

of  Chili  and  in  this  Government  upon  all  the  occasions  that  have  presented 
themselves  upon  the  said  Kingdom,  and  in  this  Government  as  well,  having 
been  at  the  support  of  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  and  in  the  skirmishes  and 
encounters  which  were  of  daily  occurence,  and  made  war  in  the  limits  of 
the  said  city  and  its  surroundings,  in  the  company  of  General  Rodrigo  de 
Quiroga  and  Major  General  Alonso  de  Alvarado  on  the  Kingdoms  of  Chili ; 
and  you  distinguished  yourself  upon  all  occasions  as  a  good  soldier;  and  have 
for  the  last  eleven  years  been  a  faithfuU  servant  of  His  Majesty  on  all  occa- 
sions in  these  provinces,  for  you  were  at  the  foundation  and  support  of  the 
city  of  La  Trinidad  de  Biienbs  Ayres,  where  you  had  many  encounters  with 
the  Indians  of  those  lands,  among  others  when  you  made  a  certain  incursion 
with  a  few  followers,  and  were  outnumbered  and  attacked  by  the  Indians,  so 
that  having  been  left  alone  upon  one  side  of  a  river  you  were  surrounded  by 
a  great  nurhber  of  Indians,  and  fighting  like  a  brave  soldier  you  killed  six  of 
them  with  your  own  hands,  they  being  those  who  had  slain  Don  Diego  de 
Mendoza,  as  they  said  themselves  while  fighting;  and  you  were  likewise  pre- 
sent at  the  foundation  of  the  city  of  La  Concepcion  de  Buena  Esperanza,  and 
came  to  meet  me  upon  knowing  that  I  was  comiftg  to  this  city  of  Nuestra 
Sefiora  de  Talavera  de  Estero,  and  after  arriving  at  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion 
you  offered  battle  to  the  rebelious  Guaicurus,  with  ninety  five  men  headed  by 
you,  achieving  by  your  discipline  and  good  judgment  a  signal  victory;  making 
a  great  slaughter  among  them,  fallowing  them  during  four  or  six  days  through 
waste  lands  with  no  other  nourishment  but  water,  for  you  and  your  men; 
and  for  the  pleasure  '  I  'felt  at  ybtir  behavior  I  called  you  into  *ftiy  presence 
from  the  Kingdoms  of  Peru,  and  entrysted  you  with  thcjoumey  of  Piaza  and 
Puerto  de  San  Francisco  and  province  of  Campo,  ,of  which  I  appointed  you 
General  and  which  appointment,  owing  to  some  differences  with  the  Royal 
officers  of  the  said  city  of  La  Asumpcion  you  did  not  acept,  and  spent  heavy 
sums  of  gold  dollars  in  gathering  up  men  in  Peru  as  well  as  in  the  provinces 
of  Tucuman  and  these;  and  for  the  same  confidence  I  place  in  your  person, 
having  to  leave  this  government  for  the  Kingdoms  of  Castile,  you  were  begged 
by  the  Council  of  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion  to  place  yourself  at  the  head  of  the 
government,  and  the  Royal  Audiencia  of  La  Plata  having  decreed  that  no 
relative  of  rnine  should  be  made  a  judge,  the  same  Council  apphed  for  a  re- 
vocation of  the  said  decree,  and  asked  me  that  no  other  should  be  made 
Captain  but  the  one  already  appointed;  at  their  request,  and  by  petition  of 
Captain  Joan  Cabrera,  in  behalf  of  the  Council,  duly  deputed  for  this  purpose 
I  condescended  for  the  convenience  of  the  service  of  His  Majesty.  Therefore, 
and  knowing  that  the  people  of  Ciudad  Real  have  actually  passed  to  the  river 
Igatimi  two  journeys  from  Terecam  against  my  orders,  under  pretext  of  tak- 
ing possession  of  the  province  of  los  Miaras;  as  well  as  those  of  the  town  of 
Espiritu  Santo  who  act  under  the  same  pretense,  and  in  order  to  save  them 
from  total  ruination,  I  appoint  you  General  of  those  provinces  with  authority 
to  occupy  towns  and  pities^  and  settle  the  same  wherever  you  deem  it  conve- 
nient to  the  service  of  God  Our  Lord,  and  His  Majesty ;  and  apportion  the 
Indians  among  those  persons  whom  you  think  worthy,  excluding  those  who 


227    •"" 

may  have  invaded  the  said  provinces,  as  they  have  been  mere  intruders 
against  my  will  and  expressed  command;  and  that  the  said  meritorious  per- 
sons may  retain  the  Indians  during  the  three  lives  accorded  by  His  Majesty 
t©  the  new  towns  which  may  be  built  up  in .  these  provinces ;  and  also  to 
grant  groundplots,  farms  and  lots  as  you  may  see  fit,  for  by,  virtue  of  the 
powers  with  which  you  are  invested  to  proceed  at  your  discretion  in  the  said 
provinces  of  los  Miaras,  as  Lieutenant-General  and  Captain  of  His  Majesty, 
I  give  you  full  authority,  and  transfer  to  you,  to  the  ends  aforesaid,  all  the 
powers  of  Attorney  granted  me  by  His  Majesty,  and  which  being  so  well 
known  are  not  herein  contained.  In  witness  whereof  I  caused  these  presents 
to  be  given  at  the  city  of  Santa  Fe  on  the  third  day  of  May  fifteen-hundred 
and  eighty-eight. — Licentiate  Joan  de  Torres  de  Vera:  by  drder  of  his 
Lordship,  Diego  Sanchez,  Notary  Public  and  of  the  Government. 

Now  therefore,  by  virtue  of  the  said  powers  of  Attorney  and  commission 
herein  contained,  I,  the  aforesaid  Captain  Alonso  de  Vera  y  Aragon,  for  the 
good  of  the  service  of  His  Majesty,  having  trust  in  you,  Captain  Rui  Diaz 
de  Guzman,  Lieutenant  Governor  in  the  provinces  of  Guaira,  and  in  your 
qualifications,  merits  and  services  which  you  have  rendered  to  His  Majesty, 
and  which,  being  so  notorious,  and  for  brevity's  sake,  are  not  herein  mention- 
ed, do  hereby  give  you  a  commission,  power  and  authority  to  enter  in  the 
said  provinces  of  Los  Miaras,  and  acting  in  my  name  and  in  that  of  the  said 
Adelantado  to  take  possession  of  the  same  and  do  all  that  I  would  do  myself, 
and  that  which  you  may  think  feasible  to  the  service  of  His  Majesty,  and 
make  use  of  the  power  of  Attorney  herein  contained,  in  full,  to  which  end  I 
assign  and  transfer  the  said  power  of  Attorney  as  it  was  granted  me,  in 
consideration  of  my  great  faith  in  you,  as  a  nobleman,  illustrious  and  true 
servant  of  His  Majesty,  that  you  will  perform  your  duties  in  the  said  provin- 
ces to  the  benefit  of  His  Royal  Service.  In  testimony  whereof  I  gave  these 
presents,  signed  with  my  name  and  acknowledged  by  the  undersigned 
notary,  dated  at  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  December 
of  the  year  of  the  Lord,  fifteen  hundred  and  eghty  eight. — Alonso  de  Veray 
Aragon. — By  order  of  the  said  Lieutenant  Governor,  Z^zV^o  Gonzalez,  Notary 
Pubhc. 

I,  Garci  Vanegas,  Superior  Notary  of  the  Governihent  of  these  provinces 
of  the  River  Plate,  abstracted  this  transfer  of  this  commission  from  its  original 
and  corrected  and  compared  it,  after  which  it  remains  in  possession  of  Gero- 
nimo  Lopez,  Attorney  of  the  city  of  Xerez.  It  is  true  and  authentic,  there 
being  present  witnesses,  Captain  Diego  Ponce  de  Leon,  Captain  Diego  Anus- 
co  and  Captain  Pedro  Hurtado;  and  in  witness  whereof  and  to  make  it 
known  wherever  convenient,  I  set  my  usual  signature  in  these  presents  at 
the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  on  the  eleventh  day  of  the  month  of  March,  fifteen 
hundred  and  ninety-nine. — Garci  Vanegas,  Notary  public  and  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 


—    22{ 


1593 

Taking  of  possession  of  the  said  Territories  and  settle- 
ment of  San  Salvador,  and  foundation  of  the 
City  of  Santiago  de  Xerez. 

In  nomini  domine.  Amen  !  :  On  the  river  San  Salvador,  called  de  Mu- 
ney,  (*)  and  on  the  settlement  of  the  Real  de  Santa  Cruz,  in  the  eleventh  day 
of  the  month  of  February  of  the  year  of  Our  Salvation,  fifteen-hundred  and 
ninety-three,  in  the  sixth  indiction,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  arrival  of  Cap- 
tain Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman,  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  Chief  Justice  of  the 
provinces  of  Parana,  and  Captain  General  of  the  provinces  of  los  Miaras,  by 
virtue  of  the  powers  emanated  from  the  King,  our  Master ;  and  of  Licentiate 
Joan  de  Torres  de  Vera  y  Aragon,  Adelantado  Governor  of  the  provinces  of 
the  River  Plate,  given  on  His  Royal  name  to  General  Alonso  de  Vera  y  Ara- 
gon, relating  to  the  settlement  and  government  of  these  provinces  of  los  Mia- 
ras, by  the  said  Captain  General  Alonso  de  Vera  y  Aragon,  assigned  and 
transfered  with  authority  of  free  and  general  administration,  to  the  said  Cap- 
tain Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman,  with  the  aid  of  the  soldiers  which  according  to  the 
possibilities  and  conditions  of  the  country,  and  of  the  native  Indians  may  be 
sufficient;  he  said  before  me  the  undersigned  Notary:  that  whereas  it  is  for 
the  convenience  of  the  service  of  God  Our  Lord,  and  of  His  Royal  Majesty 
our  King  and  natural  Master  Don  Felipe;  and  to  the  propagation  and  exal- 
tation of  the  Holy  Church,  Our  Mother,  and  to  the  conversion  of  the  nati- 
ves to  the  Holy  Faith  and  to  the  conception  of  God,  Our  Lord,  particulary 
3o,  having  been  repeatedly  requested  by  Mateo  Joan  Lares,  Diego  and  Gon- 
zalo,  Manuel  and  Francisco,  principal  caciques  of  these  said  provinces,  and 
friends,  to  build  up  the  said  town ;  and  having  conferred  and  discussed  the 
matter  with  he  Council  of  this  Ciudad  Real,  by  their  request  and  demand,  and 
at  the  solicitation  of  Bachelor  Rafael  de  Castro,  Judge  and  general  visitor  of 
these  said  provinces  on  behalf  of  the  Church,  he  having  been  invited  by  the 
said  caciques  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  convert  them;  for  all  the  above- 
named  reasons  it  is  reasonable  to  do  so  by  the  way  of  church  and  justice.  So 
that  in  this  said  settlement,  taking  the  part  for  the  whole,  it  implies  action, 
right  and  possession  of  all  these  said  provinces  of  los  Miaras  and  adjacent 
territories  of  the  Cutaguas,  Cuminac  and  others  in  the  name  of  the  King,  our 
master,  Don  Felipe,  with  a  deliberated  intent  to  bring  all  the  said  tribes  into 
the  service  and  conception  of  God,  Our  Lord,  and  into  the  servitude  and 
Royal  submission  by  all  the  means  and  manners  most  in  conformity  with  his 


(*)  Muney,  a  river  which  flows  into  the  Parand  river,  opposite  Iguazu  river,  named  on 
some  maps  Monday,  and  springing  from  the  province  of  Xerez,  of  River  Plate.  On  Arrow- 
smith's  large  map,  it  is  called  Money.  The  guarani  word  muney  is  composed  of  mu,  spit,  and 
^ey,  fetid:  a  fetid  foam  throwing  river. 


2  29    

Royal  service.  And  in  testimony  of  the  said  possession,  he  received  the  caci- 
ques Diego  and  Martin,  with  their  Indians,  promising  to  defend,  assist  and 
support  them  in  peace  and  justice,  as  vassals  of  His  Majesty;  and  he  set  his 
Royal  camp  upon  this  said  settlement,  felling  trees,  clearing  the  ground,  as 
an  indication  of  the  said  possession;  and  the  said  native  Indians,  with  great 
joy  and  general  applause,  submitted  themselves  to  the  servitude  and  submis- 
sion offering  their  persons  and  victuals  to  said  effect,  and  protested  obe- 
dience and  fidelity,  all  of  which  did  really  take  place  as  stated,  upon  this  said 
treaty,  on  the  day,  month  and  year  above-named,  in  the  presence  of  the  wit- 
nesses:  Captain,  Bernabe  de  Contreras. — Captain,  Pedro  Hurtado. — Captain, 
Jeronimo  Lopez  and  Joan  de  Guzman,  Standard  Bearer,  and  the  said  visitor 
and  all  the  rest  of  the  camp,  and  the  said  Caciques,  all  known  to  me,  the  un- 
dersigned Notary,  which  treaty  was  signed  by  the  said  General  Rui  Diaz  de 
Guzman. — Before  me,  Bartolome  Garcia,  Notary  Public  and  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 

And  after,  the  said  Monday,  the  first  day  of  the  month  of  March,  fifteen 
hundred  and  ninety-three.  Captain  Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman,  Lieutenant  Gover- 
nor, Chief  Justice  in  the  provinces  of  Parana  and  substitute  Captain  General 
of  these  provinces  of  the  Indians  Miaras,  went  through  the  country  on  certain 
purposes  which  were  necessary  to  the  pacification  of  the  same,  before  me  the 
undersigned  notary  and  witnesses  above  named,  and  having  reached  a  high 
range  of  mountains  which  divide  the  plains  of  this  country,  to  which  it  owes 
the  name  Miaras,  the  land  and  abode  of  the  Guaranis,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  said  ridge  of  mountains,  about  twenty-five  leagues  distant  from  the  river 
Muiiey,  upon  which  the  fort  Santa  Maria  is  now  situated,  a  land  well  culti- 
vated and  owned  by  native  Indians  of  these  said  provinces,  their  principal  ca- 
ciques being  Perico,  Miguel,  Juan,  Andres  and  Pitiendi  Intanmubre  and  others 
who  are  not  mentioned ;  the  said  General,  complying  with  the  formalities 
and  proceedings  required  by  law,  said,  that  by  virtue  of  the  powers  vested  in 
him,  and  in  the  way  and  manner  most  in  conformity  with  the  law,  he  fixed 
the  limits  and  landmarks  of  the  district  and  jurisdiction  of  these  said 
provinces  in  the  said  ridge  of  mountains,  in  the  name  of  the  King,  our  Mas- 
ter, solemnly  protesting  to  do  everything  possible  towards  the  conversion  of 
the  natives,  to  maintain  the  country  roads  and  to  attract  by  all  pos^ly  best 
means,  the  native  Indians  of  these  said  provinces,  to  quiet  them  down  and 
pacify  them,  and  keep  them  in  peace  and  justice  as  good  loyal  vassals  of  the 
King,  our  Master,  in  whose  name  and  voice  he  is  acting,  of  all  of  which  he 
asked  me,  the  said  notary,  to  give  faith  and  testimony  in  public  form,  as  a 
matter  of  record  at  all  times,  for  the  preservation  of  his  judicial  right ;  and  I, 
Bartolome  Garcia,  notary  public  and  of  the  government  of  these  districts, 
was  present  with  the  following  witnesses  :  Captain  Geronimo  Lopez,  Captain 
Pedro  Hurtado,  and  Standard  Bearer  Juan  de  Guzman  and  sergeant  Diego  de 
Tevd  and  the  rest  of  all  the  camp  and  army  which  the  said  General  brought 
along  with  him,  and  how  it  all  so  happened  in  public  act  without  any  con- 
tradiction, of  all  of  which  I  give  faith  and  true  testimony  to  all  who  may  see 
these  presents,  as  a  present  and  future  evidence.     Made  in  the  day,    month 


—    230    — 

and  year  above  named.  In  testimony  of  truth. — Bartolome  Garcia,  Notary 
Public  of  the  Government,  and  of  Council, 

In  the  fort  and  settlement  called  of  Santo  Matias  Riberas  y  River  Muney, 
which  runs  towards  Tarana  river  through  these  provinces  of  the  Miaras  In- 
dians, and  newly  called  River  of  Seiior  San  Salvador.  On  Thursday  eigh- 
teenth day  of  March  of  the  said  year  of  the  Lord  fifteen  hundred  and  ninety- 
three,  General  Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman  having  gone  through  a  large  portion  of 
these  lands,  both  high  and  low;  plains  and  woods,  of  these  provinces,  with  a 
good  number  of  friendly  Indians,  seeing  eveiywhere  the  good  disposition  and 
greatness  of  the  country,  its  length  and  breadth,  and  great  facilities  for  the 
foundation  of  cities  and  villages  ;  hearing  that  the  nations  of  the  provinces 
and  adjacent  regions  live  upon  the  plentiful  production  of  victuals  and  provi- 
sions of  their  fruitful  soil,  and  at  small  cost,  the  said  Indians  being  mostly 
planters ;  considering  that  there  are  good  conditions  in  those  Indians  to  bring 
them  into  the  true  Catholic  Faith  by  their  afifability,  and  into  the  servitude 
and  submission  of  the  King,  our  Master,  for  their  docility  and  simple,  not 
barbarous  habits  ;  and  in  the  land  for  the  breedingof  all  kinds  of  cattle  which 
in  the  provinces  of  Parana  are  ver)'  scarce,  the  soil  having  no  facilities  for  it ; 
besides  the  land  i^  healthy  and  has  good  air,  and  habitable  all  over,  it  being 
so  disposed  that  ever  island  or  wood  has  rich  navigable  rivers,  game  and  fish, 
which  ure  useful  to  man,  and  convenient  to  the  trade  and  communication, 
not  only  of  this  government  of  the  River  Plate,  but  of  the  Brazilian  coast, 
Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra,  and  the  Kingdoms  of  Peru  into  which  there  may  be 
an  easy  access  later  on,  with  God's  will,  and  finally,  seeing  the  abundance  of 
iron  metals,  and  hearing  that  in  the  mountains  called  del  Tacuais,  which 
divide  these  plains,  there  is  and  will  be  silver,  so  that  these  advantages  well 
considered  and  looked  into,  such  as  the  soil  that  brings  them  forth,  and  upon 
consideration  aad  consultation  with  persons  who  mostly  feel  and  appreciate 
their  good  judgment  to  the  honor  and  glory  of  God  Our  Lord  and  of  his  Holy 
Church  and  Catholic  Faith  of  the  Crown  of  our  most  excellent  King  and 
Master  Don  Felipe,  whose  life  may  God  spare  many  years,  and  of  the  King- 
doms of  Spain,  and  in  memory  of  the  fathers  of  the  soldiers  who  took  part  in 
this  enterprise  with  the  said  General,  born  and  created  in  the  same,  con- 
tractedithe  obligation,  in  view  of  a  debt  to  the  mother  country,  and  specially 
for  the  convenience  and  similarity  of  these  provinces  with  Andalucia  ;  the 
said  General  agreed  to  name  these  provinces  Nueva  Andalucia,  and  did  so 
order,  and  beating  the  drum  called  the  whole  camp  together  and  said  : 

I,  Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman,  by  virtue  of  the  powers  I  hold  from  the  General  of 
these  provinces,  in  the  name  of  the  King  Don  Felipe,  our  master,  do  hereby 
entitle  and  name  these  provinces  of  Los  Miaras  La  Nueva  Andalucia,  and 
to  this  title  and  nomination  I  affix  my  authority  and  judicial  decree  with  the 
strength  and  guarantee  that  may  be  required  by  law,  and  I  command  that 
hereafter  all  judicial  or  extrajudicial  acts  and  instruments  be  made  under 
such  name  and  none  other.  Said  nomination  was  warmly  applauded  and 
celebrated  with  joy  ad perpetuam  rei  memoriam  at  all  of  which  I,  Bartolome 
Garcia,  Ndtary  Public  and  of  the  jurisdiction  and  district  of  the  government 


—    231    — 

and  provinces  of  the  said  General  was  present  with  the  said  General  and 
witnesses,  which  1  testify  so  that  it  may  'be  known  by  all  who  may  see  these 
presents  at  any  time  and  place  ;  to  which  end  he  ordered  me  the  said  Notary, 
to  make  it  public,  not  only  on  this  settlement  and  camp,  but  in  all  the  towns 
within  the  jurisdiction,  so  that  it  may  be  known  to  all;  and  that  nobody  may 
allege  ignorance,  he  signed  by  his  name  before  witnesses.  Captain  Jeronimo 
Lopez,  Captain  Pedro  Hurtado,  Captain  Bcrnabe  Contreras,  Justice  Andres 
Diaz,  and  Ensign  Juan  de  Gteztnan,  and  the  other  soldiers. — Rui  Diaz  de 
Guzman.  Before  me,  Bartolome  Garcia,  Notary  Public  and  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  of  the  Council. 

The  above  title  and  appointment  was  read  and  published  this  Sunday 
the  twenty-first  day  of  March  of  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  ninety -three,  in 
presence  of  the  soldiers  of  this  camp  and  army  who  unanimously  and  joy- 
fully approved  the  same  ;  witnesse.  Captain  Pedro  Hurtado,  Justice  Andres 
Diaz  and  Juan  de  Guzman,  Ensign,  and  others,  to  which  I,  the  present  Notary 
of  the  Government,  Council  and  province,  do  testify.  Bartolome  Garcia, 
Notary  Public  of  the  Government  and  provinces. 


In  the  name  of  God  Almighty,  and  of  the  Glorious  Queen  of  Los  Ange- 
les. Ever  Virgin  Mary  of  the  Anunciation,  whom  I,  Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman,  in 
the  name  of  the  army  under  my  charge,  take  for  my  particular  advocate  : 
Whereas,  by  virtue  of  the  power  of  the  Adelantado  Juan  de  Torres  de  Vera 
y  Aragon,  Governor  of  these  provinces  and  government  of  the  River  Plate, 
by  His  Majesty,  I  came  to  the  provinces  of  Parana  as  Captain,  or  his  Lieu- 
tenant Governor,  and  upon  my  arrival,  having  heard  that  the  side  upon  which 
the  said  Ciudad  Real  was  located,  was  sterile  and  of  bad  airs,  and,  conse- 
quently, sickly  ;  and  that  in  a  short  time  more  than  one  half  of  the  Spanish 
settlers  and  most  of  the  native  Indians  at  their  service  had  died,  and  sudden 
accidents  caused  by  steady  fogginess  and  corrupt  air,  and  particularly  from 
starvation  caused  by  the  barrenness  of  the  soil ;  and  considering  that  the  stay 
in  such  a  place  would  only  lead  to  death  and  extermination  for  those  remain- 
ing there,  to  the  injury  of  the  said  provinces  and  decrease  of  the  subjects  of 
the  King,  our  master,  and  therefore,  to  the  detriment  of  his  service  ;  upon 
consultation  with  the  Council  of  the  said  city,  who,  fearing  a  miserable  death, 
begged  me  earnestly  to  remedy  the  said  inconveniences  by  removing  the  city 
to  some  more  apropriate  place  ;  which  I  did  with  their  approval,  removing 
the  said  city  to  the  site, where,  it  now  stands,  in  the  mouth  of  River  Piquiri 
which  is.  a  fertile  land  and  of  nobler  climate,  and  which  really  prevented  total  * 
ruination  ;  and  having  also  in  the  same  year  ninety-three  gone  up  tc  Villa 
JRica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  I  was  informed  by  the  inhabitants, of  Villa.  Rica  of 
the  calamity,  labors,  and  poverty  they  were  suffering  owing  to  the  frost 
which  prevented  the  seeds  from  yielding  good  crops,  ca.using  starvation,  gnd 
lack  o£  clothing,  there  being  no  cotton  in  the  settlement  called  Cgracibera, 
most  particularly  becaxise  the  Indians  of  the  encomigndas  Qf  the  sa.id  settle- 


—    232    — 

ment  lived  far  apart  and  could  not,  on  one  hand,  come  down  to  assist  their 
masters,  owing  to  the  great  danger  of  drowning  in  crossing  the  river,  and  oi 
being  attacked  by  other  unfriendly  Indians  upon  the  roads,  which  were  un- 
inhabited and  soHtary,  in  detriment  of  the  service  of  His  Majesty  ;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  encomenderos  could  not  discharge  the  Royal  conscience 
and  their  own  by  establishing  Christian  discipline  among  the  people  ;  and 
many  other  inconveniences  which  the  said  city  made  me  acquainted  with, 
of  which  a  general  report  was  made,  and  to  which  I  refer  ;  and  having  been 
many  times  in  their  Council,  and  on  the  camp  of  the  city,  they  asked  me 
earnestly  and  with  solemn  protestations  to  remedy  so  many  evils  by  removing 
the  said  town  to  the  River  Ubay,  a  very  convenient  and  appropriate  place  on 
account  of  its  proximity  to  the  settlements  and  districts  of  Indians,  and  fof 
being  fruitful  of  victuals,  cotton  trees,  canefields,  vines,  game,  fisheries,  said 
river  being  of  easier  navigation  for  the  trade  of  Ciudad  Real  than  River  Pe- 
piri  ;  by  which  Ciudad  Real  communicated  with  said  Villa  Rica  ;  and  being 
in  the  said  settlement  of  Coracibera,  as  I  said  above,  I,  upon  agreement  and 
mature  deliberation,  removed  the  said  Villa  Rica  to  the  said  River  Ubay,  as 
requested,  on  the  site  where  it  now  stands,  which  is  the  mouth  of  River  Cor- 
nibatay,  where  the  desired  effect  has  been  attained  with  success,  remedying 
the  hunger,  poverty  and  nudity  which  the  said  town  suffered,  and  improving 
the  situation  in  reference  to  Christian  policy  among  the  natives  ;  and  having 
spent  over  two  years  in  the  removal  of  the  foundations  and  buildings  and 
churches  in  the  said  town,  when  the  object  was  attained,  I  left  it  well  pro- 
vided with  every  thing  necessary  to  its  support  ;  and  went  down  to  Ciudad 
Real,  which  I  found  to  be  in  great  need,  being  afflicted  with  the  plague  of 
small-pox  since  the  previous  year  ninety-two,  when  the  few  available  hands  that 
had  been  left  from  the  settlement  Lamanby  had  nearly  all  perished,  for 
which  reason  many  of  the  settlers  had  abandoned  the  place  ;  and  having 
heard  that  the  said  Ciudad  Real,  of  which  I,  Captain  Ruiz  Diaz  de  Guzman, 
have  possession  and  transfer  through  the  powers  of  Attorney  from  the  Gen- 
eral of  these  provinces  of  Los  Miaras,  now  Nueva  Andalucia,  to  settle  and 
found  cities,  towns  and  places  by  the  publication  made  of  the  said  power  of 
Attorney  in  Villa  Rica,  begged  and  asked  and  earnestly  requested  me  that 
inasmuch  as  Mateo,  Juan,  Faril,  Entagui,  Mazani,  Manuel,  Sebastian,  princi- 
pal Caciques  of  these  provinces  who  had  come  to  see  me,  for  they  were  sin- 
cere and  gave  themselves  up  for  vassals  of  His  Majesty,  begged  that  I  should 
come  to  these  provinces  and  found  one  or  two  towns,  as  I  would  think  best, 
to  which  end  they  offered  their  persons,  victuals  and  lands ;  and  the  city 
having  asked  me  to  condescend  to  the  request  of  the  said  Caciques,  because 
it  would  result  to  the  advantage  of  the  said  city,  for  besides  helping  many 
soldiers  and  poor  residents  of  the  same,  it  would  also  alleviate  other  sufferings, 
owing  to  the  great  scarcity  of  salt  and  all  kinds  of  cattle  ;  and  they  expected 
that  from  the  intercourse  between  these  provinces  a  great  relief  could  be 
looked  for.  Besides,  Father  Bachelor  Rafael  de  Castro,  General  Visitor  of 
these  provinces,  informed  me  that  said  Caciques  might  be  converted  and 
baptized,  and  he  requested  me  to  give  my  consent  and  offered  himself  to  aid. 


—  235  — 

In  view  of  the  preceding  causes,  and  considering  the  same,  I  decided  to  come 
over  to  these  provinces,  and  see  them,  and  do  what  I  thought  most  conve- 
nient to  the  service  of  God,  our  Lord,  and  of  His  Majesty,  and  to  the  com- 
mon good  and  utiHty.  Upon  reaching  them  by  the  River  San  Salvador,  in 
the  port  of  Santa  Cruz,  I  took  possession  of  these  provinces  in  the  name  of 
the  King,  our  master,  and  having  made  certain  incursions  to  punish  some 
rebellious  Indians  who,  with  treason  and  scorn  to  the  Royal  justice,  attacked 
our  friends,  to  which  end,  as  soon  as  I  reached  the  ridge  of  mountainss,  which 
distinguish  the  plains  of  these  said  provinces  from  the  country  of  the  Indians 
Guarani,  I  fixed  the  boundaries  and  landmarks  on  the  terminus  and  jurisdic- 
tion of  these  said  provinces  in  the  said  ridge  of  mountain,  and  after  consider- 
ing the  condition  of  this  country,  I  named  it  La  Nueva  Andalucia,  as  is  more 
amply  stated  upon  the  acts  and  proceedings  with  regard  to  the  boundaries  and 
landmarks,  title  and  appointment  of  these  said  provinces,  made  before  the 
present  Notary,  to  which  I  refer.  All  of  which  having  been  done,  and  being 
satisfied  of  the  good  qualities  and  conditions  of  the  said  country,  with  a  view 
and  desire  to  render  service  to  God  our  Lord,  for  the  conversion  of  the  na- 
tives, and  to  the  Majesty  of  the  King  Don  FeHpe,  our  master,  and  to  see  the 
agrandizement  of  His  Royal  Crown  and  patrimony,  in  His  Royal  name,  and 
by  virtue  of  the  powers  to  me  given,  granted  and  transferred  by  the  General 
Alonso  de  Vera  y  Aragon,  who  received  from  the  said  Adelantado  and  Gov- 
ernor the  title  of  General  Chief  Justice  and  founder  of  these  said  provinces, 
I  have  deemed  it  convenient  to  found  a  city  on  the  site  most  appropriate  ; 
and  having  looked  into  it  carefully  and  extensively,  I  have  thought  the  best 
place  to  be  that  upon  which  we  now  are,  on  the  shores  of  the  said  River  San 
Salvador,  half  a  league  distant  from  the  port  of  Santo  Matias,  in  a  territory 
of  native  Indians  of  these  provinces,  a  quiet,  plain  site  and  free  from  marshes, 
with  rich  vegetation  and  fields  for  cattle  ;  and  finally,  possessing  every  con- 
venience for  new  population,  so  that  I  select,  point  out  and  assign  this  pres- 
ent place  for  the  permanent  seat  of  the  city  which  I  have  founded  in  the  name 
of  His  Majesty,  so  that  it  shall  be  inhabited  for  ever,  and  I  do  promise  and 
protest  that  this  said  city,  which  I  entitle  and  name  Santiago  de  Xeres,  shall 
be  maintained  in  peace  and  justice  for  all  its  residents  and,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  for  the  native  Indians  of  these  said  provinces,  trying  to  bring  them 
into  the  Faith,  and  convert  them  into  the  pale  of  our  Holy  Church,  Roman 
Catholic;  and  as  an  evidence  that  I  shall  fulfill  this  promise,  I  appoint  these 
lands  and  the  Indians,  inhabitants  of  the  same,  as  public  grants,  to  the  con- 
quering settlers  and  those  deserving  of  rewards  ;  I  also  appoint  this  place  and 
the  tree  erected  thereon,  and  this  unsheathed  sword,  signifying  gallows  aad 
knife,  as  instruments  with  which  shall  be  punished  the  criminals,  transgres- 
sors of  the  laws  of  His  Majesty  ;  and  I  impose  and  promulgate  death  penalty 
unto  those  who  shall  leave  the  city  until  the  whole  country  shall  be  conquered, 
the  roads  levelled  and  safe.  On  the  same  place  ad  perpetudm  rei  memoriam 
I  cut  this  branch,  and  have  the  trees  cleared  away,  scrape  the  ground,  to  per- 
petuate this  foundation.  Soldiers,  noblemen,  and  fellows,  this  is  done  in  the 
name  of  our  King  and  natural  master  Don  Felipe  of  Austria,  whose  life  our 


—  2  34  — 

Lord  may  spare  many  years  :  if  there  is  anyone  among  all  here  present, 
who  will  contradict  me  this  foundation  and  settlement  of  this  city  of  Santiago 
de  Xeres,  let  him  say  so  at  once  and  in  due  form,  with  the  assurance  that  I 
am  ready  to  plead  justice,  and  to  respond  and  convince  before  the  law.  No- 
tary, here  present,  place  it  on  record,  and  give  me  a  testimony  thereof  in 
public  form,  so  that  it  may  have  faith  within  and  without  the  law,  that  every 
thing  that  you  have  heard  and  seen  before  you,  has  happened,  and  that  I 
command  you  and  all  the  other  Notaries  and  all  the  settlers  and  residents  of 
this  said  city  of  Santiago  de  Xeres,  to  so  name  it  in  all  your  judicial  and 
extrajudicial  writings,  and  in  no  other  way,  under  a  penalty  of  five  hundred 
gold  dollars,  to  be  applied  to  expenses  of  war  and  justice  of  this  said  con- 
quest, to  the  payment  of  which  I  condemn  all  those  who  shall  do  the  con- 
trary. Give  me  also  testimony  of  this  my  true  profession  and  protestation,  as 
a  constant  evidence  of  my  fidelity,  in  support  of  my  rights. — Rui  Diaz  de 
Guzman. 


Bartolome  Garcia,  Notary  Public  of  the  government  and  province  of  the 
districts  and  jurisdiction  of  the  said  General  Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman,  at  his  re- 
quest and  command,  does  hereby  testify  ,  by  public  instrument  to  all  who 
may  see  these  presents,  that  this  Wednesday,  twenty-fourth  day  of  March, 
in  the  sixth  indiction,  year  ninety-three,  being  on  this  site  which  he  has  ap- 
pointed for  the  city,  which  he  founds  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  Santiago 
de  Xeres,  having  summoned  by  beating  of  drums  the  whole  camp  and  officers 
of  war  to  the  center  of  the  common  square,  holding  in  his  right  hand  the 
staff  of  Lord  Chief  Justice,  with  the  badge  of  Captain  of  war,  he  pronounced 
verba  dd  verbum  the  whole  relation,  profession,  protestation,  deliberation, 
foundation  and  appointment  of  city  before  stated,  and  referring  to  the  lands 
and  natives  of  these  provinces,  promised  in  his  capacity  of  judge  in  the  name 
of  His  Majesty,  and  founder  having  the  privileges  of  such  founders,  and 
pledged  his  word  as  a  nobleman,  to  reward  the  conquerors  and  worthy  settlers 
with  the  said  lands  and  Indians  as  from  the  property  of  the  Crown ;  and  hav- 
ing caused  a  post  to  be  erected  on  the  said  common  square,  he  pointed  with 
his  sword  at  the  gallows  and  knife,  protesting  that  he  would  punish  the  cri- 
minals and  other  transgressors  of  the  laws  and  privileges  by  which  the  vas- 
sals of  His  Majesty  the  King  our  master,  are  judged,  and  to  maintain  all 
Spaniards  and  natives  in  peace  and  justice,  whereupon  he  cut  with  the  same 
sword  a  branch  from  a  tree  and  ordered  the  groHuds  to  be  cleared,  and  he 
condemned  to  death  all  who,  out  of  disdain  and  without  his  orders,  should 
desert  the  said  city  ;  and  asked  if  there  was  anybody  who  prompted  by  some 
particular  motive,  would  oppose  the  said  settlement  and  foundation;  and 
there  being  no  contradiction,  tacitly  nor  expressedly,  from  any  one,  he 
sheathed  his  sword,  and  commanded  me,  the  present  Notary,  and  all  other 
notaries  that  would  be,  and  all  the  settlers  and  inhabitants  of  this  said  city, 
to  entitle  and  name  it  Santiago  de  Xeres  under  penalty  of  a  fine  of  five  hun- 


—  235  — 

dred  gold  dollars  for  justice  and  war  expenses  of  this  conquest.  This  hap- 
pened in  the  presence  of  the  public  and  the  Council,  the  especial  witnesses 
being  Ensign  Juan  de  Guzman,  Sergeant  Diego  de  Teva,  Captain  Pedro  Hur- 
tado de Mendoza  a.nd  Andres  Diaz,  Mayor:  which  I  hereby  certify,  and  in 
testimony  whereof  I  sign  these  presents  in  my  usual  way,  Bartolome  Garcia, 
Notary  Public  of  the  Government  and  the  provinces, 


On  the  same  day,  month  and  year  above  named,  in  the  said  city  of  San- 
tiago de  Xeres,  the  said  General  said  that,  inasmuch  as  he  is  obliged  by  right 
to  appoint  the  council  and  government  of  this  said  city,  so  that  steps  shall 
be  taken  to  proceed  as  it  may  be  more  convenient  to  the  service  of  God  Our 
Lord  and  of  His  Majesty,  to  the  good  and  benefit  of  this  said  city,  for  its 
maintenance  and  perpetual  standing,  he  deputed  and  appointed  as  Mayor, 
Captain  Pedro  Hurtado  de  Mendoza,  a  person  of  good  counsel  and  a  republi- 
can, to  help  him  in  appointing  a  second  Alderman,  and  in  company  of  the 
two,  to  appoint  a  third  Alderman,  and  in  this  way  to  complete  the  council 
with  the  fourth  Alderman,  in  order  that  in  the  election  and  appointment  of 
Justices  of  the  peace,  the  form  of  voting  ordered  by  His  Majesty  in  the  Gov- 
ernment of  River  Plate  shall  be  complied  with,  which  was  done  by  the  said 
General  and  the  said  Captain  Pedro  Hurtado,  appointing  Domingo  M^chado, 
and  the  three  above  named  appointed  Juan  de  Albear  de  Zuiiiga,  all  voting 
conjointly  for  the  fourth  Alderman  in  favor  of  Francisco  de  Escobar,  and  all 
together,  and  individually,  were  sworn  to  in  due  form  by  the  said  General 
Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman  ;  and  they  by  virtue  of  their  oath  promised  to  use  and 
exercise  the  functions  of  their  offices  well  and  legally  in  everything  that  may 
be  more  convenient  to  the  support  and  increase  and  good  government  of  this 
city,  and  to  elect  and  appoint  Justices  of  the  peace  those  who  according  to 
God  and  their  conscience  may  be  convenient  for  the  purpose,  whereupon, 
casting  the  votes  simply  and  without  fraud  in  a  vessel,  in  order  to  draw  the 
first  and  second  votes  for  Justices,  he  called  a  boy  of  about  twelve  years  of 
age,  who  stirring  the  said  votes,  six  in  all,  he  drew  the  first  in  favor  of  Cap- 
tain Bernabe  de  Contreras,  the  second  was  a  paper  of  equal  size  upon  which 
was  written  Andres  Diaz,  and  by  absence  of  the  Captain  Contreras,  for  a  short 
time,  he  having  been  sent  by  the  said  General  on  a  certain  incursion  in  his 
stead,  his  place  of  Justice  was  given  to  Captain  Pedro  Hurtado,  the  Alder- 
man first  elected,  and  the  said  Andres  Diaz  having  been  apprised  of  his  elec- 
tion and  appointment  said,  that  he  accepted  it,  and  did  accept  the  office  of 
Justice  of  the  peace  and  the  brotherhood,  and  both  were  sworn  in  by  the  said 
General  and  Council,  and  swore  in  legal  form  to  use  and  exercise  well  and 
loyally  the  functions  of  their  offices,  doing  justice  to  the  parties  on  trial,  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  and  privileges  of  His  Majesty,  justa  allegotd  probata,  and 
in  case  of  emergency  to  take  counsel  from  persons  of  learning  and  conscience. 
All  of  them  signed  their  names  before  me  the  said  Notary,  which  I  testify. — 
Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman,  Pedro  Hurtado,  Andres  Diaz,  Domingo  Machodo,  Juan 


—  22,6  — 

de  Albear  de  Zicfiiga,  Francisco  de  Escobar.     Before  me,    Bartolotne  Garcia, 
Notary  Public  of  the  government  and  council. 


Whereupon  on  the  said  day,  month  and  year  above-named,  in  the  said 
Council  they  said  that  inasmuch  as  this  newly  founded  city  is  required  to 
have  a  capable  Attorney  to  procure,  ask  and  plead  every  thing  convenient  to 
the  increase,  profit  and  benefit  of  the  same,  and  to  appear  before  any  Court 
or  Courts  of  His  Majesty,  or  before  his  Chanceries  or  Royal  Council  of  Indies, 
to  petition  and  pray  His  Majesty  in  the  name  of  this  city  for  favors,  grants, 
liberties  and  franchises,  they  summoned  to  appear  before  the  said  Council 
Francisco  Morinigo,  and  appointed  him  for  the  said  office,  which  he  did 
accept,  and  was  sworn  in  due  form.  He  promised  to  use  the  said  office  of 
Attorney  of  this  said  city  carefully  and  well,  and  to  proceed  under  the 
instructions  of  this  said  Council,  and  to  appear  before  the  Courts  of  His 
Majesty  and  the  High  Council  of  Indies,  and  to  do  every  thing  that  loyalty 
and  the  duties  of  his  office  should  require.  Thereupon,  having  been  elected 
by  the  said  Council,  and  the  election  accepted  by  the  said  Francisco  Morini- 
go, the  said  General,  in  view  of  the  power,  privilege,  authority  and  liberty 
which  the  King,  our  Master,  grants  to  the  said  settlers  of  new  towns,  such  as 
His  Excellency  has  founded  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  he  ratified  the  said 
appointment  of  Attorney  in  favor  of  Francisco  Morinigo,  investing  him,  as 
well  as  those  who  may  succeed  him  in  the  said  office,  with  the  right  of  word 
a,nd  voting  in  Council,  and  the  enjoyment  of  the  said  liberties  and  franchises 
granted  to  the  Aldermen  of  this  said  city.  They  all  signed  these  presents 
individually  before  me,  the  said  Notaiy,  which  I  certify. — Rui  Diaz  de  Guz- 
man.— Pedro  Hurtado. — Atidres  Diaz. — Domingo  Machado. — Juan  de  Albear 
de  ZuRiga. — Francisco  de  Escobar. — Fraficisco  Morinigo. 


Whereupon,  on  this  said  day,  month  and  year  above-named,  the  said 
General  Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman  having  acquiesced  in  the  elections  of  the 
officers  of  the  Council  and  Government  of  this  said  city,  said,  that  it  would 
be  convenient  for  the  administration  of  Royal  Justice  to  appoint  a  person, 
noble,  worthy  and  capable,  for  High  Constable  of  this  said  city,  and  these 
said  good  qualifications  concurring  in  the  person  of  Juan  de  Guzman,  ensign 
of  this  conquest,  a  nobleman  who  will  use  to  advantage  and  loyally  the  said 
office  of  High  Constable,  by  virtue  of  the  said  powers  vested  in  him  and  of 
the  authority  granted  by  His  Majesty  to  founders  and  settlers  of  cities  in  His 
Royal  name.  His  Excellency  selects  and  appoints  the  said  Juan  de  Guzman 
as  High  Constable  of  this  said  city  and  its  districts  and  jurisdiction,  with  the 
right  of  voice  and  vote  in  Council  according  to  the  manner  in  which  it  is  done 
in  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  capital  of  these  provinces  and  Government  of  the 
River  Plate,  his  vote  to  be  taken  after  that  of  the  Justices  of  the  peace  :  it 
having  been  so  disposed  and  resolved  in  the  said  Council  by  the  said  General, 


—  237  — 

they  gave  their  unanimous  consent  and  accepted  the  said  offices,  and  the  said 
Juan  de  Guzman  having  been  summoned  before  the  said  Council,  accepted 
the  said  office  of  High  Constable,  and  was  sworn  in  in  the  usual  form  and 
solemnity,  promising  to  fulfill  well  and  loyally  the  obligations  of  the  said 
office,  contributing  to  the  support,  benefit  and  utility  of  this  Republic  in  the 
service  of  His  Majesty ;  and  the  said  Juan  de  Guzman  having  received  from 
the  said  General  the  staff  of  the  said  office,  they  all  signed  their  names  indi- 
vidually, which  I  certify. — Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman. — Pedro  Hurtado. — Andres 
Diaz. — Juan  de  Guzman. — Domingo  Machado. — Juan  de  Albear  de  Zufiiga. 
— Francisco  de  Escobar. — Before  me,  Bartolome  Garcia,  Notary  Public  of 
the  Government  and  Council. 


I,  Bartolome  Garcia,  Notary  Public  of  the  Government  and  of  the 
Council  and  administration  of  this  city  of  Santiago  de  Xeres,  by  order  of  the 
Council  and  administration  of  the  same,  made  a  testimony  of  this  act  from 
the  original  record  of  the  said  Council,  in  the  manner  and  form  in  which  the 
facts  therein  contained  in  reference  to  the  taking  of  possession  and  title  of 
these  said  provinces  with  the  testimony  of  the  terminus  and  land  marks  of 
the  same,  and  consequently  the  strength  and  foundation  of  this  said  city,  and 
the  elections  of  officers  of  this  said  Council,  the  said  original  having  been  well 
and  loyally  concerted  and  corrected,  the  said  officers.  Justices  and  adminis- 
tration approved  it  and  imparted  to  the  same  their  authority  and  judicial 
decree  for  its  force  and  validity,  wherever  it  should  be  seen  and  produced,  in 
all  cities,  tribunals  and  chanceries  of  the  Kingdoms  and  dominions  of  His 
Majesty  ;  in  proof  whereof  they  signed  it  with  their  names  before  me  the 
said  Notary. — Rui  DiAZ  de  Guzman. — Bernabe  de  Conheras. — Andres  Diaz. 
— Juan  de  Guzman. — Pedro  Hurtado. — Domingo  Machado. — Juan  de  Al- 
bear de  Zufiiga. — Francisco.de  Escobar. — Francisco  Morinigo.  Before  me, 
Bartolome  Garcia,  Notary  Public  and  of  the  Council. 


I,  Bartolome  Garcia,  Notary  Public  of  the  Government  and  the  Council 
of  this  city  of  Santiago  de  Xeres,  by  request  of  Captain  Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman, 
Lieutenant  Governor  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  provinces  of  Parana,  and 
Captain  General  of  the  provinces  of  Los  Miaras  newly  entitled  La  Nueva 
Andalucia,  and  by  order  of  the  administration  of  the  said  city,  I  drew  this 
copy  from  the  record  of  the  Council  which  I  hold  in  my  possession,  and 
which  copy  corresponds  exactly  with  the  original  amended  and  corrected  as 
the  one  above-referred  to,  and  in  consequence  thereof,  and  their  Excellencies 
having  signed  the  same,  I  put  my  signature  on  it  in  testimony  of  truth. — 
Bartolome  Garcia,  Notary  Public  and  of  the  Council. 


I,  Garci  Vanegas,   Chief  Notary  of  the  Government  of  these  provinces 
of  the  River  Plate,  do  hereby  testify  to  all  who  this  present  copy  may  see, 


—  238  — 

that  I  caused  the  same  to  be  drawn  and  written  from  its  original  in  possession 
of  Geronimo  Lopez,  Attorney  of  the  new  town  of  Santiago  de  Xeres,  and 
corrected  and  compared  it  with  the  same.  It  is  true  and  certain  and  corres- 
ponds with  the  original.  I,  therefore,  put  here  my  usual  signature  in  the 
city  of  Asumpcion  del  Rio  de  la  Plata  on  the  tenth  day  of  March,  fifteen 
hundred  and  ninety  nine  years,  in  the  presence  of  witnesses  :  Captain  Pedro 
Hurtado,  and  Captain  Diego  Ponce  de  Leon,  residents  of  this  city.  In 
testimony  of  truth,  Garcia  Venegas,  Chief  Notary  of  the  Government. 

( Follow  the  acts  to  the  end  that  residents  wishing  to  leave  the  city,  may 
do  so,  made  in  Santiago  de  Xeres,  August  the  fourteenth,  year  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  four,  which  are  not  copied  as  they  have  no  interest,  and  to 
avoid  repetition.) 

( Follow  procedure  in  which  are  detailed  the  arms  and  other  effects 
belonging  to  each  inhabitant  and  how  they  feel,  not  copied  for  lack  of 
interest.)  Dated  in  the  city  of  La  Plata,  April  the  fifth,  year  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  five. — Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman. 


15  9  3 

LETTER 

of  the  City  of  Xerez  to  the  City  of  La  Asumpcion.     (*) 

(  This  letter  was  read  before  the  Justice  and  Council  of  the  city  of  La 
Asuncion  on  the  2d.  of  June,  1593.  ) 

In  order  to  fulfill  our  duty  with  this  Council,  it  seeming  proper  to  give 
Your  Honors  an  account  of  the  state  of  this  land,  because  in  doing  this  we 
not  only  do  what  the  King  our  Lord  commands  us,  to  keep  you  well  informed 
of  everything  convenient  to  the  Royal  service,  bvit  enable  Your  Honar,  as 
head  of  this  Government,  to  fulfill  your  duties  by  transmitting  this  informa- 
tion to  His  Majesty,  we  deem  it  just  to  write  to  that  Council,  for  we  have 
confidence  in  it  as  Your  Honors  are  zealous  persons  in  the  Royal  service  and 
common  welfare  and  desirous  to  see  that  the  Royal  Crown  be  extended,  and 
will. thus  hear  with  great  applause  how  these  provinces,  for  such  a  long  time 
desirous  of  been  settled  by  foreigners  in  order  that  its  inli,abitants  be  con- 
verted, know  now  that  by  a  special  decree  of  heaven,  for  less  than  that 
cannot  be  by  us  believed,  after  the  petition  and  requirement  of  their  natives 
and  by  the  convincement  of  the  Council  of  Ciudad  Real  (who  have  deemed  it 
proper )  Captain  Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman,  with  the  powers  he  has  by  right  and 
cession  from  Lorenzo  de  Vera  given  by  said  Governor,  after  leaving  sufficient 
men  for  the  defense  of  Ciudad  Real,  with  its  aid,  and  leaving  alone  the  Villa 
del  Espiritu  Santo,  decided  upon  coming  to  these  provinces  with  the  idea  of 
seeing  them,  and  acquainting  himself  with  them  and  doing  what  shall  be  most 
convenient  for  the  service  of  God  Our  Lord  and  of  His  Majesty. 

.  Everything  has  turned  put  so  well  that  my  petition  and  the  one  of  all 
those  who  carne  with  His  Excellency,  on  account  of  the  land  being  so  full  of 
advantages  due  to  its  position,  temperature,  fertility  and  the  abundance  of 
its  fields,  forests,  fountains  and  rivers,  and  finally,  so  provided  with  all  that  can 


( ■*' )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  National  Archives  of 
La  Asuncion  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized'by  the  United  States  Consul  at  that  city,  forms 
pairt  of  group  A.  n°  18  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence.  » 


—  ?4o  — 

be  wished  for  a  settlement,  His  Excellency  determined  to  settle  this  land 
and  to  found  this  city,  calling  it  Santiago  de  Xere  ;  one  great  reason  for 
said  founding  being  that  the  Indians,  with  few  significant  exceptions, 
have  shown  friendship,  giving  proof  of  their  affectionate  wishes  to  become 
( z7/<?^/<^/,?)  and  vassals  of  His  Majesty  ;  and  everything  has  come  out  well, 
with  the  aid  and  diligent  watch  of  Father  Bachelor  Raphael  de  Castro,  since 
after  having  been  instructed  and  converted,  they  were  baptized  and  came 
to  help  us  with  such  good  grace  that,  thanks  to  the  Divine  favor,  they  will 
be  of  great  service.  Those  from  that  city  ( where  there  are  more  than  enough) 
who  would  want  to  come  here  with  the  aid  of  Your  Honor,  would  be  bene- 
fited by  it,  for  as  soon  as  they  arrive  they  will  see  that  the  land  is  ready  to 
be  worked  with  profit,  and  in  this  they  will  be  able  to  show  their  good  will, 
and  will  be  entitled  to  hope  Our  Lord's  blessing,  in  what  refers  to  his  service, 
and  to  reward  and  honor  from  the  King  Our  Lord,  and  from  this  Council  to 
the  gratitude  due  to  a  favor  made  in  time  of  need,  besides  having  us 
disposed  to  act  in  their  service  whenever  it  may  be  needed  and  it  may  be 
useful.  In  this  City  of  Santiago  de  Xerez,  April  ist.  of  the  year  1593 — Pe- 
dro Hurtado. — A.  de  Contreras. — Andres  de  Guzman. — Juan  Alvear. — 
Juan  Morinigo. — Domingo  Mac hado.. — Before  me,  Bartolome  Garcia,  Notary 
Public. 


In  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  on  Monday  the  twentieth  day  of  the 
month  of  September  in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-three, 
before  me,  Juan  Bautista  Troche,  Notary  Public,  and  the  usual  witnesses, 
the  Justice  and  Council  assembled,  to  wit:  Captain  Juan  Merino  Garcia  Vaz- 
quez de  Valdez  and  Melchor  Moreno,  Aldermen,  and  Juan  Diez  Merino, 
High  Constable,  Francisco  de  Peralta  and  Francisco  Montanes,  Councilmen 
of  this  said  town.  Ensign  Sanchez  Cano  being  absent,  who  is  the  fourth  Coun- 
cilman, who  is  in  the  settlement  of  Nug^arac,  and  thus  assembled,  they  resol- 
ved unanimously,  to  send  an  Attorney  of  this  town  and  its  lands  to  the  city 
of  Asuncion,  the  head  of  these  provinces  and  of  their  Council.  And  the  Go- 
vernor and  Bishop  being  once  come,  that  he  could  appear,  before  either  of 
them,  in  representation  and  name  of  this  said  town,  to  be  informed  by  word  as 
well  as  by  writing,  judicial  and  extra-judial,  of  all  things  whatever,  convenient 
and  necessary  to  these  towns  and  their  jurisdiction  and  finally, of  the  state  of  the 
land  and  in  accordance  to  it.to  make  whatever  requests  and  protests  and  all  and 
every  thing  necessary,  which  will  be  indicated  to  him  in  a  memorandum  of 
ours  which  he  will  take ;  and  for  this  purpose,  in  the  name  and  stead  of  this 
Council  and  town,  they  appointed  Pero  Miiio,  resident  and  Attorney  of  this 
said  town  to  whom  they  gave  powers  in  conformity,  to  the  said  person  who 
was  present,  special  and  general  in  reference  to  the  said  matters  and  for 
whatever  he  may  consider  useful  to  the  said  town,  and  to  ask  and  obtain 
before  the  said  Justice  and  Board  of  Aldermen  and  before  the  said  Governor 
and  Bishop  of  these  provinces  what  he-deemed  most  beneficial,  and  generally 
to  carry  on  all  the  suits  which  he  may  be  called   upon  before  any  lay  oa  ec- 


—  241  — 

clesiastical  Judges  or  Justices,  and  to  establish  any  judicial  proceedings,  pe- 
titions, proofs,  propositions  and  appeals,  and  to  substitute  the  said  power 
in  the  one  or  more  persons  he  might  choose,  in  the  said  city  of  La  Asumpcion 
or  in  any  other  places,  before  any  proper  authority,  for  each  and  all  things 
herein  to  you  intrusted  for  the  benefit  of  the  said  city  which  said  power 
with  all  incidents,  dependencies,  necessities  and  annexes  we  herein  grant 
you,  with  free  and  general  administration,  for  the  purposes  of  which  we  give 
this  power.  In  the  Council  of  this  city,  all  the  said  persons  assembled  before 
me ;  the  said  Notary  Public  of  this  town,  acting  as  witnesses  for  Villa  Rica, 
Cristobal  Benitez  and  Juan  Royo,  residents  of  the  said  town,  and  I  the  present 
Notary,  who  signs  with  the  said  witnesses.  I  certify  that  I  know  the  said 
grantors  who  herein  sign  their  names,  fecha  ut  supra. — Francisco  Merino. — 
Melchor  Moreno. — Pedro  Portillo. — Francisco  Montanes. — Juan  Diaz  Meri- 
no.— Francisco  de  Peralta.  Executed  before  me,  Juan  Bautista  Troche,  No- 
tary Public. 


MEMORANDUM    OF    WHAT    PERO     MINO,   OUR    ATTORNEY,   IS 

TO  PROCURE  FOR  THIS  CITY  IN    THE  CITY  OF 

LA  ASUMPCION. 

First. — The  priests  we  must  have,  for  us  and  for  the  native  Indians. 

Also. — Powder,  nitre,  lead  and  sulphur. 

Also. — The  residents  of  this  city  living  there  should  come  to  aid  this 
commonwealth,  and  will  be  required  to  do  so ;  if  they  cannot  come  to  aid,  let 
them  abandon  their  residences,  so  that  others  can  sustain  them. 

Also. — The  natives  Indians  which  they  have  taken  from  here,  and  who 
have  left  their  wives  here ;  as  their  protector  has  asked  us  to  have  them  sent 
to  their  wives,  and  the  natives  also  ask  it. 

And  the  other  things  which  said  Pero  Mino,  our  Attorney  may  deem  con- 
venient; for  to  all  this  is  our  power.  I,  the  said  Notary,  certify  to  it,  as  be- 
fore me  it  was  offered  and  granted,  and  moreover  I  sign  it  with  my  name. 
Adopted  before  me. — Juan  Bautista   Troche,  Notary  Public. 


1593 

statement  of   the  Attorney  of  the  Villa  Rica  del   Espiritu 

Santo,  Pero  Mino,  asking  for  aid  of  ammunition 

and  gunpowder  to  repulse  the  rebel  Indians 

who  are  in  continuous  war. 

(This  petition  was  presented  before   His  Excellency  the   Lieutenant  Go- 
vernor General  and  High  Justice  of  this  Province  and   Government   of   the 


242    

River  Plate,  Bartolome  de  Sandoval  Ocampo,  on  the  25th  day  of  the  month 
of  October  of  the  year  1593.) 

Petition  of  the  Attorney  of  Villa  Rica,  Pero  Mino,  asking  aid  of  ammu- 
nition and  gunpowder,  residents  and  Indians  for  the  aid  and  resistance  against 
the  rebel  Indians  who  are  in  continuous  war. 

I,  Pero  Miilo,  Attorney  of  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  province  of 
Guayra,  and  by  virtue  of  the  power  that  Board  and  Council  its  gave 
me  and  executed,  which  I  presented  before  your  Honor,  I  appear  in  the 
best  form  of  law  and  say : 

Considering  the  imminent  danger  in  which  are  the  said  city,  residents 
and  the  inhabitants  of  it,  because  the  greater  part  of,  if  not  all,  native  In- 
dians of  that  Province,  are  in  rebellion  against  the  service  of  God  Our  Lord 
and  of  Their  Honors,  and  considering  that  they  persist  in  their  hard  and  mis- 
chievous obstinacy  and  that  they  make  all  efforts  to  carry  out  their  intention 
of  destroying  this  said  city  and  killing  its  inhabitants,  and  considering  their 
determination  to  sack  the  city  and  their  insolence,  since  they  have  not  been 
badly  treated  nor  injured,  and  considering  their  disrespect  to  God  and  to  His 
Majesty,  and  in  order  to  destroy  this  example  of  disobedience  and  resist  and 
defend  the  city  and  ourselves  from  such  a  great  evil  and  danger,  1 
have  been  sent  to  this  city  to  ask  aid  in  the  form  of  some  lead  and  powder, 
nitre  and  sulphur,  as  we  are  in  great  need  of  ammunition,  having  but  four  of 
five  pounds  of  powder  and  one  of  lead ;  and  as  for  such  needs  and  aid  their 
Honors  have  ordered  that  to  this  city  a  quantity  of  lead,  nitre  and  sulphur  be 
brought  from  the  Kingdoms  of  Spain  and  as  Captain  Merino,  who  now  go- 
verns the  said  city,  has  property  and  goods  in  this  city  in  the  possession  or 
Alonso  de  Prado,  resident  thereof;  out  of  which  property  your  Honor  can 
pay  yourself;  and  as  to  your  Honor,  as  General  of  this  city  and  provinces  to 
which  the  said  towns  belong,  becomes  the  duty  to  remedy  and  stop  the  grave 
evil  upon  us ;  and  therefore,  I  ask  and  beg  your  Honor  if  it  be  necessary,  in 
the  name  of  Their  Honors,  to  order  that  what  I  ask  be  given  to  him  so  that 
I  can  take  it  with  the  utmost  brevity  required,  taking  its  cost  out  of  the  pro- 
perty of  the  said  Captain  Juan  Merino  as  I  have  already  said ;  and  also  to 
order  the  residents  of  the  said  city  who  for  many  years  have  been  in  la  Asump- 
cion,  to  return  to  Villa  Rica,  as  there  is  great  need  of  people  for  the  new  con- 
quest and  reduction  of  the  said  Indians  in  rebellion,  that  if  they  do  not  go 
t.hey  will  loose  the  apportionment  granted  to  them,  which  will  be  given  to 
others,  for  one  of  the  complaints  of  the  Indians  is  that  during  many  years 
the  said  residents  have  had  in  this  city  brothers  or  relatives  who  have  their 
wives  in  their  tribes,  and,  as  it  is  natural  and  just,  they  should  be  ordered  to 
go  to  their  homes  and  wives  from  whom  they  have  been  many  years  absent. 
I  also  request  and  beg  your  Excellency  to  send  immediately  and  through  a 
Royal  provision  containing  the  form  in  which  the  election  is  to  take  place  for 
Mayors  and  Aldermen,  and  other  for  the  form  of  appeals.  I  am  ready  to  do 
work  in  this  matter  and  to  justify  and  publish  all  that  I  have  asked  and  sworn 
to. — Pero  Miilo. 


-^  243  — 

Also. — Considering  that  the  said  revolted  Indians  have  said  and  say  that 
until  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  the  person  in  charge  of  the  said  tribes, 
does  not  return  to  them  to  govern  and  command,  they  will  not  come  to  serve 
and  will  persevere  in  their  rebellion,  therefore  I  request  and  beg  Your  Excel- 
lency to  see  and  provide  what,  as  in  everything  else,  be  more  convenient  to 
the  service  of  God,  our  Lord,  and  of  His  Majesty  and  to  the  welfare  and  per- 
petuity of  the  said  Crowns  and  the  purification  and  reduction  of  said  Indians, 
sending  word  to  the  city  of  Santa  Fe  that  said  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo, 
may  come  ;  I  ask  justice. — Pero  Mino. 

Also. — I  request  and  beg  Your  Excellency  to  order  Captain  Rui  Diaz 
de  Guzman  not  to  take  any  more  residents  of  the  said  town  to  his  town  newly 
settled  by  the  natives,  nor  take  any  ammunition  away  from  our  native  Ind- 
ians, because  the  said  town  is  in  great  need  of  it,  as  I  have  already  said,  and 
because  it  is  for  the  welfare  and  benefit  of  the  said  town;  I  ask  justice. — Peto 
MiHo. 


His  Honor,  the  Council  of  La  Asumpcion,  considering  what  has  been 
stated  by  the  said  Pero  Mino,  Attorney,  by  this  petition  and  by  the  power 
that  he  before  His  Honor  presented  said  that,  as  regards  the  ammunition, 
it  had  been  looked  for  in  this  city,  and  fourteen  pounds  of  powder  had  been 
found,  and  more  nitre  is  being  procured,  and  steps  are  taken  to  get  some 
lead,  so  that  he  may  have  what  he  asks  for;  and  gis  to  the  residents  of  that 
city  living  here,  His  Honor  says  that  they  should  go  now  with  him  Pero 
Miiio,  and  in  case  they  do  not,  they  will  make  cession  of  all  the  property 
which  they  possess  ;  as  to  what  he  asks  about  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo, 
let  him  go  as  Lieutenant  of  that  land  under  His  Excellency  the  Governor 
Fernando  de  Zarate,  and  to  provide  as  he  may  deem  to  be  convenient ;  and 
as  to  the  provisions  he  asks,  I  order  the  present  Notary  to  give  him  a  copy 
of  the  original,  written  in  a  sheet  as  demanded  ;  and  as  to  what  he  requests 
that  no  ammunition,  Indians  or  soldiers  be  taken  away,  Your  Excellency  will 
order  what  is  rnost  convenient ;  I  thus  ordered  it,  said  it,  and  commanded 
it,  and  signed  it  with  my  namer — Zandoval.      Before  me,  Jttan  Cantero. 


The  copy  of  the  provision  ordered  by  His  Honor  as  from  the  Lieutenant 
Governor  General  Bartolome  de  Zandoval  Ocampo,  is  as  follows  : 

Captain  Bartolome  de  Zandoval  Ocampo,  Lieutenant  Governor  General, 
and  High  Justice  of  these  provinces  and  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  River  Plate, 
in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  whereas,  the  Attorney  of  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu 
Santo  has  asked  me,  in  order  to  sustain  its  districts,  that  some  of  the  resi- 
dents of  the  said  city,  who  for  many  years  have  resided  here,  shall  surrender 
the  apportioned  Indians  they  had  in  the  said  city,  considering  this  and  the 
information  received  and  the  aid  and  arms  required  for  the  said  city  which  is 
in  danger,  due  to  the  rebel  Indians  in  its  neighborhood.  Therefore,  by  the 
presents,  I  order  the  said  persons  and  each  one  of  them,  that,  as  soon  as  they 


—  244  — 

be  notified  of  this  my  decision,  they  shall  leave  this  city  within  four  days,  and 
start  their  trip,  and  go  to  help  their  town,  or  on  the  contrary  they  are  to  ap- 
pear before  me  to  make  formal  surrender  of  the  title  and  residence  which 
each  one  has  in  the  said  city,  or  if  not,  I  shall  immediately  consider  the  said 
Indians  as  free,  to  be  newly  apportioned,  and  I  put  them  to  the  name  of  His 
Majesty,  and  His  Excellency  the  Governor  will  give  them  to  the  worthy  per- 
sons who  shall  truly  deserve  them  ;  said  residents  to  be  notified  of  this  my 
act  and  order,  being  Antonio  de  Aiiasco,  Fernando  Melgarejo,  Francisco  de 
Vallejo,  Martin  de  Morinigo,  and  Miguel  Gomez  ;  and  they  were  thus 
ordered  to  be  notified,  each  one  of  them,  that,  as  soon  as  they  be  advised  of 
this  my  act  and  order,  they  shall  bring  before  me  the  Indians  and  servants, 
of  the  provinces  of  Guayra,  whom  each  one  has  in  the  city,  so  as  to  decide  as  it 
be  most  convenient  to  the  service  of  God  Our  Lord,  of  His  Majesty  and  the 
peace  of  my  Royal  conscience:  this  is  to  be  done  and  obeyed  without  fail,  if 
not  they  will  suffer  the  penalty  of  fifty  dollars  in  good  gold  or  its  value,  to  be 
paid  to  the  treasury  of  His  Majesty,  and  I  shall  consider  them  so  condemned 
from  this  moment  if  they  disobey.  Given  in  this  said  city  of  La  Asumpcion 
the  twenty-fifth  day  of  the  month  of  October,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
ninety-three. — Zandoval.  Before  me,  Juan  Cantero,  Notary  Public  and  of 
the  City  Council. 

( The  documents  following  the  above  are  the  notifications  to  and  replies 
by  the  persons  referred  to  in  the  preceeding  act  and  order,  enacted  with  all 
the  usual  formalities.)       • 


1595. — Memorial  of  Pedro  Montanes,  Attorney  General,  of  the  Villa 
Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  situated  at,  and  moved  from  its  first  site,  to  the  place 
of  Ubay — to  Captain  Bartolome  Sandoval  de  Ocampo,  Lieutenant  Gover- 
nor General  and  High  Justice  of  this  government  against  Captain  Rui  Diaz 
de  Guzman,  High  Justice  of  the  said  city,  on  account  of  the  bad  order  in  which 
he  said  that  Guzman  had  kept  the  proceedings  of  justice  and  government, 
especially  after  the  said  town  changed  its  site,  and  because,  without  waiting 
that  this  town  be  founded,  and  that  the  residents  should  settle  therein,  he 
had  founded  the  city  of  Jerez  against  their  will,  taking  them  there  by 
force,  as  was  done  with  the  native  Indians  of  the  apportionments.  He  also 
testifies  to  the  effect  that  said  Guzman  had  once  imprisoned,  with  chains  and 
collar,  one  of  the  Aldermen,  carried  away  by  his  arrogance  and  presumption 
of  knowiug  more  than  anyone  else,  and  to  other  things  which  are  obscurely 
stated  in  the  said  Memorial.  The  Justice  promised  to  remedy  it,  reversing 
the  decision  as  to  denounced  torts,  for  the  trial  of  residents. — Notary,  Diego 
Gonzalez  Riiano. — Given  in  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  on  the  tenth 
day  of  October,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-five,  before  Captain 
Bartolom6  Zandoval  de  Ocampo,  Lieutenant  Governor  General  and 
High  Justice,  for  His  Majesty,  before  me  the  present  Notary. 

(The  document  in  extenso,  to  which  the  above  extract  refers  to,  forms 
part  of  the  acts  of  proceedings  comprisings  this  matter.) 


1617 

Royal  Letters  Patent,  dividing-  in  two  parts  the  original  O-overn- 

ment  of  the  River  Plate,  and  appointing  Don  Diego  de 

Oongora  as  O-overnor  and  Captain  O-eneral 

of  said  Province.   ( * ) 

Don  Felipe,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of  Castile,  of  Leon,  of  Aragon,  of 
the  two  Siciles,  of  Jerusalem,  of  Portugal,  of  Navarre,  of  Granada,  of  To- 
ledo, of  Valencia,  of  Galicia,  of  Mayorca,  of  Sevile,  of  Sardinia,  of  Cardona, 
of  Corsica,  of  Murcia,  of  Jaen,  of  the  Algarbes,  of  Algeciras,  of  Gibraltar, 
of  the  Canary  Islands,  of  the  West  and  Western  Indies,  Islands  and  firm  earth 
of  the  Ocean  Sea,  Archduke  of  Austria,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  of  Brabant  and 
of  Milan,  Count  of  Augsburg,  of  Flander  and  of  Tyrol  and  Barcelona,  Lord 
of  Bizcay,  and  of  Molina,  etc. 

Whereas,  I  have  been  informed  that  some  of  the  cities  of  the  Provinces 
of  the  River  Plate  are  in  great  danger  of  being  destroyed  by  the  Guaycurus 
and  Payaguas  Indians,  which  are  in  a  state  of  armed  rebellion  and  commit 
many  depredations;  and  considering  that  in  order  to  remedy  such  evils  it  is 
convenient  to  divide  in  two  parts  said  Government  of  the  Provinces  of  the 
River  Plate,  which  embraces  an  area  of  more  than  five  hundred  leagues,  and 
contains  eight  cities  at  a  great  distance  from  each  other,  thereby  making  it 
impossible  for  one  city  to  help  the  others,  particularly  in  the  case  of  the  three 
cities  of  the  Province  of  Guayra,  which  have  never  been  visited  by  a  Governor 
or  a  Bishop,  nor  has  the  Sacrament  of  Confirmation  been  administered  in 
them  ;  and  considering  that,  as  the  Governor  of  the  Provinces  of  the  River 
Plate  has  to  remain  most  of  the  time  at  the  port  of  Buenos  Ayres,  to  protect 
and  defend  it,  leaving  the  northern  part  of  the  Government  unprotected,  it 
becomes  necessary  for  the  said  Province  of  Guayra  to  be  converted  into  an 
independent  Government,  so  that  the  Governor  in  charge  of  it  shall  procure 
the  reduction  to  the  Faith  of  the  many  infidel  Indians  therein  ;  and  this  matter 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archives  of 
Indies  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of 
Group  A,  No.  19  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "'  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  246  — 

having  been  treated  in  my  Council  of  Indies,  and  the  information  thereabout 
laid  before  me  by  my  Viceroy  of  the  Provinces  of  Peru  and  some  Governors 
and  prelates  in  the  vicinity  of  said  Province  of  the  River  Plate,  and  their 
advice  having  been  solicited  of  me :  I  have  resolved  that  said  Government  of 
the  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate  be  divided  into  two  parts,  one  to  be  the 
Government  of  the  River  Plate,  embracing  the  city  of  Trinidad,  Puerto  de 
Santa  Maria  de  Buenos  Aires,  the  city  of  Santa  Fe,  the  city  of  San  Juan  de 
Vera  de  las  Corrientes,  and  the  city  of  Concepcion  del  Rio  Bermejo  ;  and  the 
other  to  be  known  as  the  Government  of  Guayra,  with  the  city  of  La  Asump- 
cion  del  Paraguay  as  its  capital,  and  embracing,  besides,  the  city  of  Guayra, 
the  city  of  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  and  the  city  of  Santiago  de  Jerez. 

And  as  the  time  has  expired,  for  which  I  appointed  Hernando  Arias  de 
Saavedra  Governor  of  the  said  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  and  as  it  is 
convenient  to  name  a  person  who  should  succeed  him  and  serve  me  in  the 
said  two  Governments,  who  shall  have  the  necessary  conditions  ;  and  consi- 
dering that  these  conditions  concur  in  your  person,  Diego  de  Gongora, 
Knight  of  St.  Jago,  and  considering  how  you  have  served  me  and  the  service 
I  expect  from  you,  I  have  deemed  it  convenient  to  designate  and  appoint 
you,  as  I  do  by  these  presents  designate  and  appoint  you.  Governor  and 
Captain  General  of  the  said  Province  of  the  River  Plate,  and  of  the  above- 
named  cities,  which  I  order  him  to  add  to  his  Government,  for  the  term  of 
five  years  more  or  less,  at  my  pleasure  ;  and  it  is  my  will  that  you  shall  dis- 
charge the  said  duties  ;  besides  the  five  years  I  grant  you  six  months  to  arrive 
and  take  possession  of  the  office,  which  said  months  shall  run  and  be  counted 
from  the  day  on  which,  as  testified  to  by  the  Notary,  you  set  sail  to  go  on 
with  your  trip  from  the  port  and  city  of  Lisbon  ;  and  as  such  Governor  and 
Captain  General  of  the  said  Province,  you  and  no  one  but  you,  will  use  your 
authority  in  the  proper  cases  and  things  belonging  thereto,  as  has  been  exer- 
cised by  the  said  Hernando  Arias  de  Saavedra  and  my  other  Governors  and 
Captain  Generals  in  the  past,  of  the  said  Provinces,  and  so  you  will  be  able 
to  act,  and  you  will  do  all  the  other  things  which  by  my  instructions, 
provisions  and  Royal  letters  were  entrusted  to  the  Governors,  and  which  are 
committed  and  entrusted  to  you  ;  and  by  this  letter  of  mine  I  order  the 
President  and  those  of  my  Council  of  the  Indies,  that  as  soon  as  you,  Diego 
de  Gongora,  take  and  receive  the  oath  and  solemnity  required  in  such  cases, 
and  which  you  should  take,  that  you  will  well  and  faithfully  discharge  the 
said  duties  after  your  having  done  so  and  the  testimony  thereof  being  drawn  on 
the  reverse  of  these  my  provisions,  they  and  all  other  persons  who  dwell  and  in- 
habit in  the  said  Province  of  the  Rivei  Plate,  shall  consider,  receive  and  hold 
you  as  such  my  Governor  and  Captain  General  thereof  for  the  term  of  the 
said  five  years,  which  are  to  run  and  to  count  from  the  day  you  take  posses- 
sion of  the  said  office,  more  or  less,  as  it  has  been  said,  at  my  pleasure  ;  and 
they  will  allow  you  to  freely  hear,  examine  and  sentence  all  the  law-suits  and 
cases,  civil  as  well  as  criminal,  that  may  occur  in  the  said  Province,  of  which 
you  should  and  ought  to  take  notice  as  such  my  Governor  and  Captain  Ge- 
neral, and  do  all  other  things  that  my  other  Governors  and  Captain  Generals 


—  247  — 

of  that  and  of  the  other  Provinces  can  and  should  do,  and  make  and  receive 
all  inquiries  and  investigations,  in  the  cases  and  things  admitted  in  law, 
which  you  shall  deem  convenient  to  my  service  and  to  the  execution  of  my 
justice  and  to  the  good  government  of  the  province.  You  are  to  take  with  you, 
and  will  take,  and  your  Lieutenant,  other  sub-Lieutenants  whom  it  is  my 
wish  that  you  should  put  in  convenient  places  and  who  shall  draw  the  legal 
documents,  and  they  must  be  lawyers,  and  if  taken  from  these  Kingdoms . 
they  must  be  approved  by  my  said  Council  of  the  Indies,  and  if  you  do  not 
take  them  from  here,  but  name  them  in  those  parts,  you  are  obliged  to  pres- 
ent them  to  the  Superior  Court  of  the  Plate  or  of  the  Province  of  Las  Charcas; 
and  in  order  that  the  said  duties  be  discharged  and  my  justice  be  done  and  exe- 
cuted, and  all  obeyed,  give  and  cause  to  give  you  the  favor  and  aid  that  you 
could  and  would  need ;  and  that  all  respect  and  fulfill  your  mandates  and  of 
all  your  Lieutenants,  said  mandates  be  approved,  as  it  has  been  said,  in  my 
Council  or  in  the  said  Superior  Court,  and  that  in'  no  manner  or  form  what- 
ever they  consent  to  put,  nor  put  any  difficulty  or  impediment  in  your  way, 
as  I  by  these  presents  recognize  and  consider  you  in  possession  of  the  said 
office  and  discharging  its  duties,  and  I  give  you  power  and  authority  to  dis- 
charge them,  in  case  any  one  should  not  receive  you  as  such  Governor,  and  I 
also  order  the  persons  serving  me  in  the  said  offices,  and  the  others  who  are 
Judges,  that  as  soon  as  they  be  required  by  you,  with  this  letter,  they  deliver 
to  you  their  commissions  and  cease  in  them,  under  the  penalties  which  those 
persons  incur  when  they  aot  in  official  or  Royal  capacities  for  which  they 
have  no  power  or  authority,  as  by  these, presents  I  suspend  them  and  consider 
them  suspended  of  the  said  offices,  and  the  penalties  and  conditions  which 
you  and  your  Lieutenants  will  impose  for  me  and  for  my  Royal  Treasury, 
you  will  execute,  and  have  them  executed,  given  and  delivered  to  the  officers 
of  my  Royal  Treasury  of  the  said  Provinces,  or  to  those  charged  with  the 
collection  of  the  Treasury  belonging  to  me,  and'  if  you  should  think  it  proper 
for  my  service  and  carrying  out  what  is  convenient  for  my  justice,  to  have 
any  person,  now  or  in  the  future  in  the  said  Provinces,  leave  them  and  come 
to  these  Kingdoms,  you  will  so  order  him  in  my  name,  and  you  will  make 
him  depart  from  the  said  Provinces  according  to  the  pragmatics  bearing  on 
the  case,  giving  the  persons  thus  banished  the  reasons  therefor,  and  if  they 
are  secret  you  will  give  them  closed  and  sealed  and  a  copy  thereof  you  will 
send  me  by  two  ways,  so  that  I  will  be  informed  of  it ;  but  you  are  advised 
that  when  you  banish  some  one  it  must  be  for  a  great  cause,  for  I  give  you 
powers  and  authority  as  required  in  such  cases  ;  and  it  is  my  wish  that  you 
have  and  enjoy  a  salary,  per  year,  together  with  the  charges  for  all  the  time 
that  you  be  in  office,  of  three  thousand  ducats,  which  are  worth  a  million,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  five  thousand  farthings  ;  and  I  order  the  officers  of  my 
Royal  Treasury  of  the  said  Province  of  the  River  Plate,  give  and  pay  the  said 
salary  to  you  in  three  parts  every  year,  from  the  day  you  take  possession  of 
the  said  office,  out  of  any  rents  or  profits  which  I  may  have  in  the  said 
Provinces,  and  if  there  not  be,  L  by  this  letter,  order  the  officers  of  my 
Royal  Treasury  of  the  said  Province  of  Charcas,  to  pay  the  part  which,  as 


—  248  — 

certified,  will  appear  that  you  have  not  been  paid  by  the  same  Provinces  of 
the  River  Plate ;  and  that  both  shall  be  credited  with  their  part,  and  that 
both  shall  receive  a  copy  of  this  my  letter  and  testimony  of  the  day  in  which 
you  commence  to  discharge  the  said  duties,  and  they  are  to  state  in  my  books 
any  letters  of  payment  which  should  be  paid  or  given  to  you  in  the  Provinces 
of  the  River  Plate  ;  and  after  copying  and  pajang  them,  the  originals  be 
returned  to  you,  Diego  de  Gongora,  so  that  you  shall  keep  them  as  titles  of 
the  said  offices  ;  it  being  always  supposed  that  primarily  and  before  all  things, 
you  shall  have  been  received  and  taken  possession,  and  you  have  given  and 
give  the  bonds,  legal,  ample  and  sufificient,  in  the  amount  determined  by  the 
Council  of  the  city  which  may  be  the  head  of  the  said  Government  ;  you  will 
well  and  faithfully  discharge  the  said  duties,  complying  with  all  your  obliga- 
tions, Royal  laws  and  ordinances  of  the  Aldermen,  under  the  penalty  that 
the  said  bondsmen  will  pay  whatever  be  adjudged  and  sentenced,  what  in 
all  instances  be  admitted  and  adjudged  and  order  my  auditors  who  are 
in  the  said  Council  of  the  Indies  to  take  this  into  account. 

Given  in  Madrid,  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  December,  one  thousand  six 
hundred  and  seventeen. — I,  THE  KING.-— I,  Pedro  de  Ledesma,  Secretary 
of  the  King,  our  Lord  had,  it  written  by  his  mandate. — Licentiate  Fernando 
CarriUo. — Doctor  Pedro  Marmolejo. — Licetttiate  Alonso  Maldonado  de  Torres. 
Licentiate  Juan  de  Villela. — Licetttiate  Garcia  Perez  de  Aranel. — Licentiate 
Antonio  de  Vergara. — There  is  a  scroll  in  the  original-six  hundred,  between 
lines,  valid. 


LAUrS     or    ISTDIES.     (*) 


(Volume  II,    Page  225,    Laws   V.  VI.,  Book  VI,  Title  II. ) 

LAW  V. 

The  Emperor  Charles  and  the  Kings  of  Bohemia,  Governors  in  Vallado- 
hd,  on  the  7th.  day  of  July  1550.  The  same  and  the  Princess  governing 
there  on  the  21st.  of  September  1556  : 

That  the  Indians  of  Brazil,  or  territory  of  Portugal,  be  free  in  the  Indies. 

What  has  been  resolved  in  regard  to  the  liberty  of  the  Indians  :  let  it 
be  understood,  be  kept  and  executed  although  they  be  Indians  belonging  to 
Brazil,  or  territory  of  Portugal,  brought  to  our  Indies,  for  we  declare  that  it 
has  and  it  is  to  have  effect  also  upon  them. 

LAW  VI. 

•  Philip  IV,  in  Madrid,  on  the  12th  of  September  1628.  That  means  be 
found  to  punish  those  from  the  city  of  San  Pablo  of  Brazil  who  go  to  en- 
slave the  Indians  of  Paraguay. 

The  Portuguese  of  the  city  of  San  Pablo  in  Brazil,  distant  ten  journeys 
from  the  last  reductions  of  Indians  of  the  province  of  Paraguay,  against  all 
Christian  piety  go  every  year  to  enslave  the  Indians  of  the  said  province 
carrying  them  away  and  selling  them  in  Brazil  as  if  they  were  slaves.  And 
as  it  is  convenient  to  repress  every  kind  of  offence,  disrespect  an  excess  com- 
mitted against  the  service  of  God  Our  Lord,  we  order  and  command  the 
Governors  of  the  Rivers  Plate  and  Paraguay,  that  by  all  possible  means 
they  endeavour  to  capture  and  punish  with  great  publicity  the  guilty  ones  and 
the  persons  who  have  done  these  wrongs,  by  which  the  propagation  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  is  brought  to  cease,  and  the  peace  and  tranquility  are  dis- 
turbed; for  the  execution  of  the  above,  all  the  steps  which  are  convenient 
shall  be  taken  without  omitting  any,  in  order  to  obtain  the  punishment, 
correction  and   amend,  which  we  entrust  to  their  consciences. 


(*)  These  are  translations  from  the  «  Recopilation  of  the  laws  of  the  Kingdoms  of 
the  Indies,  ordered  to  be  printed  and  published  by  His  Catholic  Majesty  Charles  I  I,  Our 
Lord,  Madrid  1841.')     This  work  exists  in  the  Library  of  Congress  in  Washington. 


1679 


Judicial  Proceedings  relating-  to  the  foundation  and  change  of 
site  of  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo.     (*). 

(The  two  first  pages  of  this  document  are  wanting  in  the  original,  there 
causing  the  first  sentence  to  be  incomplete. ) 

...,,,  to  the  Itape  with  pennision  of  the  Governor  and  Captain  General 
of  this  province  ;  the  said  residents  did  not  find  shelter  until  we  came  together 
in  the  same  place  as  ordered  by  the  Government,  in  the  meanwhile  that 
Your  Majesty  (whom  God  save),  the  Viceroy  of  these  Kingdoms  or  the  Royal 
Audiencia  of  the  Plate  command  what  is  most  convenient  and  necessary  for 
our  safety  and  the  perpetuity  of  the  town,  where  we  are  sufiering  great  hard- 
ships, as  the  land  is  arid:  at  present  there  is  no  water  to  drink  for  the  inhabi- 
tants, on  account  of  the  drying  of  the  wells  which  were  in  the  territory,  as 
it  is  public  and  notorioust  also,  there  is  no  water  even  for  the  cattle  and  beasts 
owned  by  the  residents,  the  dry  season  having  lasted  but  forty  days,  making 
it  impossible  to  live  in  this  place,  and  we  ask  for  some  remedy  to  so  much 
calamity,  and  do  so  in  time,  so  that  it  be  given  for  the  public  and  patent  rea- 
sons referred  to,  which  actually  exist.  Considering  all  which,  we  exhort  and 
require,  most  efficatiously,  the  Attorney  General  of  the  community  of  this 
town,  to  request  urgently,  in  our  name,  the  Field  Master  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo, 
Lieutenant  Governor,  High  Justice  and  Captain  of  this  said  town  to  give  us 
permission  to  go  and  make  our  sowing  in  the  places  which  have  been  seen 
next  to  the  heights  of  Ibiturusu,  apart  from  the  lands  of  the  Indians  and  tribes 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  National  Archives 
ot  Paraguay,  a  copy  of  which,  duly  legalized  by  the  Consul  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica in  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  forms  part  of  group  A,  No.  20,  of  the  manuscript  documents 
of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


-    252    — 

Casapa,  Juti  and  others  belonging  to  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  where  there 
are  streams,  fountains  and  springs  of  water,  near  the  river  Tebiquari,  which 
abounds  in  fish  ;  these  are  high  lands  where  harvests  could  be  raised  as  in 
other  places,  for  the  sustenance  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  town,  until  for- 
mally arranged  and  determined  by  His  Excellency  the  Viceroy  of  the  King- 
dom, as  it  is  hoped  that  the  said  plantations  will  be  made  in  the  said  places 
as  there  is  no  inconvenient  on  account  of  the  proximity  to  this  town,  for  at 
the  most  they  are  about  five  leagues  distant,  perhaps  less;  and  that  the  said 
attorney  ask,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  said  Lieutenant  Governor,  expressing 
to  him  our  present  and  future  necessity,  so  that  he  as  the  Christian  Judge 
that  he  is,  give  us  the  permission,  without  any  trouble,  for  it  is  for  the  service 
of  God  and  for  that  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save)  and  for  the  good  and 
safety  of  the  Republic  ;  and  since  all  the  above  aims  to  the  common  welfare, 
so  that  each  one  will  not  have  to  look  for  what  is  most  convenient  for  him- 
self, and  ever>'thing  tends  to  preserve  the  life  of  the  faithful  vassals  of  His 
Majesty  and  their  families,  with  the  purpose  that  this  Republic  will  not  be 
destroyed  and  will  be  ssutained  in  the  future,  we  make  this  petition  without 
any  other  motives  but  the  above  mentioned,  inspired  by  our  needs  ;  and  we 
swear  by  God  Our  Lord,  by  the  Sign  of  the  Cross,  that  in  doing  so  we  are  not 
moved  by  any  individual  interest,  nor  other  intention  but  the  safety  of  our 
lives  and  that  of  this  town,  and  that  everything  said  is  public  and  notorious, 
making  all  proofs  unnecessary;  and  in  order  that  it  shall  stand,  we  sign  it 
with  our  names  in  the  Villa  del  Espiritu  Santo,  on  the  ninth  day  of  the  month 
of  March  of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-nine.  We  also 
request  the  said  Attorney  General  to  ask  the  Councilmen  of  this  town  to  do 
all  in  their  power,  in  their  reports  to  the  Superior  and  Inferior  Justices  of  the 
provinces,  so  that  this  our  true  request  be  enlarged  and  attended  to,  and  its 
acceptance  facilitated. — Alfonso  de  Villaliia. — Pedro  Portillo. — Juan  de  Vi- 
llalua. — Miguel  de  Peralta. — Juan  de  Benialvos. — Antonio  de  Candia. —  Gero- 
nimo  Colman,  &c.  &c.  (Follow  two  hundred  signatures.) 


Captain  Don  Nicolas  Pessoa  y  Figueroa,  Royal  Treasurer  of  this  town 
and  Attorney  General  of  the  community,  in  the  name  of  which  and  of  the 
neighbors  and  residents  thereof,  in  the  best  form  of  law  and  most  convenient, 
appears  before  Your  Honor  and  says  :  that  the  said  neighbors  and  residents 
have  required  met  by  a  written  document  signed  with  their  names,  to  a§k  and 
allege  before  Your  Honor,  on  the  contents  of  their  petition,  which  is  this  one 
presented  as  I  certify  by  the  proper  oath;  this  petition  is  reproduced  and  1 
urge  it  as  follows  :  that  the  said  residents  have  been  obliged,  by  the  present 
and  evident  necessities  which  they  suffer,  together  with  their  families  and 
cattle  in  this  place  of  Espinillo,  where  this  town  is  founded,  until  Your  Ma- 
jesty (whom  God  save),  the  Lord  Viceroy  of  these  Kingdoms  and  the  Royal 
Audiencia  of  La  Plata  resolve  what  is  most  convenient  for  their  safety,  utility 
and  perpetuity,  to  ask  the  aid  naturally  hoped  for,  because  it  ts  so  notorious 


—  253  — 

and  so  evident  and  proven  that  the  wells  and  springs  which  existed  in  the 
plantations  and  in  other  places  of  the  territory  apparently  permanent,  have 
dried,  and  if  some  have  remained,  the  water  is  so  dirty  and  bad,  which  of  ne- 
cessity is  rank  add  it  has  bad  taste  and  smell ;  and  as  these  places  and  roads 
are  known  to  be  dry  and  no  seeds  or  plants  have  grown,  although  planted 
in  different  epochs,  the  said  residents  and  thetr  families  are  in  great  danger 
of  dicing  of  thirst  and  hunger  in  the  places  where  they  have  now  their  work, 
for  in  the  short  time  of  dryness,  the  wells  and  creeks  have  dried,  and  there 
has  been  no  water  even  for  the  animals  ;  all  of  which  the  said  residents  have 
sufficiently  alleged  and  asked  in  their  petition,  so  that  Your  Honor,  as  if  you 
would  have  the  thing  before  you  and  see  with  your  eyes  what  is  contained  in 
this  petition,  shall  give  the  proper  remedy,  since  everything  is  certain  and 
true,  and  Your  Honor  grant  to  the  said  residents  license  to  make  their  plan- 
tation sowings  in  the  places  indicated  where  they  will  have  water  and  lands 
to  work  with  comfort,  on  account  of  there  being  fields  and  high  hills  and  other 
useful  things  and  nothing  is  changed  in  what  has  been  ordered  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  it  is  no  innovation  that  the  plantations  be  five  or  sijf  leagues 
away  from  the  pueblos  nor  is  my  intention  to  make  any  movement  until  His 
Majesty  or  the  Viceroy  determines  what  is  most  convenient  for  the  improve- 
ment of  this  town,  but  only  to  remedy  the  imminent  necessity  which  exists, 
that  had  not  God  Our  Lord  given  us  the  water  that  has  rained,  without  doubt 
the  said  residents  and  their  families  would  have  looked  for  the  shelter  of 
thoselplaces;  and  therefore  I  think  the  permission  asked  for  should  be  granted, 
and  I  beg  Your  Honor  for  my  part  that,  considering  the  reason  and  motives 
expressed  in  this  document  and  in  the  said  petition,  you  grant  the  license 
asked  for,  as  Your  Honor  is  such  a  mercful  and  zealous  Justice  of  the  Royal 
service,  increase  and  maintenance  of  his  republic  and  vassals,  and  you 
will  resolve  this  petition  with  the  justice  which  I  ask,  and  if  on  the  con- 
trary you  deny  what  they  demand  in  proper  language,  declare  that  it  will  be 
its  ruin  and  that  everything  else  that  will  happen  will  be  due  to  Your  Honor, 
I  certify  to  this  document  and  swear  that  it  contains  no  malice  and  that  I 
think  it  is  necessary. — Nicolas  de  Pessoa  y  Figueroa. 

Decree : — In  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  on  the  twentieth  day  of 
the  month  of  March  of  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  sixty-nine,  before  me 
Field  Master  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  resident  encomendero  and  Mayor  of  the 
said  brotherhood,  Lieutenant  Governor,  High  Justice  and  Captain  of  this 
town,  districts  and  jurisdiction,  by  appointment  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God 
save),  this  petition  was  presented  with  the  other  documents  therein  expressed, 
and  after  having  seen  them  and  considering  just  the  petition  of  the  Attorney 
General  of  this  town  who  submitted  it,  I  declare  it  as  presented  according  to 
law,  and  for  further  illustration  of  the  petition  I  order  the  said  Attorney  Gen- 
eral to  be  notified  to  appear  and  inform  as  to  the  needs  which  he  alleges  in 
his  name ;  before  the  Sergeant  Mayor  Felipe  Rege  Corvalan,  Governor  and 
Captain  General  of  this  province  of  Paraguay  by  appointment  of  His  Majesty 
(whom  God  save)  and  that  in  obedience  to  the  orders  of  Your  Excellencies  I 
am  ready  to  aid  and  succor  the  said  residents;  I  thus  decide,  order  and  sign, 


—  254  — 

before  me  and  two  witnesses  in  the  absence  of  a  Royal  or  a  Notary  Public 
and  in  this  paper  for  want  of  sealed  one. — Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo. 


Notification. — I  immediately,  in  the  same  month  and  year,  as  Lieu- 
tenant Governor,  read  and  notified  the  decree  of  the  other  sheet,  to  Captain 
Nicolas  Pessoa  y  Figueroa;  General  Subtreasurer  of  the  Royal  Treasury  of 
this  town  and  Attorney  General  of  the  community;  he  heard  it  in  the  pres- 
ence of  these  witnesses,  the  Sergeant  Major  Anastasio  Cristaldo  and  Nicolas 
Martinez,  residents  of  this  town  who  signed  with  me. — Rui  Diaz  Melgare- 
jo.— ^Witness  Nicolas  Martinet. — Witness  Anastnsio  Cristaldo. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COUNCIL,  JUSTICES  AND  BOARD  OF  ALDER- 
MEN. 
Honorable  Governor : 

The  neighbors  and  residents  of  this  town,  on  account  of  the  needs  which 
they  suffer  and  have  suffered  in  this  place,  not  only  on  account  of  not  having 
streams  or  springs  which  give  permanent  water  but  also  because  the  land  does 
not  yield  any  product,  petition  the  General  Attorney  of  the  community  by  a 
document  signed  with  their  names,  in  which  the  causes  which  are  to  be  re- 
medied are  expressed  ;  in  conformity  with  which  the  Attorney  General  asks 
for  aid  in  the  writing  referred  to  in  this  petition,  to  this  assembled  Council ; 
this  council  has  seen  and  discussed  the  same  and  we  say  :  that  what  the  res- 
idents ask  and  allege  in  the  said  petition,  and  by  the  Attorney  in  their  name, 
is  certain  and  true,  in  reference  to  the  waters  of  the  fountains,  streams  and 
springs  of  this  place  and  district  as  they  are  not  permanent  because  in  any 
dry  weather  not  one  drop  of  water  good  to  drink,  not  even  for  cattle,  is  found, 
and  in  the  rainy  season,  although  it  be  little,  all  the  land  is  overflown  with  it 
and  remains  steril  and  does  not  give  any  product  on  account  of  being 
low  lands  ;  this  has  been  the  experience  of  the  said  residents  while  they  have 
been  in  this  place,  and  as  they  allege  and  it  is  certain  that  if  they  remain 
here  it  will  be  their  total  ruin,  therefore  it  is  very  convenient  to  grant  them 
the  petition  asked  for  to  plant  and  sow  this  year  in  the  places  which  they 
have  seen,  as  they  are  the  best  and  most  proper  for  their  labor  and  susten- 
ance, and  this  town  might  be  kept  up  until  His  Majesty  or  His  Viceroy  of  these 
Kingdoms  determines  and  orders  otherwise.  And  we  thus  certify  and  signed 
it,  before  ourselves  in  the  absence  of  a  Notary,  in  this  paper  on  account  of 
not  having  a  sealed  one  and  the  original  was  delivered  to  the  said  Attorney, 
— In  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  on  the  seventeenth  day  of  the  month 
of  April  of  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy-nine. — Rui  Diaz  Melga- 
rejo.—  Manuel  Christaldo. — Fernando  Arias  de  Saavedra. — Pedro 

BeNITEZ. — RODRIGO    DE   BOBRA. — CRISTOBAL    DEL  ViLLAR. IgNACIO    SaN- 

chez. — Melchor  Christaldo. — ^Juan  Sanchez  Valderrama. 

Petition. — The  Field   Master  Juan  Mendez   de  Leiva,  resident  of  this 


—  255  — 

community  qnd  Attorney  General  of  it  and  of  the  residents  of  this  Villa  Rica 
del  Espiritu  Santo,  in  the  best  form  of  law,  for  the  good,  increase,  and  safety 
of  this  republic,  before  Your  Honor  says :  that  the  Honorable  Council  of  this 
town  has  appointed  him  jointly  with  Captain  Nicolas  de  Pessoa  y  Figueroa, 
Lieutenant  of  the  Royal  Judges  and  Officers  of  the  town,  as  Attorney  to  go  to 
the  city  of  La  Asumpcion  and  ask  the  Sargeant  Mayor  Felipe  Rege  Corvalan, 
Governor  and  Captain  General  of  this  Province  of  Paraguay  for  His  Majesty 
(who  God  save)  to  grant  the  license  for  the  said  residents,  so  that  they  can 
make  their  plantations  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  Tebiquari  as  they  have 
asked  by  their  petition  and  by  the  one  of  the  said  Captain  Nicolas  Pessoa  y  Fi- 
gueroa who  was  last  year  Attorney  General,  all  which  is  here  reproduced 
with  everything  else  that  has  been  said,  so  that  the  best  effect  be  obtained 
and  the  said  residents  be  given  what  theyask  for,  after  Your  Honors  informed 
themselves  of  the  inconvenients  alleged  by  the  said  residents  and  the  Attor- 
ney in  their  name,  inconvenients  of  the  lands  where  in  this  town  is  situated 
at  present,  which  are  public  and  patent,  the  first  and  principal  is  that  the 
lands  of  the  resident's  plantations  are  very  low,  the  hills  not  high,  with  little 
water  the  said  low  lands  are  overflown,  for  which  reason  the  sowings  and 
plants  do  not  produce  any  fruit  and  not  even  the  seed  which  was  planted. 

Wherever  there  is  dry  weather,  no  matter  how  short,  everything  is 
burnt  up. 

The  second  is  that  the  waters  of  the  streams  and  dried  wells  are  not 
abundant  nor  permanent,  as  has  been  seen  by  experience,  and  in  the  forty 
day's  of  dry  weather  two  streams  near  this  place  were  turned  into  wells  from 
which  no  water  could  be  drank;  and  all  the  other  low  lands  which  had 
water,  dried  up  causing  the  residents  who  had  horses,  mares  and  oxen  to 
search  for  water;  and  had  this  dry  weather  continued  for  a  longer  period,  liv- 
ign  in  this  place  would  have  been  out  of  the  question. 

The  third  is  that  none  of  the  plantations  of  the  residents  can  be  reached 
without  passing  swamps  which  are  dangerous  and  which  surround  this  town, 
as  all  the  land  is  low  and  plain  and  has  not  been  improved  by  their  use,  as 
can  be  seen  by  those  in  which  it  has  been  tried. 

The  fourth  is  that  the  lands  are  very  unhealthy  on  account  of  the  cold 
vapors  which  rise  from  the  swamps  every  evening  from  nine  or  ten  to  the 
morning  many  times,  as  it  has  been  proven  in  three  years,  more  or  less,  since 
the  said  residents  assembled  in  this  place  where  many  of  them  have  died, 
in  regard  to  which,  information  can  be  given.  And  also  as  to  the  comodi- 
ties  that  the  lands  of  the  other  side  of  the  river  Tebiquari  have.  As  the  said 
residents  declare,  they  are  high  and  rolling,  which  is  a  sign  by  which  they 
are  recognized  as  fertile  and  abundant  as  can  be  seen  by  the  high  trees  of  the 
mountains,  and  the  grasses  of  the  fields ;  the  waters  of  the  springs  and  the 
streams  show  that  they  are  permanent,  by  the  force  with  which  the  water 
runs  and  bubles;  the  said  lands,  with  sHght  effort,  can  be  made  productive 
of  fish;  and  continuing  the  exploration  in  the  said  land,  the  way  will  be  found 
to  the  grass  regions  where  Aquirauqua  is  now,  which  must  be  at  a  short  dis- 
tance as  can  be  judged  by  the  smoke  seen  by  the  said  residents;  and  according 


—  256  — 

to  the  improvement  shown  during  the  period  of  one  year,  this  town  can  pass 
with  all  its  residents  to  enjoy  the  said  lands  with  the  license  which  for  that 
purpose  will  be  given  by  the  Governor  of  this  province,  until  His  Majesty 
(whom  God  save)  or  His  Royal  Council  of  the  Indies  or  the  most  excellent  Vi- 
ceroy of  the  Kingdoms  or  the  Royal  Superior  Court  of  the  Plate  orders  and 
commands  otherwise ;  and  so  that  the  report  be  complete,  either  one  way  or 
the  other,  I  offer  to  make  it  sufficient  with  witnesses  who  will  be  men  of  ex- 
perience and  of  good  conscience,  fearful  of  God  Our  Lord  and  zealous  in  the 
service  of  His  Majesty  and  of  the  good  of  the  Republic,  who  as  such  will  say 
and  declare  the  truth  of  what  they  know  and  have  seen  in  this  place,  as 
well  as  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  Tebiquari;  and  the  due  authority  and 
judicial  decree  will  be  given  to  it  so  that  it  shall  be  testimony,  by  delivering 
the  original ;  therefore  to  Your  Honor  I  ask  and  beg  to  consider  this  my 
petition,  with  the  request  of  the  residents,  as  presented,  and  everything  else 
done  in  conformity  to  it,  and  all  herein  reproduced,  so  that  it  shall  be  con- 
sidered as  the  begining  of  the  report  which  I  have  offered  to  give  upon  the  said 
points:  said  petition  you  will  please  admit  and  examine  on  the  testimony 
presented  by  me  upon  the  said  points,  and  that  you  will  order  the  original  to 
be  given  me,  and  that  you  will  do  justice  to  this  town, its  neighbors  and  resi 
dents,  all  of  which  I  ask  and  swear  in  due  form  in  the  necessary  legal  form 
Juan  Mendez  de  Leiva.  Decree :  Let  it  be  considered  as  presented  together 
with  the  said  documents  referred  to,  and  let  the  petitioner  be  notified  to 
bring  the  witnesses  which  he  promises  for  the  information  offered,  whom  I  am 
ready  to  examine.  Thus  I  decided  and  signed,  the  decree  of  the  said  field 
Master  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  resident  Mayor  of  the  Holy  Brotherhood,  Lieu- 
tenant Governor,  High  Justice  and  Captain  of  this  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu 
Santo  and  its  jurisdiction,  for  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save)  before  me  and  the 
witnesses,  in  the  absence  of  a  Notary,  and  in  this  paper  for  want  of  sealed 
one,  in  this  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  the  month 
of  Agust  of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty. — Rui  Diaz  Mel- 
garejo. —  Nicolaz  Alartin  de  Villaliia.  Witnesses :  Cristobal  Colmajt. — 
Certification:  and  after  the  above,  in  the  said  month  and  year,  I  the  said 
Lieutenant  and  High  Justice,  read  and  notified  what  I  decided,  to  the  field 
Master  Juan  Mendez  de  Leiva,  resident  and  Attorney  General  in  person,  and 
he  heard  it  and  said  that  he  would  attend  with  the  witnesses  for  the  informa- 
tion which  he  has  offered  to  give.  He  thus  certifyes  it  and  signs  it  with  two 
witnesses  in  the  abcense  of  a  Notary,  and  in  this  paper  for  want  of  sealed  one.o 
Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo. — Witnesses,  Nicolas  Martinez,  Cristobal  Colman. 
Declaration  of  Field  Master  Hernando  Arias  de  Saavedra.  In  the  Villa  Rica 
del  Espiritu  Santo,  in  the  last  day  of  the  month  of  August,  of  the  year  one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty,  for  the  information  which  the  Field  Master 
Juan  Mendez  de  Leiva,  resident  and  Attorney  General,  has  offered  upon  the 
points  of  this  request,  presented  as  witness  field  Master  Hernando  Arias  de 
Saavedra,  resident  of  this  town,  who  appeared  before  me  the  said  Lieute- 
nant Governor  and  High  Justice  of  this  town  and  its  jurisdiction,  and  after 
taking  the  due  oath  in  the  name  of   God,  Our  Lord,  with  the  sign  of   the 


•  X  —  257  — 

Gross,  in  due  form  of  law,  he  promised  to  say  the  truth  of  whatever  he  knew; 
and  being  asked,  after  reading  the  petition  of  the  said  Attorney  and  hearing 
its  contents  and  the  points  thereof,  he  declared  that  everything  therein  is  true 
and  certain  as  towhat  he  said  in  the  report, to  which  he  refers,  made  to  the  Coun- 
cil last  year,  when  he  was  second  ordinary  Mayor ;  he  also  refers  to  the  said 
report  as  to  the  second  point  which  treats  of  the  streams  and  wells  which 
were  without  good  water  to  drink,  which  if  the  dry  season  would  have  been 
prolonged,  living  there  would  have  been  undoubtedly  impossible,  and  to  this 
he  testified:  as  to  the  third  point  he  said,  that  none  of  the  plantations  of  the 
residents  can  be  reached  without  passing  many  dangerous  swamps,  which 
have  not  been  improved  even  with  use  as  declared  by  the  said  Attorney ;  as 
to  the  fourth  point  he  said  that  the  lands  are  very  unhealthy  on  account  of 
the  cold  vapors  that  rise  from  the  swamps  from  evening  to  nine  or  ten  in  the 
morning,  as  it  is  public  and  has  been  seen  for  three  years  more  or  less,  in  this 
place,  where  many  residents  have  died  ;  and  as  to  what  the  said  Attorney 
says  in  regard  to  the  commodities  that  exist  in  the  lands  on  the  other  side  of 
the  river  Tebiquari,  that  its  hills  are  high  and  extensive,  with  permanent 
springs  and  streams,  as  were  seen  by  the  witness  when  he  went  there,  and  as 
he  declared  in  the  said  report  made  to  the  Council  of  this  town,  he  learned 
that  they  were  better  and  more  proper  for  the  plantations  of  the  said  residents 
and,  in  this  declaration  which  he  now  makes,  he  says  that  it  is  very  convenient 
for  the  residents  to  move  and  settle  said  town  so  that  its  residents  would  not  die ; 
there  they  could  reside  in  the  same  form  as  here,  until  His  Majesty  (whom  God 
save),  His  Royal  Council,  or  the  Most  Excellent  Viceroy  of  these  Kingdoms,  com- 
mands, and  orders,  otherwise;  he  declares  that  what  he  has  said  is  public  and 
notorious  truth,  among  the  residents  and  other  persons  who  enter  and  go  out 
of  this  place ;  this  document  was  read  to  him  and  he  declared  that  he  found 
it  correct  ,and  that  he  confirmed  and  ratified  it,  he  declared  he  was  sixty 
years  old,  more  or  less,  and  he  signed  it  with  his  name  together  with  me  and 
before  me  and  witnesses,  in  the  absence  of  a  Notary,  and  in  this  paper  for 
want  of  sealed  one,  Rui  diaz  Melgarejo. — Hernando  Arias  de  Saave- 
DRA. — Witnesses:  Nicolas  Martinez  de  Villalua. — Cristobal  Colnian,  And 
then  inmediately,  in  the  same  day,  month  and  year,  before  the  said  Lieute- 
nant and  High  Justice,  the  said  Attorney,  for  the  information  that  he  has  of- 
fered, presented  as  witnesses.  Captain  Juan  Dominguez,  resident  of  this  town, 
who  beign  duly  sworn  according  to  law,  promised  to  say  the  truth  of  what  he 
knew  in  the  case,  and  after  I  the  said  Lieutenant,  reading  to  him  the  peti- 
tion of  the  said  Attorney  and  after  hearing  the  points  thereof,  he  said :  as  to 
the  first,  that  he  knows,  has  seen  and  experienced  everything  therein  con- 
tained, in  the  three  years,  more  or  less,  that  he  has  lived  in  this  place,  and 
he  has  not  been  able  to  enjoy  nor  see  the  product  of  his  work  of  cultivation 
and  sowing  because  the  lands  were  low  and  the  hills  very  small,  being 
swampy ;  that  it  had  happened  to  him  that  he  has  not  been  able  to  husband 
even  the  seed,  and  also  that  the  plants  have  no  force  to  take  roots  and  there- 
by he  suffers  great  needs  and  to-day  he  finds  himself  without  seeds  for  his 
sowing.     As  to  the  second  point  he  says  that  he  knows  and   has  seen  that 


—  258  — 

these  lands  have  no  permanent  waters  in  their  streams  and  wells,  that  dur- 
ing the  dry  weather  which  did  not  last  for  more  than  forty  days  this  was  ex- 
perimented, and  that  had  it  continued,  the  residents  would  have  not  been 
able  to  remain  there,  and  that  for  this  reason  they  had  to  search  for  water 
for  their  horses,  oxen  and  mares,  all  of  which  indicates  that  the  site  should 
be  changed :  as  to  the  third  he  said,  that  he  knew  and  has  seen  no  plantation 
of  any  resident  whatever  which  can  be  reached  without  passing  bad  swamps, 
on  account  of  the  low  lands,  and  that  the  roads  have  not  improved,  notwith- 
standing two  carts  running  on  them. 

As  to  the  fourth  point  he  said,  that  the  said  lands  are  very  unhealthy  on 
account  of  the  cold  vapors  which  ordinarily  rise  during  the  evenings  and 
continue  to  nine  or  ten  o'clock  of  the  next  day,  which  was  experimented 
in  the  said  three  years  in  which  many  residents  have  died,  and  it  is  thus  declared 
by  deponent  that  continuing  in  this  place  and  in  all  its  vicinity  is  impos- 
sible, and  that  for  the  said  reasons,  the  said  residents  last  year  moved  in  the 
number  of  thirty  six  to  thp  other  side  of  the  River  Tebiquari,  one  of  them 
being  the  deponent,  and  all  agreed  and  saw  that  the  lands  were  better  on 
account  of  being  extensive  and  high  hills  with  springs  and  streams  whose 
waters  appeared  to  be  permanent,  by  the  force  and  abundance  with  which 
they  gushed  forth  and  ran,  without  being  clear;  and  they  found  that  the  said 
lands  were  fertile  by  the  woods  and  the  high  trees  of  them  and  the  grasses  ; 
and  they  also  noticed  that  the  said  River  Tebiquari  bordered  the  said  lands, 
and  that  from  it,  although  in  a  small  scale,  some  fish  may  be  had  with  slight 
efforts,  and  that  continuing  the  exploration  of  the  said  lands,  a  road  would  be 
found  to  the  grasses,  as  the  smoke  which  the  residents  and  the  deponent  saw 
seemed  very  near  of  the  Guaraucua  fields,  and  from  everything  that  he 
has  seen  and  the  experience  which  he  has  of  said  lands,  he  says  that  in  two 
harvests  the  lands  will  be  found  to  be  fertile  and  abundant  not  only  for  pro- 
ducts, but  also  for  the  cattle,  and  that  the  town  should  be  moved  so  as  to 
enjoy  these  benefits,  the  Governor  of  this  province  granting  that  it  continue 
in  the  same  form  as  at  present  until  His  Majesty  (whom  God  Save),  his  Royal 
Council  or  the  Most  Excellent  Viceroy  of  these  Kingdoms,  orders  and  com- 
mands other\vise;  and  that  everything  said  and  declared  he  holds  to  be  public 
and  notorious  truth  among,  all  the  residents  of  this  town  and  all  those  per- 
sons who  have  come  to  it  ;  and  after  having  read  this  declaration  to  him  he 
said  that  it  was  correct  and  that  he  confirmed  and  ratified  it,  and  that  he  is 
sixty-four  years  old,  and  he  signed  it  with  his  name,  with  witnesses,  before 
me,  in  the  absence  of  the  Notary  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo. — Juan  Dominguez. — 
Witness,  Nicolas  Martinez  de  Villalua. — ^Witness,  Cristobal  Colman. 


Declaration  of  Captain  Francisco  Fernandez. —  In  the  said  town,  on 
the  second  day  of  the  month  of  September  of  the  year  one  thousand  six- 
hundred  and  eight,  before  me,  the  said  Lieutenant  and  High  Justice  of  its 
district,  the  said  Attorney  General,  for  the  information  offered,  presented  as 


—  ?59  — 

witness  Capitain  Francisco  Fernandez  de  Mora,  resident  of  this  town,  who 
took  the  oath  in  due  form  of  law  and,  by  Our  Lord  and  the  sign  of  the  Cross, 
promised  to  say  the  truth  ;  and  after  having  read  to  him  the  petition  of  the 
said  Attorney,  and  after  hearing  what  is  therein  alleged,  he  declared  and  said 
in  regard  of  the  tenor  and  the  points  thereof,  as  follow  :  As  to  the  first  he 
said  that  it  is  public  and  notorious  what  it  contains  in  reference  to  the  faults 
of  the  lands,  on  account  of  these  being  low  and  plain  lands,  the  hills  very 
low  and  therefore  very  little  water  overflows  them,  and  on  the  other  hand,  in 
dry  weather  everything  burns,  and  the  plantations,  do  not  produce  nor  the 
plants  remain,  and  so  the  residents  find  themselves  to-day  without  means 
nor  seeds  for  sowing;  as  to  the  second  he  said  that  the  shallowness  of  the  two 
streams  near  this  place  and  the  dried  wells  were  caused  by  forty  days  of  dry 
wheather  and  that  the  water  of  the  said  streams  was  unfit  to  drink,  and  not 
even  could  it  be  used  for  washing  clothes,  and  that  there  was  no  water  in  the 
valleys  where  the  farms  of  the  residents  are,  and  there  was  none  for  the  cattle, 
horses  and  mares,  and  the  residents  have  to  go  from  one  place  to  another 
looking  for  a  site  where  there  would  be  water,  for  in  case  the  dry  weather 
continued  they  could  not  remain  in  this  place  nor  in  their  vicinity  ;  as  to 
the  third,  he  said  that  everything  contained  therein  he,  the  deponent,  knows, 
has  seen  and  experimented,  th.'it  all  the  plantations  have  to  be  reached  through 
dangerous  and  bad  swamps,  on  account  of  which  the  residents  come  to  this 
city  all  besmeared  and  full  of  mud,  and  this  is  more  to  be  deplored  in  the 
case  of  the  ladies,  for  they  suffer  thereby  many  sicknesses,  that  in  three  years 
the  roads  have  not  improved  by  the  frequent  use  nor  by  the  two  carts  which 
try  to  fix  them  ;  as  to  the  fourth,  he  said  that  the  lands  are  very  unhealthy 
because  of  the  cold  vapor  that  rises  from  the  swamps  from  evening  to  nine 
or  ten  in  the  morning  ;  he  has  seen  this  during  the  three  years  which  he  has 
lived  there  and  knows  also  of  many  deaths  of  residents  due  to  it ;  that  if  this 
continues  the  town  will  be  consumed  and  will  be  weakened,  and  that  for  this 
reason  it  is  very  convenient  that  the  residents  move  to  the  other  side  of  the 
River  Tebiquari,  where  they  can  make  [their  plantations  as  the  hills  are  high 
as  seen  by  the  deponent,  and  the  lands  fertile  and  abundant  as  judged  by  the 
large  trees  of  the  mountains  and  the  grasses  of  the  fields,  and  by  the  waters 
of  the  streams  which  have  their  sources  in  the  high  lands  of  Ybiturisi,  and 
some  are  permanent,  and  also  the  springs  which  gush  forth  with  great  force, 
and  the  said  river  although  in  a  small  scale,  has  fish,  which  with  sHght  effort 

Note. — This  document  terminates   here:  it  is  incomplete,  the  end  being 
missing. 


1726 


ROTAL    LETTERS 

Orderingr  that  the  thirty  Indian  Reductions  of  the  Company  of 

the  Jesuits,   in  the  District  of  Paraguay,  be  placed  under 

the  Jurisdiction  of  the  O-overnment  of  Buenos  Ayres, 

and  the  College  of  Iia  Asumpcion  be  restored  to  the 

Possession  of  the  Fathers  of  said  Society.  {*) 

THE  KING  : 
Whereas,  we  have  heard  what  Geronimo  Herran,  of  the  Company  of 
the  Jesuits,  and  Attorney  General  of  the  same  Order  for  the  provinces  of 
Paraguay,  Tucuman  and  Buenos  Ayres  has  said  regarding  the  persecutions 
that  the  Missionaries  of  his  religion  have  suffered  from  the  Governors  and  of- 
ficers of  Justice  of  Paraguay,  to  the  extreme  of  having  taken  to  prison  two 
Missionary  Fathers  and  expelled  from  the  College  of  La  Asumpcion  those 
Fathers  who  had  the  care  of  souls  in  that  province  ;  and  considering  that  the 
restitution  of  said  College  has  not  been  made  even  after  the  orders  given  to 
that  effect  by  the  Audiencia  de  Charcas  and  the  Vice-Roy  of  Peru  ;  and  con- 
sidering that  this  hatred  extends  to  the  Indians  of  the  reservations  which  are 
under  the  care  of  said  Missionaries,  in  the  said  district,  many  of  whom  fled, 
out  of  fear  of  said  persecution,  to  the  woods  with  their  women  and  families, 
as  happened  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-four  with 
the  Indians  of  the  pueblos  of  Nuestra  Senora  de  Santa  Fe,  Santiago,  San  Ig- 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archive  of 
Indies,  which  in  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul,  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of 
group  A,  No.  81  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  262  — 

nacio  and  Santa  Rosa  ;  and  considering  the  great  injury  done  to  the  service 
of  God  and  our  own  service  by  such  proceedings,  contrary  to  the  zeal  and 
loyalty  always  displayed  by  said  Indians  at  every  opportunity,  either  in  the 
pursuit  of  war  or  fort  building  in  Buenos  Ayres,  they  doing  the  service  with 
arms  and  horses  at  their  own  cost,  and  mindful  of  the  convenience  of  reas- 
suring them  in  the  belief  that  in  future  they  are  not  to  be  thus  harmed,  and  of 
the  difficulties  to  be  encountered,  while  the  Indians  already  converted  labor 
under  their  present  state  of  fear,  to  reduce  those  yet  unconverted,  the  reduc- 
tion of  which  has  always  been  our  aim  and  that  of  our  glorious  predecessor, 
since  the  discovery  of  America,  I  have  resolved,  among  other  provisions  I 
have  taken,  for  the  time  being  and  for  so  long  as  I  may  not  order  it  other- 
wise, that  the  said  thirty  reductions  which  are  under  the  care  of  the  said 
Company,  in  the  district  of  Paraguay,  be  placed  under  the  sole  power  and 
jurisdiction  of  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres,  and  that  the  Governors  and 
officers  of  Justice  of  Paraguay,  have  absolutely  no  control  over  said  reduc- 
tions, and  I  have  further  resolved  that  the  said  College  of  La  Asumpcion  be 
inmediately  restored  to  the  said  Fathers,  of  which  they  were  despoiled,  so 
that  they  may  continue  to  exercise  there  their  Apostolic  Mission. 

Therefore,  I  order  the  Vice-Roy  of  Peru  and  the  Audiencia  de  Charcas, 
that  as  soon  as  this  Royal  Letter  be  shown  to  them,  they  shall  give 
positive  orders  to  have  it  executed,  seeing  that  the  separation  from  the  gov- 
ernment of  Paraguay  of  the  thirty  Indian  pueblos  of  the  Company  of  Jesus  is 
fulfilled,  and  that  the  said  reductions  are  placed  under  the  control  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  Buenos  Ayres,  taking  care  also  that  the  Governor  and  officers  of 
Justice  of  Paraguay  restore  to  the  Fathers  of  the  Company  of  Jesus,  the  Col- 
lege of  La  Asumpcion;  said  Vice-Roy  of  Peru  and  Audiencia  de  Charcas  be- 
ing charged  to  inform  me  of  the  execution  of  this  Royal  letter  patent  at  the 
first  opportunity. 

Given  at  San  Lorenzo,  on  the  sixth  day  of  November,  in  the  year  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-six. — THE  KING.     P.  Dn.  Francisco 

DE    ROSCANO. 

(Three  signatures.) 


1  743 


Royal  Letters  enumerating  the  thirty  Pueblos  of  IKIisiones  of 
Farag-uay,  in  charge  of  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  issuing  instructions  to  be  observed 
in  their  fliture  Government.  {*) 

THE  KING : — Don  Bartolome  de  Adunate,  Governor  of  Paraguay, 
having  placed  before  my  Royal  notice,  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  twenty  six,  how  convenient  it  wouFd  be  that  in  the  pueblos 
which  were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  said  Province  and  that  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  in  charge  of  the  misions  of  the  Order,  there  would  be  two  magistrates 
who  would  put  the  Indians  (which  were  xnore  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  in  number  who  do  not  contribute  any  thing)  under  contribution,  as 
was  done  with  the  other  Indians  of  the  other  Provinces  of  Peru,  and  to  open 
a  public  commerce  which  would  produce  great  benefits  to  the  Indians,  and 
that  out  of  the  profits  of  their  productions  and  industry,  taxes  could  be 
collected  and  their  value  distributed,  so  as  to  maintain  the  treasury  of  Chili 
and  the  presidio  of  Buenos  Ayres,  and  the  rest  of  the  great  amount  remaining 
would  be  for  my  Royal  Treasury;  these  magistrates,  whenever  necessary, 
aiding  the  presidio  of  Buenos  Ayres,  the  Governor  of  Paraguay,  in  case  of 
appeal  from  the  decrees  and  judgment  of  the  Magistrates,  to  have  juris- 
diction, and  the  said  Magistrates  to  be  under  the  obligation  of  collecting  the 
tax  from  the  Indians  who  should  have  not  contributed  until  then,  the  same 
as  in  the  other  Provinces,  collecting  the  said  tax  in  the  form  of  goods,   and 


(*).  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archives 
of  Indies,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  Consul  of  the  United  States  of  America  at 
Sevile,  forms  part  of  group  A,  No.  22,  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  « Argentine 
Evidence, » 


—  264  — 

products  or  their  industries,  all  to  be  deposited  in  the  city  of  Asumpcion  of 
Paraguay  with  a  Treasurer  and  an  Auditor  who  are  to  receive  them  and  to 
keep  an  account  of  this  contribution,  they  also  to  correspond  with  the 
Magistrates ;  from  this  place  the  tributes  are  to  pass  to  the  city  of  Santa  Fe 
de  la  Vera  Cruz,  there  to  be  converted  into  Aioney  and  remitted  to  the 
treasury  of  Buenos  Ayres  for  the  payment  of  that  presidio  and  of  the  army  of 
Chili.  In  view  of  this  and  of  what  was  determined  in  regard  to  this  point  by 
the  Council  of  Indies  in  the  consultations  of  the  twenty  fifth  of  May  of 
the  same  year,  I  deemed  it  convenient  to  command,  by  Royal  Letters  of  the 
eighth  of  July  of  the  following  year,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty 
seven,  the  Governors  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  of  Paraguay,  to  collect,  in  con- 
formity with  the  laws  of  my  Dominion  of  the  Indies,  from  any  Indian  what- 
ever, the  tributes  and  taxes  as  it  has  been  ordered,  and  to  inform,  in  case 
they  have  not  done  so,  the  reason  why.  Of  all  this  I  also  ordered  that 
notice  of  it  be  given  to  the  Viceroy  of  Peru,  so  that  he  should  report  as  to 
these  news,  and  if  they  be  true,  to  observe  the  conduct  of  the  said  Governors, 
so  that,  in  case  of  omission  of  any  one  of  them,  he  should  act  as  it  be  most 
convenient  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  said  Royal  orders  ;  in  consequence  of 
which,  Don  Martin  de  Barua,  temporary  Governor  of  Paraguay,  in  a  letter 
dated  the  twenty  fifth  of  September,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty, 
declared  that  he  has  been  five  years  Governor  of  the  said  Province,  and  that 
the  information  in  regard  to  the  number  expressed  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  Indians  which  are  supposed  could  be  taxed  in  the  Misiones  of  both 
Provinces  was  given  without  knowledge  of  the  case  ;  he  had  seen  and 
examined  the  rolls  of  the  thirteen  tribes  of  his  district,  and  he  finds  that 
in  the  two  Provinces  there*  were  not  more  than  forty  thousand  Indians  that 
can  be  taxed,  and  that  if  they  exceed  this  number  it  is  by  very  little,  and 
that  in  regard  to  the  thirteen  tribes,  they  had,  according  to  the  rolls,  from  ten 
thousand  five  hundred  to  eleven  thousand  taxable  Indians  ;  from  which  he 
infers  that  the  tribes  of  this  district  of  Buenos  Ayres,  which  are  nineteen  or 
twenty,  will  have  all  together  about  forty  thousand  taxable  Indians :  that 
as  to  the  establishment  of  Spanish  Magistrates,  great  troubles  would  follow, 
for  these  Indians  had  always  been  under  the  Fathers  of  the  Order,  without 
recognizing  any  body  but  their  Provincial  and  curates,  and  any  change  in 
their  government  would  drive  them  to  rebellion,  as  their  settlements  are  in 
good  situation  for  it,  and  the  distance  of  the  tribes  from  the  Spanish  settle- 
ments is  so  great  that  they  could  not  be  submitted,  the  nearest  tribe  to 
Buenos  Ayres  being  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  leagues  distant  and  others 
three  hundred.  And  as  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  said  Government  of  Para- 
guay, there  were  three  tribes  distant  fifty  leagues  from  the  said  city,  and 
three,  seventy  leagues,  the  others  were  on  the  other  side  of  the  great  river 
Parana,  distant  one  from  the  other  seven  and  eight  leagues.  That  in  casd  it 
is  considered  convenient,  in  the  seven  now  nearest  pueblos  to  that  city, 
riamely,  San  Ignacio  Guazii,  Nuestra  Seiiora  de  Fee.  Santa  Rosa,  Santiago, 
Itapua,  El  Jesus  and  La  Trinidad,  a  Magistrate  could  be  ordered  to  be  placed, 
for  in  all  circumstances  aid  could  be  given  to  him  by  the  Spanish  people  of 


—  265  — 

that  Province,  although  he  thought  it  difficult  of  obtaining  it.  The  said 
Martin  de  Barua  added  that  supossing  this  to  be  done  there  would  be  nobody 
who  would  desire  the  position,  for  they  fear  principally  the  missionary 
preachers  who  from  their  first  foundation  had  the  idea  of  settling  at  such 
distance,  that  commerce  with  the  Spaniards  would  be  impossible  ;  moreover, 
the  Indians  were  under  prohibitions,  even  in  the  tribe  of  San  Ignacio  Guazu, 
which  had  an  entrance  on  the  road  immediate  to  it  and  was  fenced  in:  it  was 
necessary  for  the  Spaniards,  in  trading,  to  pass  by  the  said  gate,  but  they 
were  not  freely  allowed  to  do  so  and  to  go  in  the  town :  they  could  only  do  it 
if  the  preacher  gave  license,  and  not  otherwise. 

That,  in  regard  to  the  tax,  he  informed  that  in  the  said  Province  it  was 
calculated  at  eight  yards  of  cloth,  which  was  the  pay  of  tv/o  months'  work  of 
each  Indian  ;  and  that,  as  these  Indians  were  not  free,  as  those  of  Peru,  and 
their  work  was  at  the  will  of  the  preacher,  represented  by  the  Indian  minister, 
and  what  is  produced  is  accumulated  by  the  said  preachers  to  form  the 
property  of  the  community,  without  the  Indians  possessing  any  part  of  it,  but 
the  cloth  which  was  given  for  their  dress  and  what  was  set  apart  for  their 
sustenance,  all  which  was  under  the  charge  of  the  preacher,  for  this  reason, 
and  considering  the  urgent  needs  ol  my  Royal  service,  specially  as  to  the 
Indians  of  the  district  of  Buenos  Ayres  who  served  in  the  frontier  of  the  said 
port,  it  seems  to  him  that  they  should  only  be  taxed  one  half  of  the  eight 
yards  of  cloth,  or  two  dollars  in  silver,  provided  that  they  always  be  ready  to 
serve  in  my  Royal  needs,  and  notifying  them  the  pious  equity  with  which  my 
Royal  kindness  attended  them  ;  for  although  the  Indians  of  the  jurisdiction 
of  Paraguay  have  also  given  in  the  past  their  services  to  the  defense  of  the 
said  Province,  for  many  years  they  have  almost  ceased  to  do  so,  for  which 
reason  the  same  order  could  be  applied  to  them.  That  in  regard  to  the 
reason  why  these  Indians  have  not  been  put  under  contribution,  he  did  not 
find  any  other  but  the  one  accompanying  the  enclosed  Memorial  of  a  resolu- 
tion of  the  Royal  Treasury  passed  at  Lima  by  my  Viceroy,  the  Count  of  Sal- 
vatierra,  and  other  Ministers,  in  consequence  of  which,  one  dollar  in  silver 
was  imposed  as  a  tax  to  each  Indian  of  the  said  Doctrine,  to  be  delivered  to 
the  Royal  Treasury  of  Buenos  Ayres;  the  said  Viceroy  thus  deciding,  in 
accordance  with  the  petition  and  request  and  memorial  before  him :  This 
tax  was  not  collected,  and  from  this  part  the  deduction  is  made  that  from 
the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  ninety  one  of  its  adoption,  until  the 
year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty,  (calculating  that  during  all 
this  time  the  said  Doctrine  had  forty  thousand  Indians,  more  or  less),  in  the 
said  treasury  of  Buenos  Ayres  three  million  and  two  hundred  thousand  dollars 
were  missing  ;  the  officers  of  my  Royal  Treasury  having  not  taken  any 
step  for  their  collection,  on  account  of  the  respectful  relations  by  the  said 
fathers  efficaciously  maintained,  even  in  the  Court  of  my  Viceroy.  And  being 
informed  of  all  these  circumstances,  and  about  all  of  what  was  transmitted  to 
me  by  my  said  Council  of  the  Indies,  in  the  consultation  of  the  twenty  seven 
of  October  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty  two,  and  considering 
the  gravity  of  this  affair,  I  deemed  it  convenient  to  order  a  commission  to  be 


—  266  — 

given  to  Juan  Vazquez  de  Agiiero,  who  was  then  going  to  Buenos  Ayres,  to 
make  the  reports  suggested  in  the  consultation  ;  for  which  purpose  I  ordered 
the  Council  to  deliver  to  this  Minister  the  proper  instructions  advising  him 
to  confer  with  the  Superior  Fathers  of  the  Order  of  Jesuits  in  Paraguay  as  to 
what  could  be  done  in  regard  to  the  taxes  to  be  imposed  upon  the  Indians, 
and  their  collection :  I  ordered  at  the  same  time  to  my  said  Council  to  name 
a  person  in  Spain  to  interview  and  do  the  same  with  the  Attorneys  or  indivi- 
duals of  the  Order  who  were  going  to  those  Provinces,  so  that  after  seeing 
the  results  of  all  these  steps,  I  could  resolve  what  would  be  most  convenient. 
In  compliance  with  which,  the  proper  Orders  and  Instructions  were  given  to 
the  said  Juan  Vazquez  de  Agiiero  to  procure  the  said  information  ;  and  to 
instruct  this  Council,  after  due  examination  of  what  he  may  see,  upon  every 
one  of  the  points  desired  ;  the  said  Council  also,  in  compliance  with  my 
Royal  Resolution,  after  the  consultation  above-referred  to,  resolved  that 
after  this  report  was  received  together  wth  all  the  other  facts  and  those 
already  had,  Manuel  Martinez  de  Carvajal  (then  Attorney  of  my  said 
Council  with  reference  to  New  Spain  ),  and  Miguel  de  Villanueva,  my  Secre- 
tary, with  reference  to  Peru,  should  have  a  conference  with  the  Attorney 
General,  Father  Caspar  Rodero,  and  they  should  give  an  account  of  the  result 
in  regard  to  the  said  points  to  the  Council.  And  it  being  my  Royal  wish  to 
become  fully  informed  as  to  this  affair  of  so  much  notoriety,  on  account  of 
the  many  writings  and  anonymous  attacks  against  the  Fathers  of  the  Order 
as  well  as  the  answer  of  the  latter  to  these  charges,  it  was  necessary  to  make 
this  investigation  so  as  to  determine  whether  it  is  an  unjust  and  intolerable 
calumny  against  the  Religion,  which  should  be  vindicated  by  the  truth,  or 
that  the  undue  tolerance  results  in  a  notable  injury  to  my  Royal  Treasury, 
without  any  use  for  the  Royal  Patronage,  and  the  disobedience  of  the 
punctual  observation  of  my  orders  :  for  these  reasons  I  deemed  it  convenient 
to  order  that,  by  reserved  way  these  secret  Instructions,  including  all  the 
proper  points,  be  given  to  the  said  Juan  Vazquez  de  Agiiero.  With  these  do- 
cuments the  Minister  went  to  carry  out  his  commission,  and  in  virtue  of  it 
he  drew,  in  the  city  of  Buenos  Ayres,  the  judicial  proceedings  which 
resulted  from  both  inquiries  which  were  sent  in  February  of  the  year  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty  six,  with  the  said  testimony  not  only  to 
my  Royal  hands  but  also  to  the  Council,  in  which  he  says  the  following,  in 
regard  to  the  said  points  :  That  after  having  had  interviews  with  Martin  de 
Barua,  after  having  examined  the  papers,  rolls,  as  well  as  the  reports  of  the 
Bishops  of  that  Diocese  and  of  Paraguay,  and  the  declarations  of  the  most 
practical  laymen  and  ecclesiastics  of  those  pueblos,  to  the  number  of  ten,  he 
found  that  in  these  Misiones  of  the  Order  there  were  thirty  pueblos,  and  that 
the  lowest  estimate  as  to  the  number  of  taxable  Indians  was  thirty  thousand  : 
That  in  my  Royal  Treasury  of  that  Province  he  did  not  find  any  roll  for  the 
year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifteen, the  one  delivered  to  him  by  Barua 
was  only  of  fourteen  pueblos,  and  it  was  stated  therein,  that  at  that  time 
there  were  seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty  one  Indians  under  contri- 
bution :   That  he  had  seen  a  copy  of  the  one  made  in  the  year  one  thousand 


—  267  — 

§ix  hundred  and  seventy  seven  by  Diego  Ibanez  de  Faria,  Attorney  of  my 
Royal  Audiencia  of  Goathemala,  of  twenty  two  pueblos,  which  the  said  Mi- 
siones  had  at  the  time  :  That  he  had  been  unable  to  find  since  when  they  had 
increased,  for  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighteen,  when 
Bishop  Fray  Pedro  Fajardo  visited  all  the  pueblos,  said  Bishop  declared  that 
there  were  thirty,  with  twenty  eight  thousand  six  hundred  and  four  families, 
and  seventy  three  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty  seven  persons  :  That  in  the 
year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty  three,  in  a  document  executed  by 
the  Fathers,  adressed  to  the  Bishop  of  Paraguay,  it  was  declared  that  there 
were  twenty  seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy  five  families :  That 
in  the  one  delivered  to  him  by  the  Attorney  of  the  Misiones  in  regard  to  the 
number,  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty  four,  it  was  stated 
that  the  families  were  twenty  four  thousand  two  hundred  and  seventeen  ;  and 
finally,  that  Father  Jaime  de  Aguilar,  Provincial  of  those  Provinces,  had 
assured  him,  in  the  interview  which  they  held,  that  there  were  thirty  pueblos, 
and  that  there  were  living  in  them  twenty  four  thousand  tributaries  and  also 
that  by  the  sworn  certificates  of  the  parish  priests,  afterwards  delivered  to 
him  by  the  Provincial,  it  was  admitted  that  the  tributary  Indians  actually 
existing  were  nineteen  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixteen.  This  Minister,  in 
his  report,  declares  also,  that  the  pueblos  of  those  Misiones  are  of  great 
antiquity  for,  according  to  the  judicial  proceedings  had  before  Baltazar  Garcia 
Ros,  then  Governor  of  Paraguay,  as  to  whether  the  pueblos  of  the  Misiones 
should  be  placed  under  compulsory  labor  for  the  working  of  the  grass,  it  is 
proven  that  under  the  Government  of  the  said  Province  of  Paraguay  and 
River  Plate,  the  Fathers  of  the  Order  had  founded  already,  in  the  year  one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty,  more  than  twenty  reductions  and  pueblos 
of  Indians,  with  a  good  church  in  each  one  of  them,  and  that  there  were  in 
all  the  pueblos  more  than  seventy  thousand  souls  :  That  by  virtue  of  repeated 
Royal  Orders  all  those  who  had  not  reached  the  age  of  eighteen  were  exempt 
from  the  tribute,  as  well  as  those  who  had  reached  the  age  of  fifty,  and  all 
the  chiefs,  their  eldest  children  and  twelve  in  each  pueblo  who  were  assist- 
ing in  the  churches :  That  in  the  printed  paper  published  by  Father  Rodero 
he  assured  that  there  were  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  souls  in  the  thirty 
pueblos,  quoting  the  rolls  made  by  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres  which  could 
not  be  found,  nor  any  other  of  more  recent  date  could  exist,  for  although,  by 
my  Royal  Letter  of  the  twenty  fourth  of  August  of  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  eighteen,  the  said  census  of  the  reductions  was  ordered,  and  the 
surveying  of  their  Government  and  the  estimate  of  their  products,  so  that 
the  Indians  could  pay  the  tithes  to  the  church  authorities,  obliging  the  chiefs 
to  the  payment  of  the  tribute  and  its  delivery  to  my  Royal  Treasury,  this 
order  never  went  into  effect  because  the  Governor,  on  the  pretext  of  different 
duties,  delegated  the  commission  to  Baltazar  Garcia  Ros,  Lieutenant  to  the 
King,  who  accepted  it,  but  the  Attorney  of  Misiones  appeared  against  it, 
saying  that  the  Indians  had  a  Royal  Letter  patent  which  said  that  they  should 
not  be  enrolled  but  by  the  Governors  or  by  the  Ministers  whom  I  designated 
for  it ;   and  after  time  was  given  him  for  its  presentation,  as  requested,  this 


—  268  — 

affair  remained  in  this  state,  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty, 
without  been  ever  treated  again.  In  what  refers  to  the  tribute  which  has 
been  paid  by  these  Indians,  this  Minister  also  informs  that  it  was  one  dollar  a 
year  for  each  Indian,  but  that  it  does  not  appear  when  it  commenced,  and  that 
the  ten  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty  dollars  expressed  in  the  said  roll  of 
Diego  Ibanez,  less  the  amount  of  twenty  two  synods  for  the  priests  of  the 
same  number  of  pueblos,  are  reduced  to  six  hundred  and  fifty  three  dollars 
and  seven  reales  which  are  annually  delivered  and  collected  by  my  Royal 
Treasury  through  the  Fathers  Procurators  of  Misiones;  the  said  Minister 
in  his  report  says,  that  in  the  conference  which  he  held  as  to  this  affair,  he 
was  assured  that  the  exact  number  of  Indians  have  never  been  stated  to  the 
present,  because  there  is  no  individual  knowledge  as  to  how  many  there  are, 
and  that  they  are  governed  in  practice  by  the  roll  all  ready  quoted  of  the 
year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy  seven,  and  that  for  this  reason, 
the  other  eight  synods, — the  difference  between  twenty  two  and  thirty 
pueblos  which  exist  in  the  said  Misiones, — had  never  been  collected  ;  That 
it  is  true  that,  according  to  the  steps  taken  for  the  compliance  of  the  said 
Royal  order  of  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighteen,  there  was 
no  individual  census  made  of  the  tributaries,  this  being  due  to  the  negligence 
and  omission  of  the  Governor ;  and  that  although  the  injury  which  the 
Royal  Treasury  suffered  was  evident,  it  was  impossible  to  collect  the  said 
amounts  because  there  were  no  facts  for  its  punctual  regulation.  And  that 
in  relation  to  the  tax  which  those  Indians  were  to  pay  as  contribution,  which, 
according  to  all  the  reports  presented  to  this  Ministry,  was  two'silver  dollars 
for  each  Indian,  annually  delivered  at  my  Royal  Treasury,  which  is  half  of 
what  the  others  of  that  Province  pay,  this  prudent  regulation  being  made 
because  they  have  served  my  Royal  Crown  in  all  the  occassions  in  which 
they  have  been  called  by  the  Governor  of  the  said  Provinces  for  purposes  of 
war  ( as  when  Agiiero  made  his  report  when  he  assured  that  there  were  in 
my  Royal  service  three  thousand  Indians)  and  that  he  called  them  to  the  ma- 
nufactories and  other  necessary  work  as  well,  with  the  understanding  that  he 
could  do  so  in  the  future  ;  for  this  reason  it  seems  that  those  Indians  could 
contribute  the  said  tax  of  two  dollars  without  any  necessity  of  pushing  them 
nor  tiring  them  with  more  work  than  they  had  until  then,  for  with  it  abund- 
ant harvests  of  all  kinds  were  obtained  ;  as  to  this  he  also  informed  that  he 
had  consulted  with  the  Provincial  Father  of  those  Misiones  and  that  it  was 
agreed  that  they  should  be  under  the  said  regulations  ;  he  tried  to  persuade 
the  Minister  that  the  Indians  were  very  poor  individually  and  in  common, 
although  his  estimates  were  based  on  the  highest  reckoning  that  the  three 
products  cf  grass,  cloth  and  tobacco  yielded  annually  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  after  deducting  the  cost  of  the  food  and  dress  of  the  Indians,  and 
that  as  to  this  charge,  (other  ones  being  not  possible,  because  of  the  absence 
of  facts  in  the  offices,)  enough  money  was  obtained  for  the  payment  of  the 
two  dollars  of  tribute  which  in  the  most  moderate  account  exceeded  seventy 
thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  that  there  remains  more  than  was  needed  for 
the  decorations  of  the  churches,  for  furnishing  arms  for  the  Indians  and  tools 


—  269  — 

for  their  labor  and  trade,  and  for  the  wax  and  wine  which  is  taken  in  some 
pueblos  for  the  ceremonies  and  celebration  of  the  Divine  service.  In  regard 
to  the  products  of  the  pueblos  of  these  Misiones,  the  said  Minister  declares 
that,  from  a  variety  of  sources,  there  results  that  due  tothe  work  of  |the  said 
Indians  of  the  pueblos,  there  is  sent  to  Buenos  Ayres  and  Santa  Fe  from 
sixteen  to  eighteen  thousand  arrobas  of  camini  grass,  and  that  according  to 
the  opinion  of  others  it  could  be  from  twelve  to  fourteen  thousand  arrobas, 
and  others  reduce  the  amount  to  ten  or  twelve  thousand  a  year.  That  the 
price  of  it  reached  as  high  as  six  dollars  but  the  regular  was  three.  And  that 
in  regard  to  the  grass  called  of  «Palo»  obtained  in  the  four  nearest  pueblos  to 
the  Province  of  Paraguay,  there  was  also  a  diversity  of  opinion,  some  say- 
ing that  it  was  from  twenty  five  to  twenty  six  thousand  arrobas,  others  made 
it  a  great  deal  less  and  some  held  there  was  none.  That  the  same  thing  hap- 
pened as  to  the  cotton  cloth,  some  estimating  it  as  high  as  twenty  five  to 
twenty  six  thousand  yards,  while  others  declared  it  to  be  less  ;  the  price  being 
from  four  to  six  reales  according  to  quality,  and  the  price  of  the  said  «  Palo  » 
four  dollars,  although  on  many  occassions  it  was  only  worth  two  dollars  an 
arroba.  He  also  mentions  the  other  products,  sugar,  tobacco  and  wick,  and 
their  respective  prices  according  to  the  variety  of  reports,  as  well  as  to  what 
is  certified  to  by  the  Treasurer  of  Santa  Fe  and  the  declaration  of  the  Attor- 
neys of  the  Misiones  wherein  it  is  stated  and  admitted  that  from  the  year  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty  nine  to  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
thirty  three,  there  had  gone  into  the  Provinces  of  Paraguay  and  Buenos  Ayres 
the  amount  of  six  thousand  six  hundred  and  ninety  seven  bales  of  grass,  of 
seven  to  eight  arrobas  each,  and  two  hundred  and  ninety  five  loaves  of  sugar 
of  two  and  a  half  and  three  arrobas.  In  the  said  report  it  is  assured  that  the 
Indians,  according  to  all  the  declarations,  are  well  instructed  in  the  Christian 
Doctrine,  and  that  the  Missionaries  take  care  of  them,  keeping  them 
from  going  into  any  vice  whatever,  employing  them  according  to  their 
age  and  sex,  and  that  they  have  been  taught  all  the  trades  and  labors : 
That  the  fact  of  those  pueblos  not  being  subject  at  present  to  the 
dominions  of  the  Indies,  that  the  Indians  are  not  taught  the  Spanish  lan- 
guage nor  are  allowed  to  communicate  with  Spaniards,  from  which  very  bad 
and  necessary  consequences  are  inferred  as  to  putting  difficulties  to  the  com- 
merce with  Spaniards,  and  to  the  natural  affection  brought  by  intercourse  and 
and  that  they  are  always  kept  separated  from  the  regular  Government  of 
those  regions  ;  to  the  said  charge  the  Order  answered  that  it  was  true  that  it 
does  not  permit  vagabund  Spaniards  to  enter  those  pueblos  and  that  they 
have  found  that  this  is  the  only  way  to  obtain  that  no  homicide  has  ever  been 
committed  there,  or  theft,  or  idolatry  or  excesses ;  and  that  if  any  Spaniard 
has  ever  entered  it  has  been  to  rob  them,  even  of  their  wives,  but  that  as  to 
the  absolute  refusal  of  intercourse  with  Spaniards  this  was  false  as  shown  by 
the  facts  that  a  large  number  of  these  Indians  were  contmually  employed  by 
seasons  in  the  field,  or  in  the  work  of  fortifications  or  other  labor,  frequently 
entrusted  to  them  by  the  Governor  of  Paraguay  and  Buenos  Ayres,  and  from 
this  a  necessary  communication  with  Spanirads  resulted,  out  of  their  homes  ; 


—   27o  

and  that  as  those  who  go  to  such  labor  move,  all  capable  Indians  entered  into 
communication  with  the  Spaniards,  without  disobeying  the  precepts  of  the 
Missionaries  who  only  strive  to  keep  their  conscience  pure  ;  and  these  Min- 
isters finally  informed  that  as  to  the  point  of  community  of  property,  products 
and  effects  of  the  Indians,  it  had  been  fully  explained,  by  the  Order,  detail- 
ing the  economical  distribution  of  food  and  dress  to  the  Indians,  and  of 
everything  necessary  for  their  support,  the  part  allotted  for  the  Divine  Cult 
and  for  the  priest,  and  what  was  derived  to  the  payment  of  the  tribute 
and  other  expenses  of  the  Royal  service,  from  all  which  a  great  economy 
was  shown,  indispensable  in  order  to  maintain  in  a  state  of  regular 
Christian  life  said  natives,  numbering  from  one  hundred  twelve  thousand  to 
one  hundred  twenty  thousand  persons  of  all  ages  and  sexes,  incapable  by 
themselves  of  obtaining  for  their  sustenance  their  everyday  food,  and  that  no 
.  Indians  in  America  were  so  intrusted  in,  and  observed  as  well,  the  Catholic 
Faith  and  lead  such  Christian  lives,  as  could  be  seen  from  the  documents 
sent  by  the  Judge  of  this  commission,  Juan  Vasquez.  And  that  in  regard  to 
the  said  conference  with  the  Father  Attorney  General,  in  the  papers  presented 
by  the  latter  and  the  reports  transmitted  by  the  said  Agiiero,  there  were  in- 
formalities as  to  the  facts  all  favorable  to  the  Order.  And  that  these  Ind- 
ians of  Misiones  of  the  Order  are  the  defence  wall  of  that  province  ;  they  were 
of  service  to  my  Royal  Crown  as  no  others,  as  manifested  by  my  Royal  good 
will  in  the  instructions  given  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
sixteen,  to  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres,  Bruno  Mauricio  de  Zavala,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  cession,  which  in  Article  VI  of  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  was 
made  to  the  King  of  Portugal,  of  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento  of  which  this 
territory  of  Misiones  is  the  frontier ;  and  that  as  to  the  other  things  which 
from  there  had  been  written,  the  Provincial  of  Paraguay  declared  in  a  signed 
Memorial,  which  he  presented,  that  this  grave  affair  reduces  itself  to  the  con- 
sideration of  what  was  liable  to  be  lost,  by  any  change,  although  legal  and 
of  easy  establishment  in  other  places  ;  for  there  an  infinite  number  of  souls 
might  be  taken  from  God,  and  my  Royal  Crown  deprived  of  those  vassals 
who  save  troops  needed  and  which  do  not  exist  in  those  places,  and  Para- 
guay and  Buenos  Ayres  would  be  deprived  of  the  impregnable  defense  had" 
for  years ;  that  the  census  of  the  Indians  should  be  made,  and  that  to  this 
end  the  Order  already  proposed  and  facilitated  the  way ;  that  if  at  any  cost 
the  rate  of  tax  is  to  be  increased  somewhat,  it  would  never  be  convenient  to 
make  it  equal  to  that  of  the  other  Indians,  it  would  not  be  of  any  use  to  my 
Royal  treasury,  for  after  taking  out  the  thirty  synods  for  the  pueblos  estab- 
lished and  paying  the  assistance  assigned  in  those  places  to  the  Missionaries, 
(which  should  be  done  if  the  custom  in  the  other  places  is  followed  ),  all  the 
tribute  would  be  consumed  and  perhaps  the  Royal  treasury  would  have  to 
pay  out  money  ;  for  putting  down  the  amount  to  the  lowest  figure  they  ex- 
ceeded eight  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  they  were  basing  their  calculations 
upon  the  number  of  Indians  yet  unsettled,  since  the  origin  of  this  dependence, 
in  which  only  the  number  of  nine  thousand  had  been  formally  known  and 
ascertained,  in  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-nine,  in  which 


—  271  — 

the  allotment  was  made,  and  that  of  nineteen  thousand,  in  the  year  seven- 
teen hundred  and  thirty  four  in  which  sworn  statements  were  presented  to 
Juan  Vasquez.  And  the  decrees  and  reports  having  been  seen  and  examined 
in  my  said  Council  of  the  Indies,  as  well  as  the  Memorials  that  from  the 
Order  of  Jesuits  have  been  presented  in  regard  to  the  incidents  and  doubts 
which  have  arisen  as  expressed  by  the  Attorney  of  the  said  Council  in  re- 
gard to  all  that  has  happened  in  the  long  time  in  which  this  dependence  has 
been  under  investigation  ;  and  finally  in  reference  to  all  the  Royal  orders 
given  from  a  century  back  up  to  date,  in  regard  to  the  state  and  progress  of 
these  Misiones,  the  contents  of  which  they  have  brought  before  me  in  the 
consultation  of  the  twenty-second  of  last  May,  reducing  all  the  charges 
brought  about  in  said  two  reports  to  twelve  points  for  its  more  clear  com- 
prehension, I  have  thought  it  convenient  for  my  Royal  service  to  take  the 
resolution  which  is  therein  expressed  as  to  each  one  of  the  points,  which  the 
Council  has  proposed  me. 

The  first  is  as  to  the  number  of  pueblos  that  the  Fathers  of  the  Order 
have  in  the  province  of  Paraguay  ;  and  the  number  of  Indians  that  each  has, 
and  all  together,  and  the  number  of  taxable  Indians ;  and  how  much  do 
they  pay  and  if  the  rate  should  be  increased  in  the  future,  as  well  as  to  how 
the  arrears  should  be  collected. 

Considering  what  has  been  stated  in  the  said  decree  and  report  that  the 
pueblos  are  thirty,  (  seventeen  of  them  in  the  jurisdiction  of  Buenos  Ayres 
and  the  remaining  thirteen  in  Paraguay)  :  That  the  number  of  Indians  in  all 
of  them  is  from  one  hundred  and  twenty  to  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
and  that  according  to  the  certificates  of  the  curates  there  were,  in  the  year 
seventeen  hundred  and  thirty-four,  nineteen  thousand  one  hundred  and  six- 
teen taxable  Indians:  That  these  Indians  in  the  year  one  thousand  six-hun- 
dred and  forty-nine  had  been  declared  and  received  as  vassals  of  my  Royal 
Crown  and  as  defenders  and  opponents  of  the  Portuguese  of  Brazil,  and  it 
was  ordered  that  they  be  exempted  from  compulsory  work  and  personal  serv- 
ice and  that  they  should  pay  to  my  Royal  Crown,  in  acknowledgment  of 
my  Lordship  one  dollar,  of  eight  reales  of  silver,  in  specie  and  not  in  pro- 
ducts, which  was  approved  and  ratified  by  the  Royal  letter  of  the  year  one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-one,  ordering  that  the  synods  of  the 
Father  Missionaries  be  collected  from  this  tribute  :  That  in  the  year  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  eleven  by  a  representation  made  by  the  ecclesia- 
stical Council  of  Paraguay  it  was  ordered  that  nothing  should  be  changed  in 
regard  to  this  tribute,  and  that  finally,  by  the  instruction  given  in  the  Royal 
letters  of  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixteen  to  Bruno  Mauri- 
cio  de  Zavala,  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres,  the  Indians  of  these  Misiones  were 
recommended  to  him  and  their  merits  were  spoken  of,  and  he  was  told  to 
assure  them  that  my  Royal  will  would  never  burden  them  further,  but  in 
what  they  contributed  for  the  maintainance  of  the  said  Misiones  and  reduc- 
tions :  I  have  resolved  that  the  establised  tribute  of  one  dollar  per  year  of 
the  comunity  be  not  increased,  and  that  in  conformity  with  this  resolution 
this  tribute  be  collected,  until  another  census  be  made,  inaccordance  with  the 


272    

certificate  of  the  Missionaries,  given  by  order  of  Father  Aguilar,  to  Juan  Vas- 
quez  de  Agiiero ;  and  if  the  amount  resulting  from  this  decision  be  more  or 
less  than  what  should  correspond  to  the  fixed  number  of  Indians  which  there 
were  in  the  preceeding  year,  it  is  my  Royal  wish  to  excuse  it,  as  I  do  it,  and 
therefore,  I  order  that  these  vassals  be  told  that  their  services  and  faithful- 
ness have  moved  my  Royal  kindness  to  give  them  this  aid.  I  have  also  re- 
solved that  an  order  be  given,  as  it  is  given  by  the  despatch  of  this  date,  that 
a  census  be  made  by  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres,  in  accordance  with  the 
Father  Missionaries,  and  that  this  be  repeated  every  six  years,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose they  should  examine  the  books  of  baptism  and  funerals,  and  a  copy  of  the 
rolls  be  sent  by  the  Governors  to  the  Councils ;  and  I  have  given  order  that 
these  facts  be  incorporated  in  the  instructions  given  with  the  titles. 

The  second  point  reduces  itself  to  express  what  products  are  raised  in 
those  pueblos,  with  what  places  they  trade,  and  their  respective  prices,  what 
portion  of  grass  is  collected  annually,  where  it  is  sent,  what  is  its  use,  and  the 
price  at  which  it  sells:  From  the  report  received  by  Juan  Vasquez  and  his  in- 
formation there  results  that  the  total  product  of  the  grass,  tobacco  and  other 
products  may  reach  annually  five  thousand  dollars  ;  that  the  Attorneys  of  the 
Fathers  are  entrusted  with  the  collection  and  sale  of  clothes  ior  silver,  because 
of  the  incapacity  already  expressed  of  these  Indians  ;  that  by  Royal  letters  of 
the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-five  they  were  empowered  to 
trade  and  work  the  grass,  provided  that  they  did  not  do  it  for  their  Mission- 
aries ;  that  by  another  Royal  letter  of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
seventy -nine  the  Provincial  of  Paraguay  was  advised  of  the  abuse  by  the  Fath- 
ers committed  in  trading  with  this  grass  ;  that  by  another  of  the  same  year, 
in  order  to  attend  to  the  complaint  of  the  City  of  La  Asumpcion,  stating  the 
damage  caused  by  the  Fathers  by  bringing  down  large  quantities  of  grass 
from  the  pueblos,  thus  reducing  the  sale  of  the  grass  of  the  city,  it  was  ordered 
that  they  should  only  bring  twelve  thousand  arrobas  yearly,  to  pay  for  the 
tribute,  which  was  the  reason  given  by  the  Fathers  for  the  trade,  with  the 
condition  that  it  should  be  examined  and  registered  in  the  cities  of  Santa  Fe 
and  Corrientes,  and  that  if  the  testimony  of  this  registry  was  wanting  it 
should  not  be  admitted,  as  was  done  with  the  grass  of  the  individuals  ;  and 
it  is  also  declared  that  these  Indians  are  exempt  from  the  payment  of  all 
duties  by  the  sale  of  the  grass  and  other  things  which  they  raised  in  their 
pueblos,  as  ordered  in  the  Royal  letters  of  the  fourth  of  July,  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  eighty-four,  renewed  in  the  instruction  given  in  the  year 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixteen  to  Bruno  Mauricio  de  Zavala,  and 
it  also  results  from  the  facts  of  this  document  that  the  Fatherswere  excused 
from  the  registry  and  they  were,  ordered  to  account  for  the  quantities  brought 
down,  by  letter,  to  the  Governor  of  La  Asumpcion,  said  disposition  is  obeyed 
as  it  is  declared  in  the  certificates  of  the  oflficers  of  my  Royal  treasury  of 
Buenos  Ayres,  in  consequence  of  the  said  Royal  letters  of  the  fourth  of  July 
of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty-four  ;  and  lastly  I  have 
estimated  the  product  and  sale  of  the  grass  and  the  other  products  to  be  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  as  expressed  by  the  said   Fathers  and  as  they  af- 


—  273  — 

firmed  that  nothing  is  left  over  to  sustain  thirty  pueblos  of  a  thousand  heads 
each,  which  at  the  rate  of  five  persons  for  each  head,  make  one  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand  souls,  receiving  each  one,  of  the  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  seven  reales  for  tools  of  labor  and  for  keeping  up  the  churches  as 
they  properly  do;  all  this  showing  that  these  Indians  have  no  funds  to  pay^ 
even  the  dollar  of  tribute  now  collected:  I  have  deem  it  convenient,  in  con- 
sideration of  what  has  been  expressed,  that  the  trade  be  continued  as  here- 
tofore through  the  Fathers,  without  any  change  ;  and  that  the  officers  of  my 
Royal  treasury  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  Santa  Fe  shall  inform  annually  as  to  the 
amount  and  quality  of  the  products  sold  in  their  respective  cities,  from  the 
pueblos  of  Paraguay,  as  ordered  for  its  punctual  obedience  in  the  despactch 
of  this  date. 

The  third  point  treats  as  to  whether  the  Indians  were  instructed  in  the 
Spanish  language,  or  were  only  maintained  in  the  knowledge  of  their  own  : 
And  considering  that,  in  what  refers  to  this  point,  there  results  from  the  re- 
ports, that  the  Indians  only  speak  their  native  tongue,  but  that  the  Jesuits  do 
not  prohibit  any  other  and  that  this  is  due  to  the  love  they  have  for  their  native 
tongue  as  in  each  one  of  the  pueblos,  there  is  a  school  established  to  teach  how 
to  read  and  write  the  Spanish  language,  and  this  is  the  reason  why  a  large 
number  of  Indians  know  how  to  read  and  write  Spanish  very  well,  and  even 
Latin,  but  without  understanding  what  they  read  or  write;  and  that  the  Fa- 
thers of  the  Order  assured  that  the  only  thing  they  had  not  done  was  to  make 
their  attendance  compulsory  which  is  not  provided  by  law  nor  has  seemed 
proper  to  them:  In  which  supposition  I  have  deemed  it  convenient  to  espe- 
cially charge  the  Fathers  of  the  Order,  by  Royal  letters  of  this  day,  to  main- 
tain, without  fail.schools  in  the  pueblos  and  to  see  that  the  Indians  speak  the 
Spanish  language  conforming  to  the  Law,  Title  i8  and  i,  Book  6  of  the  Re- 
copilation  of  the  Indies,  not  only  because  it  is  convenient  to  my  Royal  ser- 
vice but  also  to  avoid  and  destroy  the  calumnies  in  regard  to  this  point 
against  the  Order. 

The  fourth  point  reduces  itself  as  to  whether  the  Indians  own  their  pro- 
perty as  individuals  or  if  their  administration  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Fathers ; 
as  to  this  point  it  is  declared  in  the  reports,  conferences  and  other  documents 
of  these  proceedings,  that  on  account  of  the  incapacity  and  negligence  of 
these  Indians  for  the  administration  and  management  of  their  property,  a 
portion  of  land  for  their  work  is  apportioned  to  each  of  them,  so  that  with  the 
harvest  they  can  sustain  their  family ;  and  the  rest  of  the  plantations  of  the 
community,  of  grains,  roots  and  cotton  is  administered  and  managed  by 
the  Indians,  directed  by  the  priests  in  each  pueblo,  and  also  the  grass  and 
cattle;  and  that  the  whole  product  is  divided  into  three  parts,  one  to  pay 
the  tribute  to  my  Royal  Exchequer,  from  which  the  synod  of  the  priests  is 
paid,  the  other  for  the  ornamentation  of  the  churches,  and  the  third  part  for 
the  sustenance  and  dress  of  the  widows,  orphans,  sick  and  invalid  persons, 
and  to  aid  all  the  needy,  since  from  the  portion  of  land  given  to  each  one  for 
his  sustenance,  there  is  hardly  any  one  that  has  enough  to  last  him  for  the 
year ;  that  an  exact  account  of  this  administration  is  carried  in  each  pueblo 


—   274   — 

by  the  Indians'  superintendent,  accountants,  examiners  and  warehousemen, 
who  by  their  books  know  the  entries  and  the  sales  of  the  products  of  each  pueblo, 
and  that  they  are  under  so  many  requirements  and  penalties  that  the  priests 
can  not  take  anything  belonging  to  the  Indians  from  one  mission  to  another, 
jior  are  they  allowed  to  accept  alms  or  loans  or  any  present,  and  they  must 
give  the  account  to  the  Provincial;  this  is  why  the  Reverend  Bishop  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  Pedro  Fajardo,  who  visited  the  said  Misiones  assures  that  he  never 
saw  in  his  lifetime  anything  better  ordered  than  those  pueblos,  nor  unselfish- 
ness equal  to  that  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  for  they  do  not  profit  in  anyway  from 
the  Indians  even  as  to  their  sustenance  or  dress;  as  to  the  other  reports,  of 
no  less  credibiliy,  they  all  agree  as  to  these  points,  and  specially  those  given 
lately  by  the  Reverend  Bishop  of  Buenos  Ayres,  Fray  Joseph  Peralta,  of  the 
Order  of  the  Dominicans,  in  a  letter  dated  the  eighth  of  January  of  this  year 
of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty  three,  in  which  he  gives  an  account 
of  the  visit  which  he  had  just  made  to  the  Pueblos,  not  only  of  his  jurisdic- 
tion, but  of  many  of  the  dioceses  of  Paraguay,  by  permission  of  the  Council ; 
he  praises  the  education  and  conduct  of  the  Indians  who  are  so  well  instruc- 
ted in  religion  and  in  everything  tending  to  my  Royal  service,  and  he  says 
that  the  temporal  Government  was  so  good,  that  it  pained  him  to  leave  the 
said  pueblos.  For  these  reasons,  it  is  my  Royal  will  that  no  change  whatever 
be  made  in  the  said  management  of  the  property,  but  that  what  has  been 
done  to  this  date,  since  the  first  reduction  of  these  Indians,  be  continued  as 
before  with  their  consent  and  for  their  benefit,  the  property  of  this  com- 
munity has  been  managed  by  the  Missionaries  only  as  directors,  and  it  is 
due  to  their  Government  that  the  bad  distribution  and  service  which  exist  in 
almost  all  the  pueblos  of  Indians  and  in  other  Kingdoms  is  not  found  there. 
And  although  my  Royal  letter  of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
seventy  one,  orders  that  the  Fathers  should  not  act  as  protectors  of  the  In- 
dians, since  this  order  was  given  because  the  Fathers  were  said  to  meddle 
in  the  ecclesiastical  and  lay  jurisdiction  and  they,  with  the  title  of  protectors, 
made  impossible  the  collection  of  the  tribute,  all  which  turns  out  to  be  un- 
true, and  the  contrary  justified  by  so  many  means,  and  that  they  only  pro- 
tect and  direct  and  govern  them  in  what  is  best  for  their  spiritual  and 
temporal  happiness,  I  have  deemed  it  convenient  to  declare  it  thus  and  I 
order,  as  I  do  it,  that  there  be  no  change  whatever  in  the  way  in  which  these 
pueblos,  in  this  matters  have  been  governed. 

The  fifth  f)oint  treats  as  to  whether  the  said  Indians  of  the  Misiones  have 
other  Justices  besides  their  Indian  Magistrates,  and  who  appoints  them  :  And 
since  the  order  of  putting  in  these  pueblos  Spanish  Magistrates  would  cause 
great  trouble,  as  Martin  Barua  informed  my  Council  of  the  Indies  against  the 
opinion  of  Bartolome  de  Aldunate ,  that  by  the  examination  made  by  Agiiero 
it  is  found  that  in  each  pueblo  there  is  an  Indian  magistrate,  appointed  by 
the  respective  Governor  after  consultation  with  the  Fathers ;  that  there  are 
also  common  Aldermen  and  other  officers  of  the  Municipality  elected  annually, 
after  consultation  with  the  priest,  and  that  it  is  usually  the  case  that  they  are 
appointed  with  the  advice  of  the  Governors,  in  consultation  with  the  Fathers, 


—  275  — 

which  practise,  the  said  Agiiero  declared  to  be  useful,  for  in  that  way  the 
most  proper  ones  were  selected;  taking  this  into  consideration  I  have  thought 
it  convenient  not  to  make  any  change  as  to  this  point  and  I  order,  as  I  do, 
by  the  present  letters,  that  the  same  methods  be  observed  as  heretofore. 

The  sixth  point  refers  to  what  occupation,  profession  or  trades, 
the  Indians  of  these  Misiones  have  been  taught,  what  kind  of  goods  they 
make,  and  also  if  arms  are  manufactured,  powder  or  other  ammunition  and 
if  they  have  some  mines,  and  what  is  the  quality  of  the  metal  and  their  pro- 
ductions: As  to  this,  what  has  been  declared  in  the  proceedings  drawn  by 
-  Juan  Vazquez  has  been  considered,  and  there  results  from  them  that  in  each 
one  of  the  pueblos  there  are  different  arts  and  trades,  and  that  all  kinds  of 
fire-arms  and  side-arms,  as  well  as  ammunition  and  powder  are  manufactured, 
but  that  in  reference  to  mines  there  never  has  been  any  notice  whatever  that 
any  metal  was  to  be  found  in  those  places.  The  Royal  letters  of  the  fourteenth 
of  October  of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty  one,  sent  to  the 
Vicerroy,  Count  of  Chinchon,  has  also  been  considered,  in  which  the  said  Vice- 
roy was  asked  to  report  as  to  the  pretensions  of  Father  Montoya,  Attorney 
of  Paraguay,  asking  that  a  license  be  given  to  all  the  Christian  Indians  who 
were  in  the  frontiers  of  the  Portuguese  of  Brazil  to  learn  the  management  of 
fire-arms,  on  account  of  the  want  of  Spaniards  and  who  could  not  depend  them- 
selves of  the  Portuguese  who  robbed  and  killed  them,  for  although  the  arm- 
ing of  the  Indians  might  have  the  inconvenience  of  a  possible  uprising,  this 
could  be  met  by  keeping  the  arms  and  ammunition  in  the  hands  of  the 
priests,  without  delivering  to  the  Indians  more  than  those  they  should  need, 
and  collecting  them  as  soon  as  they  were  not  needed;  in  each  reduction  no 
more  powder  and  ammunition  was  to  be  kept  than  that  considered  by  the 
Fathers  sufificient  for  the  invasion  feared;  the  deposit  to  be  kept  in  the  city  of 
Asumpcion.  That  the  Fathers  could  buy  these  arms  and  ammunition  with 
the  alms  or  other  objects  which  would  not  be  burdensome  to  the  Indians, 
and  that  for  their  instruction  they  could  take  from  the  provinces  of  Chili 
some  coadjutors  who  had  been  soldiers:  and  the  same  order  was  repeated 
in  the  letter  of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-two  to  the 
Viceroy,  the  Marquis  de  Mancera,  without  it  being  known  what  they  informed 
as  to  this  affair;  in  the  Royal  letter  of  the  twenty  of  September  of  the  year 
one  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-nine,  it  is  found  that  the  Governor  of  the 
River  Plate  was  ordered  not  to  make  any  change  in  the  use  of  arms  in  which 
the  Indians  were  becoming  experienced,  on  account  of  its  being  for  their  ne- 
cessary defence:  and  although  by  another  Royal  letter  of  the  tenth  'of  June 
of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-four,  the  Governor  of  Para- 
guay was  ordered  that  he  should  obtain  all  convenint  information  as  to  the 
fire-arms  used  by  the  said  Indians,  in  which  they  were  instructed  by  the  Fa- 
thers of  the  Order,  so  as  to  determine  what  would  be  most  convenient  to 
order,  with  the  purpose  of  avoiding  the  damages  which  might  result,  as  indi- 
cated in  the  same  Royal  letter,  so  that  all  the  arms  in  that  Government,  aftd 
the  Captains  and  officers,  would  depend  only  of  him,  and  that  they  could  not, 
without  his  orders,  move  the  Indians  on  any  expedition,  the  said  resolution 


—  276  — 

being  repeated  by  the  Royal  letter  of  the  sixteen  of  October  one  thousand  six 
hundred  and  sixty-one,  and  notice  of  this  being  also  given  to  the  Provincial  of 
the  Order  for  his  knowlegeand  fulfillment;  nevertheless,  in  another  Royal  des- 
patch, given  on  the  thirtieth  of  April  of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
sixty  eight  to  the  President  of  Charcas,  on  account  of  what  was  expressed  by 
the  Father  of  the  Order,  that  the  Indians  not  having  in  their  posession  the  said 
arms, the  same  damages  had  been  suffered  on  various  occassions.when  the 
Portuguese  and  other  nations  had  come  to  enslave,  in  different  cities,  as 
many  as  three  hundred  thousand  persons,  asking  for  these  reasons  that  a 
garrison  of  Spaniards  be  placed  there  for  the  defence  of  that  Province,  he 
was  ordered  that  together  with  two  magistrates  of  the  Audiencia  and  two  of 
the  older  Father  of  the  Order,  they  should  confer  as  to  what  would  be  most 
convenient  for  the  service  of  Our  Lord  and  mine,  and  the  welfare  of  those 
vassals,  giving  an  account  of  the  results,  and  that  in  the  meanwhile  no 
change  should  be  made  as  to  taking  away  the  arms  that  the  Fathers  had  in 
their  Misiones,  notwithsanding  what  was  ordered  by  the  said  letter  of  the 
sixteen  of  October  of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-one, 
leaving  everything  as  before.  Afterwards,  in  the  year  one  thousand  six  hun- 
dred and  seventy  two,  in  Royal  letter,  given  on  the  fifteen  of  November,  the 
Governor  of  Paraguay  was  ordered  not  to  make  any  change  in  regard  to  this, 
from  what  had  been  ordered  in  the  said  letter  of  the  year  one  thousand  six 
hundred  and  sixty-one,  and  that  if  this  had  been  carried  out,  he  should 
see  that  the  said  one,  of  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-two 
was  executed.  In  the  Royal  letter  of  the  twenty-sixth  of  July  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  seventy-nine  sent  to  the  Viceroy  of  Peru,  on  account  of 
the  representation  which  the  Governor  of  Paraguay  made  on  account  01 
hostilities  committed  by  the  enemies  in  that  province,  the  Portuguese  of 
Brazil  insulting  the  pueblos  who  were  not  armed,  it  was  in  the  same  day 
ordered  that  the  Indians  of  Parana  and  Urugay  should  carry  and  use  fire- 
arms,approving  the  previous  Royal  letters  which  treated  of  these  points,  and 
specially  the  one  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  November  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  forty-two.  And  that  in  the  same  manner  there  should  be  returned  to 
the  Indians  and  to  the  Fathers,  the  arms  which  had  been  taken  from  them  by 
virtue  of  the  said  Royal  letter  of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty 
one,  so  that  they  should  have  and  use  them  as  before  agreed  to.  All  of 
which  was  corroborated  in  the  instruction  given  in  the  year  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  sixteen  to  Bruno  Mauricio  de  Zabala,  advising  him  that 
it  was  convenient  that  these  Indians  should  remained  armed,  because  it  was 
useful  to  my  Royal  service  and  the  defense  of  those  dominions.  For  these 
reasons  I  have  resolved  that,  in  regard  to  this  point,  no  change  whatever  be 
made  from  what  is  done  now  but  that  it  shall  continue  as  at  present  not  only 
as  to  the  use  of  arms  but  also  as  to  the  manufacture  of  them  as  well  as  to  the 
ammunition  mentioned.  And  in  order  to  foresee  any  trouble  that  might 
result  from  this,  it  is  commanded  by  Royal  letter  of  this  day,  to  the  Fathers 
of  the  Order,  that  the  Provincial,  in  view  of  this  report,  shall  treat  with  the 
Missionaries,  about  the  steps  to  be  taken  in  case  that  by  misfortune  there 


—  27^  — 

Would  be  an  uprising  of  the  Indians,  informing  my  Council  of  Indies  what 
means  they  thought  should  be  used  in  this  case. 

The  seventh  point  is  as  to  whether  tithes  have  been  collected  among 
those  natives  and  whether  with  any  part  of  them  the  Bishop  or  Cathedral  is 
supported  and  how  it  is  distributed :  and  considering  all  the  documents  in 
the  case,  in  reference  to  this  point,  with  what  the  Bishop  of  Buenos  Ayres 
expressed  in  his  Report  that  the  Indians  under  the  Fathers  of  the  Order  were 
useless  to  his  Church,  because  they  had  not  aided  it  with  the  payment  of 
tithes  ;  on  account  of  which,  in  Royal  Letters  of  the  fifteenth  day  of  October, 
in  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  ninety-five,  it  was  ordered  that 
these  Indians  should  pay  their  tithes  to  their  parish  priests,  and  repeated 
afterwards  to  the  Governors  of  Paraguay  and  Buenos  Ayres  advising  also  the 
respective  Bishops  to  send  to  my  Council  of  the  Indies  certificates  as  to  the 
yearly  payment  of  these  tithes  ;  and  in  a  certificate  of  the  ecclesiastical  Council 
of  Paraguay  it  is  declared  that  in  that  Bishopric,  by  memorial  custom,  the 
pueblos  of  Indians  do  not  pay  any  tithes  as  they  are  in  charge  of  the  priests 
and  Fathers  of  St.  Francis  ;  as  to  this  point  all  the  other  reports  lately  made 
agree  :  Considering  this,  and  the  troubles  that  may  arise  from  any  new  pro- 
vision as  to  this  point,  I  have  resolved  that  at  present  nothing  new  should 
be  done  as  to  the  point,  advising  by  a  separate  Royal  Letter  the  Provincial 
that  the  tithe  being  so,  he  should  discuss  with  the  Missionaries  the  way  and 
form  of  enforcing  it,  in  what  concerns  these  Indians,  and  how  they  coald 
contribute  some  part. 

The  eighth  point  reduces  itself  to  the  statement  of  the  occupation  and 
business  of  so  many  Fathers,  as  have  gone,  and  go  as  Missionaries  to 
Paraguay,  since  there  are  no  more  than  thirty  pueblos,  and  if  they  continue 
in  new  conquests  or  if  they  remain  in  the  pueblos  already  reduced.  As  to 
this  point  it  appears  from  the  Report  of  the  said  Agiiero  that  of  the  Fathers 
who  go  to  the  Misiones,  the  probationaries  go  to  the  College  of  Cordova,  the 
Professors  some  to  the  College  and  others  to  the  Misiones,  where  they  ac- 
company the  Curates  and  receive  instruction  in  the  language,  so  that  they 
after  may  become  Curates,  and  that  they  are  not  known  to  devote  themselves 
to  new  conversions,  although  some  times,  they  reduce  and  bring  down  from 
.  the  mountains  some  families  which  have  run  away  from  the  pueblos  already 
formed  ;  and  the  Fathers  have  been  brought  to  task  as  to  this  point  in  the 
interviews  that  we  have  had  with  them,  and  they  reply  that  the  supernumer- 
ary Missionaries  employ  themselves  in  those  places  in  making  spiritual  ex- 
cursions through  the  mountains,  in  search  of  those  unbelievers  whom  they 
bring  and  add  to  the  pueblos  already  founded.  It  appears  also  from  different 
papers  and  documents  that,  without  neglecting  this,  they  continue,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  the  reductions  called  the  new  reductions  of  the  Indians  which 
are  named  Chiquitos  de  los  Chiriguanos,  Chaco  and  Pampas,  in  which  they 
have  not  only  crowned  the  spiritual  conquest  by  the  Fathers,  but  their  fervor 
and  zeal  increase  every  day  :  Considering  all  this,  it  is  my  Royal  will  that 
nothing  new  be  done  in  regard  to  this  point  ;  and  so,  to  have  punctual  news 
of  the  progress  of  those  Misiones,  I  have  resolved  to  request  the  Fathers,  by 


-^  278  — 

Royal  Letter  of  this  date,  that,  in  all  possible  occasions,  they  should  give  an 
account  to  my  Council  of  the  Indies  of  the  progress  of  the  said  Misiones. 

The  ninth  point  treats  as  to  whether  the  Reverend  Bishop  of  Paraguay 
has  visted  those  pueblos  to  administer  the  Holy  Sacrament  of  Confirmation, 
and  since  when  he  does  not  do  so.  And  it  appearing  from  the  Report  and 
Judicial  proceedings  of  the  said  Juan  Vazquez  that  the  Bishop  of  Paraguay 
had  visited  twice  the  pueblos,  and  that  the  Reverend  Bishop  Fajardo,  who 
had  been  Bishop  of  Buenos  Ayres,  had  done  the  same,  both  prelates  admi- 
nistering Confirmation,  it  being  also  true  that  all  the  Bishops  that  have  desired 
to  do  so,  have  visited  these  pueblos,  of  which  they  have  given,  and  are  giv- 
ing at  the  present  time,  repeated  news  to  my  Council,  expressing  the  good 
spiritual  condition  in  which  they  are,  as  it  has  just  been  done  by  the  Bishop 
of  Buenos  Ayres,  in  the  said  letter  of  this  year,  nor  any  complaint  has  been 
heard  from  anyone,  that  these  visits  were  opposed :  Considering  all  this,  my 
Royal  will  has  no  motive  for  making  any  provision  as  to  this  point. 

As  to  the  tenth  point  in  regard  to  the  churches  in  charge  of  the  Fathers 
and  their  attendance  and  the  Divine  cult,  I  have  considered  what  the  said 
Agiiero  informs ;  which  commends  the  great  pains  taken  in  the  buildings, 
attendance  and  adornment  of  the  churches,  that  the  ornaments  consisting  of 
the  services  and  other  objects  are  of  silver,  that  the  Divine  cult  can  not  be 
more  punctual,  beautiful  and  devout;  all  the  reports  agree .  with  this,  even 
thQse  of  the  rivals  of  the  Order,  and  those  of  the  present  Bishop  in  the  said 
letter  of  the  eighth  of  January  of  this  year.  On  account  of  the  said  reasons,  I 
have  resolved  to  give  the  Fathers  (as  it  is  done  by  a  despatch  of  this  date)  my 
thanks  for  their  special  zeal  and  application  in  these  questions. 

As  to  the  eleventh  point  in  regard  to  the  antiquity  of  each  one  of  the 
pueblos,  and  as  to  their  ceasing  as  missions  after  ten  years  and  passing  to 
secular  doctrine,  I  have  had  under  consideration  what  is  stated  in  the  Re- 
ports made  in  Buenos  Ayres  and  what  appears  from  the  facts  in  these  docu- 
ments, in  which  the  great  antiquity  of  these  pueblos  is  acknowledged,  since  in 
the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-four  they  were  converted  to  the 
doctrine,  being  called  until  then  Reductions,  as  it  appears  from  the  Royal 
Letters,  of  the  years  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty  and  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  fifty-one,  on  account  of  the  differencies  of  the  Reverend 
Bishop  Cardenas  with  the  Order  of  Jesuits,  it  was  ordered  to  my  Royal  Su- 
perior Court  of  Charcas  to  procure  the  peace  of  Paraguay,  and  that  the  Royal 
Patronage  in  these  doctrines  be  observed,  ordering  that  the  houses,  pro- 
perty and  colonies  be  returned  to  the  Fathers,  of  which  they  have  been  de- 
prived by  the  Bishop,  and  that  if  the  Fathers  were  permitted  to  remain  in 
the  Reductions,  it  should  be  on  the  supposition  that  they  would  observe  the 
rule  of  the  Royal  Patronage.  It  was  also  declared  in  the  Royal  Letter  of  the 
fifteenth  of  July,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-four,  that,  they  were  to 
be  Doctrines  and  not  Reductions,  those  of  the  Order  of  Jesuits  of  Paraguay, 
and  that  they,  as  in  other  places  had  been  done,  should  submit  to  the  vice- 
patron  for  curates,  three' names  ;  with  the  provision  that  if  the  Fathers  did 
not  submit  and  obeyed  this  order,  the  Governors  and  Bishops  should   order 


—  279  — 

in  each  one  of  their  provinces,  a  common  priest  to  be  placed,  in  their  stead 
if  there  was  a  want  of  the  Fathers  of  the  other  orders,  and  that  in  case  the 
Order  should  submit  and  obey  everything  in  the  Royal  Patronage,  they  should 
continue  to  possess  and  manage  the  Doctrines  ;  this  was  also  communicated 
to  my  Royal  Superior  Court  of  La  Plata  adding  that  in  cases  where  the  Re- 
gular Prelate  of  the  Order  in  Paraguay  should  deem  it  convenient  to  remove 
any  Curates  he  could  do  so,  without  been  obliged  to  manifest  his  reasons  for 
it  and  that  he  would  comply  with  the  rules  by  proposing  three  other  persons 
in  the  form  prescribed. 

And  the  Governor  of  Paraguay  having  informed  that  in  compliance  with 
the  Royal  Letters,  the  Provincial  of  the  Order  had  submitted  to  the  punctual 
observance  of  what  had  been  ordered  therein  and  that  therefore  he  had  given 
him  the  Doctrines  ;  and  it  beeing  also  informed  that  the  Prelate  had  pro- 
posed him  three  Fathers  for  each  one,  and  that,  after  considering  who  was  the 
most  proper,  he  had  chosen  him  and  was  duly  accepted  by  the  ecclesiastical 
Prelate  for  the  office  in  the  Doctrines,  so  that  after  they  were  approved  by  the 
Royal  Patronage  they  would  hold  them  in  the  future ;  this  being  complied 
with,  he  was  given  his  Letter  of  the  tenth  of  November,  in  the  year  one  thou- 
sand six  hundred  and  fifty-nine  approving  all  that  had  been  done,  considering 
all  which,  and  it  appearing  from  the  documents  of  these  proceedings  that  this 
is  practiced  and  that  the  laws  of  my  Royal  Patronage  are  enforced  and  well 
administered  in  those  pueblos,  I  have  resolved  that  no  change  should  be 
made  as  to  this  point  and  that  the  Doctrines  should  continue  under  the  charge 
and  care  of  the  Order. 

In  regard  to  the  twelfth  point  as  to  the  reason  why  these  pueblos  which 
are  in  the  jurisdiction  of  Paraguay  are  not  under  its  Government,  I  resolve 
to  order,  by  my  Royal  Decree  of  the  fourteenth  of  October,  in  the  year  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-six,  that,  until  otherwise  commanded,  the 
thirty  reductions  of  Indians  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Order  in  Paraguay  should 
be  under  the  Governors  of  Buenos  Ayres,  said  resolution  being  the  result  of 
the  petition  made  by  the  Attorney  of  those  Misiones  on  account  of  the  notor- 
ious difficulties  which  arose,  when  the  said  province  of  Paraguay  was  governed 
by  Joseph  de  Antequera,  and  that  the  proper  orders  being  given  for  the  carry- 
ing out  of  this  decision,  Bruno  Mauricio  de  Zavala  had  informed  that  if  this 
decision  was  to  be  carried  out,  many  troubles  would  be  caused,  at  least  in  the 
four  pueblos  nearest  to  La  Asumpcion,  and  that  he  had  ordered,  in  accordance 
with  the  Governors  of  Paraguay,  that  the  said  four  pueblos  remain  under  that 
jurisdiction  until  my  Royal  knowledge  was  informed  and  I  ordered  otherwise; 
being  informed  of  all  this  I  approved  the  consultation  which  the  said  Bruno 
Mauricio  de  Zavala  recommended  should  be  made  to  my  Council  of  the 
Indies.  And  although  the  orders  given  on  account  of  this  resolution  were 
dated  on  the  fifth  of  September,  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
forty-two,  it  is  found  that  the  thirteen  pueblos  of  Paraguay  were  yet,  in  the 
year  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixteen  (in  which  Aguero  reported),  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres,  which  agrees  also  with  the 
memorial  given  by  the  Provincial  of  those  Misiones  in  which  it  is  expressed 


—  28o  

that  to  this  Governor,  and  not  to  the  one  of  Paraguay  do  they  go  for  the  con- 
firmation of  their  justices  and  other  officers  of  the  thirteen  pueblos  and  that 
the  order  has  not  been  obeyed  as  to  the  said  four  pueblos  perhaps  because  when 
it  arrived  there,  the  province  of  Paraguay  was  in  rebellion  and  it  may  have 
not  been  considered  convenient  to  give  new  strength  to  those  troubles, 
considering  all  which,  and  nothing  appearing  from  the  documents  of  these 
proceedings  that  any  provision  is  necessary  as  to  the  point,  it  is  my  Royal 
will  that  no  change  whatever  be  made  as  to  this  point. 

And  lastly,  being  informed  that  one  of  the  things  said  against  the  Fathers 
of  the  Order  of  Jesuits  that  they  introduced  in  those  provinces  foreigners  in 
their  Misiones,  and  considering  that  they  have  done  so  by  virtue  of  Royal 
Orders;  and  that  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty  four,  I 
allowed,  by  my  decree  of  the  seventeenth  of  September,  to  the  General  of 
the  Order,  that  in  each  one  of  those  Misiones  of  his  Order,  one  fourth  of  the 
Fathers  who  went  there,  could  be  German  Fathers  ;  and  it  appears  that  they 
have  been  most  faithful,  as  proven  by  the  letter  of  the  eighth  of  September, 
of  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  in  which  it  is  stated 
that  Father  Thomas  Werle,  of  BavariA,  being  in  the  settlement  of  Sacramen- 
to with  four  thousand  Guarani  Indians,  was  killed  by  a  shot  from  the  en- 
emies. Considering  this,  1  have  only  deemed  it  convenient  to  request  the 
Fathers  earnestly  ( as  it  is  done  by  Royal  letter  of  this  date )  to  give  their 
greatest  attention  to  this  question,  especially  as  to  persons  who  are  natives  of 
sea-powers. 

And  finally  recognizing,  from  what  has  been  said  in  the  abo\e  points  and 
what  appears  in  the  other  ancient  and  modern  documents,  examined  in  my 
Council,  with  the  meditation  required  in  so  grave  an  affair,  all  justified  by 
true  facts,  that  in  no  other  part  of  the  Indies  is  there  more  respect  to  my 
dominion  and  Government  than  in  these  pueblos,  or  is  my  Royal  patronage 
and  ecclesiastical  and  Royal  jurisdiction  so  well  established,  as  shown  by  the 
continuous  visits  of  the  ecclesiastical  Prelates  and  Governors,  and  by  the  blind 
obedience  with  which  they  carry  out  their  orders  and  especially  when  they 
are  called  to  the  defense  of  the  territory  or  any  other  expedition,  putting  in 
readiness  from  four  to  six  thousand  armed  Indians  who  go  wherever  sent  :  I 
have  resolved  that  these  Royal  letters  be  given  expressing  to  the  Provincial,  ■ 
the  gratitude  with  which  I  remain,  after  seeing  the  false  calumny  and  lies  of 
Aldunate  and  Burua,  destroyed  by  so  many  proofs,  and  the  religion  so  well 
applied  to  everything  tending  to  the  service  of  God  and  of  mine  and  of  those 
unfortunate  Indians,  and  that  I  hope  that  they  .will  continue  in  the  future 
with  the  same  zeal  and  fervor  in  the  conversion  and  care  of  the  Indians. 
And  this  being  all  that  I  have  deemed  convenient  to  resolve  as  to  everything 
herein  mentioned  :  I  therefore  order,  by  the  present  Royal  letter,  my  Vice- 
roys of  Peru  and  of  the  new  Kingdom  of  Granada,  the  President  and  Judges 
of  the  Superior  Court  of  Charcas,  the  Governor  of  Paraguay  and  Buenos  Ay- 
res  and  the  officers  of  my  Royal  treasury  of  those  districts ;  and  I  beg  and 
request  the  most  Reverend  Bishop  and  Archbishop  ofthe  city  of  La  Plata  and 
the  Reverend  Bishop  of  the  said  provinces  of  Paraguay  and  Buenos  Ayres, 


their  Council,  and  generally  all  the  other  ecclesiastical  and  lay  Judges  of  my 
dominions  of  America  to  whom,  totally  or  in  part  might  belong  the  observ- 
ance of  my  Royal  resolution,  explained  in  the  twelve  points  above  referred 
to,  to  obey  and  execute,  each  one  in  his  district  and  jurisdiction,  what  is  con- 
tained in  this  Royal  letter,  without  any  reply,  delay  or  trouble  whatever,  so 
that  everything,  herein  provided  for  be,  effectively  done;  the  contrary  will  be 
a  source  of  Royal  displeasure.  And  I  also  command  as  to  what  is  ordered  as 
to  each  respectively,  that  each  one  should  give  a  punctual  notice  of  having 
received  this  Royal  letter,  and  that  they  have  made  a  due  note  of  it  for  its 
proper  fulfilment.  And  the  present  will  be  recorded  in  the  Archives  of  the 
Indies  by  the  Royal  officers  and  in  the  other  proper  offices  of  those  domin- 
ions. 

Given  in  Buen  Retiro  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  December,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  forty-three. — I,  the  KING, — Don  Miguel  de  Villanueva. 


y 


1751* 


juRisDicTiosr  or  sfaiiv 

over  the  Territory  submitted  to  Arbitration.  ( * ) 

In  the  City  of  San  Juan  de  Vera  de  las  Corrientes  on  the  26th.  of  April 
of  the  years  eventeen  hundred  and  fifty  one,  the  Council,  Justices  and  Board 
of  Aldermen  namely:  those  who  Sign  this,  have  met  in  this  Hall  of  our  resolu- 
tions, as  it  is  our  use  and  custom,  to  treat  and  discuss  matters  relating  to  the 
Royal  service  for  the  benefit  and  utility  of  this  Republic,  and  the  High 
Justice  and  Military  Captain  did  not  attend,  on  account  of  being  occupied 
in  the  service  of  his  regiment  ;  and  «  it  was  resolved  that  the  Mayor  give  a 
«  second  vote  as  representative  of  this  Board  so  that  there  be  a  search  in  the 
«  archives  of  this  city  of  the  documents  in  which  the  boundaries  of  the  juris- 
«  diction  of  this  city  are  set  down  ;  he  presented  before  us  the  official  books 
«  of  the  foundation  of  this  city  and  the  steps  taken  by  her  representatives  with 
«  the  city  of  Santa  Fe,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  the  jurisdiction  in  the  direct- 
»  ion  of  down  the  River  commences  from  the  mouth  of  the  great  overflows 
«  which  are  between  Rio  Corrientes  and  Santa  Liicia  w^hich  is  the  place  where 
«  we  have  the  post  which  divides  this  jurisdiction  from  that  of  Santa  Fe  and  in 
«  the  direction  of  up  the  River  to  the  headwaters  of  the  River  Uruguay,  Tape, 
»  Biasa  and  San  Francisco  as  more  fully  explained  in  an  official  resolution 
«  carried  the  fifteen  of  June  of  the  last  year,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
»  seventy  three  in  which  date  the  said  Book  was  presented,  of  the  foundation  of 
«  the  city  on  the  third  day  of  April,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty 
«  eight  by  the  Licentiate  Juan  de  Torres  de  Vera  y  Aragon,   Governor  and 


(*)  This  document  is  published  in  page  26  of  the  official  book  previously  refered  to, 
entitled  "  Collection  of  Facts  and  Documents  in  reference  to  Misiones  as  an  integral 
part  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes,  etc." 


—  284 

«  Captain  General,  who  was  of  this  province  of  the  Parana,  and  also  other 
«  records  of  the  suit  had  between  the  shareholders  of  the  cattle  of  this  city 
«  and  of  Santa  Fe  on  account  of  the  wild  cattle  »  which  grazed  in  the  one 
and  the  other  jurisdiction,  in  which  they  settled  by  agreement  between 
them  with  authority  of  the  Council,  before  the  Chief  Serjeant  (Sargento 
Mayor )  Francisco  de  Villanueva,  then  Mayor  of  this  city,  as  limit  on  the 
one  side  from  the  River  Batel  to  the  Parana  and  on  the  other  to  the 
farms  of  the  Guarani  Indians,  which  are,  as  they  should  be,  in  conformity 
to  the  Laws  of  these  Kingdoms,  two  leagues  distant  from  their  towns  «  said 
«  record  was  made  last  year,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty  two,  before 
«  Captain  Alonso  Delgadillo  y  Atiensa,  who  was  Mayor  of  this  said  city ;  all 
«  the  said  documents  being  in  our  archives,  as  it  is  public  and  notorious  that 
«  we  have  been  in  possesion  of  all  the  said  lands,  without  any  one's  opposition 
«  and  by  virtue  of  this  they  have  settled  the  places  of  Medina,  Ayucu  and 
«  others  which  are  on  this  side  of  the  River  Corrientes,  by  due  measures 
«  made  of  the  territory  of  this  jurisdiction,  from  the  said  post  bearing  to  the 
«  Eastr  at  the  said  time  another  post  was  placed,  which  to  the  present  exists 
H  in  the  pass  of  the  River  Corrientes,  called  Santillan;  the  said  bearing  passes 
«  the  River  to  he  fields  called  of  Mocoreta,  which  are  old  cows-farms  of  this 
«  city,  which  uses  them  w^hithout  any  oppossition  whatever,  as  they  are 
«  within  its  territory,  as  it  is  public  and  notorious ;  for  all  the  said  reasons 
»  after  having  studied  and  discussed  it  among  us,  we  infer  the  legitimate 
«  dominion  which  this  city  has  over  all  'the  territory  which  the  Guarani 
«  Indians  pretend  to  settle,  evidence  of  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  chapter  of 
«  the  letter  of  the  Superior  Father  of  Misiones,  the  original  of  which  is  in  this 
«  book  »  ;  it  is  said  in  it  that  the  then  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  these 
provinces,  Bruno  Zabala,  being  asked  up  to  what  part  the  said  Indians  could 
settle,  his  Excellency  answered  that  up  to  the  River  Corrientes,  to  which  we 
agree ;  although  the  said  gentleman  ought  no  to  have  said  it,  without  con- 
sulting this  Council,  on  account  of  the  damage  that  it  might  cause  the  rights 
of  this  city — because  of  the  benefit  which  may  result  to  the  tribes  and  because 
at  present  it  does  not  injure  us  seriously.  »  But  in  regard  to  the  settlement 
«  now  pretended  of  the  said  place  of  Medina  and  of  the  others  which  are  on 
«  this  side  of  the  River  Corrientes,  we  say  from  now,  unanimously  and  uni- 
te formly,  that  we  do  not,  in  any  manner,  permit  the  said  settlement  to  be 
«  made  on  account  of  the  injury  which  might  result  against  the  residents  of 
«  this  city  reducing  them  to  so  small  a  district  and  depriving  them  of  the 
»  benefit  which  they  might  have,  and  which  are  due  them  as  a  community, 
((  without  it  being  necessary  to  say  that,  since  the  jurisdiction  dates  as  early 
«  as  it  is  declared  in  the  foundation,  the  towns  and  ranches  are  included  in 
«  said  jurisdiction  which  are  on  this  side  of  the  Parana,  because  these  places 
«  are  convenient  to  the  said  settlements,  and  that  they  would  be  distributed 
«  without  seriously  injuring  the  said  city,  with  the  imphcit  consent  of  this 
«  Council  up  to.  the  Estero  of  the  River  Corrientes,  in  which  territory  the  said 
«  settlements  have  been  and  are,  to  which  distribution  we  do  not  oppose 
«  neither  ;   but  it  is  also  stated  that  the  ranch  of  the  said  tribes  which  is  in 


—  285  — 

«  Vaecua  paid  tribute  for  some  time  to  the  town  of  Itati  to  which  these  lands  were 
«  ceded  by  this  city  at  the  beginingof  its  reduction  in  Heu  of  tribute  which  its 
((  natives  pay  to  these  residents,  but  this  does  not  prove  that  the  said  places 
«  are  between  the  lands  of  Itati  and  Misiones  because,  as  it  has  been  already 
«  said,  the  lands  of  the  said  town  were  given  to  this  city,  and  are  to  the  East 
«  of  here,  while  the  others  spoken  of,  are  in  a  very  distant  direction  :  from  all 
«  of  which  follows  the  legitimate  property  that  this  city  has  to  the  said  territory 
«  which  it  had  before  its  implicit  consent  to  what  was  distributed  in  the  name 
((  of  Our  Lord  the  King  by  its  founder  »  And  in  regard  to  the  proposition, 
made  to  this  Council  by  the  said  Reverend  Father  Superior  of  Misiones,  that 
the  Dominion  of  the  said  lands  be  transferred  to  him  by  sale  or  other 
arrangement,  we  say  that  we  can  not  in  any  manner  deliberate  as  to  the 
sale  of  the  said  lands  because  it  would  be  of  serious  injury  to  this  vicinity, 
because  of  the  residence  thereon  of  the  Indians  and  the  serious  troubles  that 
may  follow  by  difBculties  among  the  residents  and  the  Indians  inhabiting 
the  said  territory ;  moreover,  this  district,  thanks  to  the  Divine  Providence, 
being  sufficiently  full  of  cattle,  it  will  be  necessary,  some  short  time  from  now, 
for  some  of  the  residents  might  need  to  settle  on  them,  asking  the  said  lands 
of  the  city,  by  virtue  ot  the  right  of  property  which  they  have  there- 
upon. 

And  we  thus  resolve  that,  ifany  of  the  said  residents  ask  the  deposit  of 
the  said  territory,  or  of  any  other  situated  on  this  side  of  the  River  Corrientes, 
if  it  is  granted,  let  it  be  with  the  condition  that  he  can  not  bargain  nor  sell  it 
to  any  one  who  is  not  a  resident  and  with  the  same  condition ;  and  in  order 
that  this  be  carried  into  effect  the  High  Justice  is  exhorted,  as  he  is  the  Jone 
who  makes  the  deposits  of  land  in  the  country,  to  publish  it  by  proclamation 
with  the  protest  that  we  from  now  make,  of  nullity  against  any  deposit,  grant, 
or  sale  made,  and  that  no  transfer  of  the  Dominion  exists  in  any  case  or  form 
whatever,  of  the  territory  belonging  to  this  city.  «  And  we  thus  resolve  that 
«  an  order  by  sent,  by  the  Reverend  Father  Rector  of  this  College,  Attorney 
«  for  this  matter  of  the  Reverend  Father  Superior,  so  that  his  Reverence 
«  orders  the  Chiefs  of  the  tribe  or  tribes  which  may  have  settled  the  place  of 
«  Ayucu, — as  it  appears  from  authenticated  facts  given  in  Council  by  the 
«  Alderman,  Bernardo  Casafus,  with  all  the  original  steps  taken,  which  he 
M  did  in  representation  of  this  Board, — that  the  said  place  be  unsettled  and 
«  remain  free  taking  from  it  their  cattle  ;  this  is  to  apply  to  any  settlement 
«  on  this  side  of  the  River  Corrientes,  except  Curupaiti,  a  ranch  of  the  Trini- 
«  dad,  which  we  consent  for  the  present  to  be  inhabited  by  the  Indians,  by 
«  virtue  'of  the  right  with  which  we  know  they  acquire  it ;  and  that  they  do 
«  not  trespass  on  the  other  boundaries  of  their  jurisdiction  and  settle  at  will 
«  other  places  with  the  condition  that  they  not  be,  as  it  has  been  said,  on  this 
«  side  of  the  River  Corrientes.  Notwithstanding  that  the  settlements  which 
«  they  may  make  from  the  said  river  ahead,  be  in  the  boundaries  of  this 
«  foundation,  according  to  the  privilege  of  its  foundation  ;  the  said  Reverend 
«  Father,  for  the  ends  which  be  convenient  for  him  and  for  the  tribes  under 
«  his  charge,  may  insert  in  the  said  proclamation  this  resolution  ;    this  pro- 


—  286  — 

»  clamation  to  be  drawn  up  by  the  Second   Mayor,   and  he  will  bring  it  to 
H  this  Board  for  the  said  effect. » 

And  there  being  nothing  further  to  discuss  we  close  this  resolution  which 
we  sign,  authorizing  it  by  ourselves  on  account  of  the  want  of  Notary  and  in 
this  book  of  common  paper  because  we  have  no  sealed  paper. — Caspar  Lo- 
pez.— Joseph  Afiasco. — Francisco  Moreno. — Amaro  Gotnez. — Bernardo  de 
Casafus. — Juan  Salts. 


1771 


B.OYILIM  BECREfi, 

Containing  the  Provisions  to  be  Observed  in  the  Establishment 

of  the  Spiritual  Oovernment  of  the  Thirty  Pueblos  of 

Quaranis  Situated  in  the  Province  of  Paraguay 

between  the  Rivers  Parang  and  Uruguay. 

Dated  in  Saint  Ildefonso  on  the 

25th  of  June,  1771.  {*) 

The  expulsion  of  the  Regulars  of  the  Order  of  Jesuits  having  been  con- 
cluded, and  proper  orders  having  been  given,  by  virtue  of  it,  by  the  Lieuten- 
ant General  Francisco  Bucareli,  who  was  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres,  which 
the  Extraordinary  Council  has  brought  before  me  in  the  Consultation  of  the 
twenty-third  of  last  March  for  the  future  spiritual  and  temporal  government 
of  the  thirty  pueblos  of  the  Misiones  of  the  Guarani  Indians,  situated  in  the 
province  of  Paraguay,  between  the  Rivers  Parana  and  Uruguay  ;  after  due 
consideration  and  with  the  object  that  the  important  end  be  accomplished»of 
reducing  them  to  constitute  themselves  in  due  provinces  for  the  benefit  of  the 
natives  and  security  of  My  Royal  Dominion  over  them,  and  increase  of  My 
Royal  Treasury :  I  have  resolved  among  other  things  the  establishment  of  a 
principal  Governor  for  all  the  thirty  pueblos  with  residence  in  the  Candelaria, 


( *  )  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  Jurisdiction  of  Spain  over  the  territory  submitted  to  arbitra- 
tion. 

(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archive  of 
Indies,  which  in  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul,  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of 
group  A,  No.  23  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


with  the  same  powers  as  those  of  Tucuman  and  Paraguay.  The  estabhsment 
also  of  three  sub-governors  who,  with  the  title  of  Lieutenants,  are  to  act  under 
the  order  of  the  principal  one,  to  wit :  one  for  the  six  pueblos  of  San  Juan, 
Santo  Angel,  San  Lorenzo,  San  Luis,  San  Nicolas  and  San  Miguel,  with  resi- 
dence in  the  last  named  ;  another  for  Nuestra  Seiiora  de  Fe,  Santa  Rosa,  San 
Cosme,  Santiago  and  San  Yg^acio  Guazu,  with  residence  in  one  of  the  last 
two  named  ;  and  the  other  for  the  remaining  four  pueblos,  Yapeyu,  in  which 
he  is  to  reside.  La  Cruz,  Santo  Tome  and  San  Borja,  with  the  condition  that 
in  case  of  absence  or  death  of  the  principal  Governor  he  is  to  be  substituted 
by  the  Lieutenant  of  the  said  six  pueblos,  who  is  to  reside  in  San  Miguel  ;  to 
each  of  these  Lieutenants  and  principal  Governor  a  Serjeant  is  to  be  appointed, 
who  will  fulfill  the  duties  of  an  Adjutant.  That  the  payment  of  the  tithes  be 
established  immediately,  with  the  applications  ordered  by  the  Laws  of  Indies; 
and  in  order  that,  for  all  things  pertaining  to  the  spiritual  realm,  these  pue- 
blos shall  attain  the  benefits  that  I  desire  for  them,  it  is  my  will  that  there  be 
placed  over  all  of  them  a  sole  Vicar  General,  all  the  Curates  to  be  under  him, 
be  they  Regulars  or  laymen,  and  they  shall  not  meddle  in  anything  temporal, 
nor  the  Prelates  visit  the  pueblos  having  a  parish  priest,  and  as  they  belong 
to  different,  Diocesis  the  Council  will  take  the  proper  steps  so  that  this  will 
have  legal  effect :  That  in  the  principal  seat  of  the  government  there  be  estab- 
lished an  Auditor  for  the  Governor  and  a  Royal  Official  Treasurer,  and  finally 
that  in  the  same  principal  seat  and  in  those  designated  to  the  Lieutenant 
Governors,  Spaniards  shall  take  their  residence,  to  whom  lands  are  to  be  ap- 
portioned, they  to  have  charge  of  the  primary  schools  endowed  by  the  gov- 
ernment so  that  they  teach  our  language  and  doctrine  with  which  our  domi- 
nion be  strengthened  and  the  obedience  due  to  my  Royal  Person.  Let  it 
be  obeyed  in  the  Council  of  Indies  and  the  necessary  orders  for  its  execution 
and  fulfillment  be  given  for  everything  under  its  inspection. — In  San  Jldefonso, 
on  the  twenty-fifth  of  July,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-one. 
To  the  PUKE  OF  ALBA. 


1775 


ROLLS 

Of  the  Indians  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  pueblos  of  Corpus,  on  the 

river  Farand,  and  San  Xavier,  on  the  river  Urug-uay,  in 

which  district  was  included  the  territory 

submitted  to  arbitration. 

We,  the  Council  and  Administration  of  the  pueblo  of  Corpus  Christi, 
certify,  in  what  we  can,  to  all  those  seeing  this,  that  the  number  of  Indians 
herewith  included,  who  are  tributaries  of  the  Royal  Crown,  is  true,  and  that 
they  are  five  hundred  and  sixty  four,  all  young,  healthy  and  strong  ;  and  that 
in  order  to  actually  certify  to  this  roll,  we  visit  their  tribes,  as  it  is  expressed 
in  the  note  we  send  to  that  effect, — there  being  wanting  ( besides  those  in  His 
Majesty's  service) — those  now  iq  the  forts  of  Santa' Tecla.  This  is  what  we 
can  truly  say  as  to  this  question,  without  any  falsity  whatever.  In  virtue  of 
which  we  sign  this  on  the  third  day  of  the  month  of  February,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  seventy  five. 

PABLO  NAVARRO. 
For  the  Mayor  Raphael  Ubarire  and  others  of  the  Council :  . 

Juan  Chux6, 
Secretary  of  the  Council. 


( Here  follow  the  names  of  the  five  hundred  and  sixty  four  Indians 
above-referred  to  in  the  certified  roll  of  the  pueblo  of  Corpus-Christi,  to  be 
read  in  detail  in  the  original  roll,  group  A,  No.  24,  of  the  manuscript 
documents  of  the  « Argentine  Evidence.  —  The  roll  of  the  pueblo  of  San 
Xavier  is  found  in  the  same  group  and  number. 


1776 


Z  IT  S  T  R  U  C  T  I O  XV  S 

O-iven  by  His  IMEajesty  to  Don  Pedro  Cevallos,  for  his  g-uidance 

in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  political  and  fiscal  G-overn- 

ment  of  the  Frovinces  of  the  River  Plate  and  others 

herein  expressed.    ( * ) 

THE  KING  :— To  Don  Pedro  de  Cevallos,  Knight  of  the  Royal  Order  of 
San  Genaro,  Commander  of  the  Sagra  and  Canet  in  the  Order  of  Santiago, 
Lieutenant  General  of  my  armies,  Councillor  of  continuous  assistance  in  the 
Supreme  Military  Court,  Governor  and  General  Commander  of  Madrid  and 
the  districts  thereof,  and  Captain  General  of  the  expedition  that  I  have 
resolved  to  send  to  the  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate  : — In  consequence  of  my 
having  appointed  you,  by  Royal  Letters  of  the  first  of  this  month.  Viceroy, 
Governor  and  Captain  General  of  all  the  Provinces  and  territories  included  in 
the  district  and  jurisdiction  of  the  Royal  Supreme  Audiencia  of  Charcas,  and 
of  my  having  given  you  in  the  reserved  way  of  the  War  Department  another 
Royal  Letter,  dated  on  the  fourth  instant,  which  was  communicated  to  you 
through  the  Ministry  of  the  Indies,  advising  you  as  to  every  thing  you  should 
observe  in  the  Military  Expedition,  which  is  to  be  the  principal  object  of  your 
mission,  I  have  resolved  to  give  you  these  Instructions  for  governing,  so  that 
you  conform  your  conduct  to  them  in  the  discharge  of  your  political  and  fiscal 
duties  in  the  said  Provinces,  as  Viceroy,  Governor,  Captain  General  and 
General  Superintendent  of  the  Royal  Treasury  in  them,  and  for  this  purpose 
you  will  observe  with  punctuality  and  exactness  the  following  Articles  : 

I. — As  soon  as  you  arrive  at  Montevideo,  or  at  any  other  place  of  the 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archives  of 
Indies,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  is  accompanied 
in  group  A,  No.  25  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  «  Argentine  Evidence.  » 


—  292  — 

Province  of  Buenos  Ayres,  you  are  to  deliver  to  the  Governor  of  the  said 
Province,  Juan  Joseph  de  Vertiz,  the  Royal  Letters  of  mine,  which  are  addres- 
sed to  him  through  your  hands,  so  that  he  shall  recognize  you  as  such 
Viceroy,  Governor  and  Captain  General  in  Chief,  and  deliver  to  you  the 
superior  command  of  the  troops,  fortified  places  and  territories  which  are 
included  in  his  office,  he  remaining  under  your  immediate  orders,  as  Sub- 
Governor  of  that  Province,  in  which  it  is  my  will  to  keep  him  on  account  of 
the  integrity  and  zeal  with  which  he  has  served  me  there. 

II. — As  soon  as  the  Superior  Office  is  entrusted  to  you,  you  will  send 
the  other  Royal  Letters  that  you  carry  for  the  Viceroy  of  Lima  and  the  Pre- 
sidents of  Chile  and  Charcas,  and  the  open  Orders  that  are  sent  by  the 
reserved  way  of  the  Indies  to  the  Governors  and  Royal  Officers  included  in 
the  district  of  the  new  Viceroyalty  which  has  been  entrusted  to  you. 

III. — You  will  not  permit  that,  on  account  of  your  reception  nor  on  any 
pretext  whatever,  demonstrations  be  made  in  the  C"apital  or  other  towns 
which  will  cause  expense  to  the  inhabitants  or  municipalities ;  nor  will  you 
allow  in  the  churches  in  which  3-ou  enter,  to  be  received  with  Pallium,  as 
this  Regalia  is  reserved  only  to  my  Royal  Person,  and  as  it  is  justly  prohibited 
by  the  Laws  of  Indies. 

IV. — In  regard  to  the  principal  end  of  your  Commission  which  is  to 
make  war  on  the  Portuguese  of  the  frontier  who  trouble  those  dominions 
of  mine,  and  for  attaining  this  important  object  you  will  take  sufficient 
veteran  troops,  besides  those  belonging  to  the  sea  forces  ;  you  will  not  create 
a  company  of  halberdiers  for  your  guard,  although  this  is  a  prerogative  which 
I  have  granted  to  the  other  Viceroys  of  the  Indies  who  have  their  residences 
fixed  in  the  Capitals  of  Lima,  Mexico  and  Santa  Fe. 

V. — Since  for  the  transportation  of  the  troops  going  under  your  orders, 
provisions  and  other  things  for  the  Expedition,  it  has  been  necessary  to 
charter  a  large  number  of  merchant  vessels,  the  monthly  expense  of  which  is 
of  the  greatest  consideration,  I  request  you  that  if  you  can  conquer  the  island 
of  Santa  Catalina  before  going  to  the  River  Plate,  and  should  you  not  need 
all  the  land  and  naval  forces,  you  may  order  the  remaining  to  go  directly  to 
Buenos  Ayres,  and  that  in  this  case  you  resolve  in  accordance  with  the 
General  Commander  of  the  Navy  and  the  Minister  of  the  Treasury,  and  send 
to  Spain  the  ships  which  you  may  consider  will  not  be  required  for  the 
return  of  the  troops  which,  after  the  conclusion  of  the  expedition,  are  not  to 
remain  in  those  Provinces. 

VI. — So  that  no  provisions  will  be  wanting  for  the  said  embarkations  of 
transport,  for  those  you  will  determine  to  send  back  from  Buenos  Ayres,  the 
proper  orders  have  already  been  given  to  the  Governor  of  that  Province, 
urging  him  to  collect  abundant  flour  and  salted  beef  for  this  object ;  and  to 
succor  the  Expedition  in  case  you  go  directly  with  it  to  the  Island  of  Santa 
Catalina.  And  since  this  point  of  the  provision  of  salted  beef  is  always  of  the 
utmost  importance,  I  ask  you  to  look  to  it  very  particularly  until  you  place 
it,  if  possible,  in  a  proper  state,  during  the  period  of  your  Viceroyalty. 

VII. — The  Rules  according  to  which  you  are  to  proceed  in  your  Govern- 


—  293  — 

ment,  are  wisely  foreseen  in  the  Recopilation  of  the  Laws  of  the  Indies,  and 
especially  in  those  of  Title  III,  Book  III,  and  many  others  which  treat  of 
the  Viceroys,  Governors,  Captain  Generals  and  Presidents  of  the  Audiencias 
of  those  my  Dominions,  and  you  are  to  observe  them  and  see  that  they  are 
kept  with  the  greatest  exactness  in  the  District  under  your  charge,  and 
during  all  the  time  that  you  be  in  office  until  you  embark  to  return  to  these 
kingdoms ;  complying  also  with  the  Royal  Letters  given,  and  the  orders 
communicated,  and  those  which  may  hereafter  be  addressed  to  you  by  my 
reserved  way  of  the  Universal  Despatch  of  the  Indies. 

VIII. — As  you  are  Viceroy  of  all  the  Provinces  belonging  to  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Audiencia  of  Charcas,  you  are  to  exercise  over  them  the 
General  Superintendence  of  my  Royal  Treasury  with  the  only  dependence  to 
my  reserved  way  of  the  Indies,  you  are  to  procure  by  all  means  possible  and 
suggested  by  your  zeal  and  prudence,  that  the  administration  of  the  branches 
of  my  Royal  Treasury  be  carried  out  with  vigilance  and  purity,  so  that  they 
will  have  the  just  increase  that  the  actual  circumstances  require  and  made 
necessary  by  the  high  expenditures  which  will  be  made  in  the  war  brought 
about  by  the  perfidy  of  the  Portuguese,  and  their  repeated  insults  to  my  flag, 
my  dominion  and  my  vassals. 

IX. — For  the  purpose  of  raising  to  their  due  values  my  Royal  rents  of 
Peru,  Chili  and  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  I  have  appointed  a  General 
Visitor  to  all  the  Courts  of  Justice  and  offices  of  the  Royal  Treasury,  and  al- 
though by  a  despatch  of  this  date  I  order  you  to  give  all  the  aid  needed  to  the 
said  minister  and  subdelegates,  so  that  they  completely  discharge  my  Com- 
mission and  Royal  Instructions,  I  request  you  very  especially  by  this,  that  at 
the  same  time  that  you  allow  them  to  proceed  with  liberty,  you  sustain  their 
steps  and  favor  in  every  manner  asked,  their  execution. 

X. — Considering  that  the  accounts  of  my  Royal  Treasury  of  Potosi, 
and  of  other  Provinces  of  Charcas,  have  always  been  sent  to  the  Audiencia  of 
Lima  to  be  audited  and  liquidated,  and  that  those  of  Tucuman,  Paraguay  and 
Buenos  Aires  are  submitted  now  to  the  general  auditing  office  established  in 
this  last  Province,  you  will  do  nothing  in  this  respect,  as  there  is  a  sufficient 
number  of  auditors  in  the  Audiencia  of  Lima,  and  it  not  being  possible  for 
the  Chief  Auditor  of  Buenos  Aires  to  examine  and  decide  upon  them,  espe- 
cially at  present,  when  he  is  to  take  charge  of  those  of  Mendoza  and  San  Juan 
del  Pico  which  before  belonged  to  the  Government  of  Chili  and  I  have  now 
added  to  your  Viceroyalty. 

XI. — With  the  object  of  putting  in  due  order  the  mint  of  Potosi,  its 
Royal  vaults,  the  Direction  of  the  Bank  of  quicksilver  and  the  Administra- 
tion of  Justice  of  that  city  and  the  district  of  its  mines,  I  have  resolved  that 
one  of  the^  Ministers  of  the  Audiencia  of  Charcas,  be  the  Mayor  and  Superin- 
tendent of  said  mint  and  Bank  of  quicksilver,  and  to  this  end  I  have  ap- 
pointed the  Associate  Justice  of  the  Royal  Audiencia,  Jorge  de  Escovedo,  with 
my  commission  and  for  the  time  which  I  may  desire,  so  that  afterwards  the 
other  ministers  designated  by  me  will  alternate.  Knowing  this  and  that  I 
have  also  advised  the  General  Visitor  of  Peru  to  proceed  as  soon  as  possible 


—  ?94  — 

to  anange  all  the  affairs  and  branches  of  Potosi,  you  will  efficaciously  con- 
tribute with  your  anthorities  and  dispositions,  so  that  in  this  part,  my  Royal 
ntentions  shall  have  due  effect,  since  this  is  of  the  greatest  moment  to  my 
service,  and  there  will  be  thus  provided  sufficient  amounts  with  which  to 
meet  the  large  expenses  of  the  military  expedition. 

XII. — One  of  my  principal  cares  being  the  prompt  and  honest  admi- 
nistration of  justice  to  my  loved  vassals,  I  have  created,  with  this  purpose  in 
view,  two  offices  of  Regents  of  all  my  Superior  Audiencias  of  both  Americas, 
and  in  order  to  avoid  difficulties  and  competition  between  the  new  Magistrates, 
the  Viceroys  and  Presidents,  I  have  given  printed  Instructions,  sent  you 
herewith,  in  which  the  powers  of  each  are  prescribed,  and,  therefore,  I  order 
and  request  you  that,  after  having  acquainted  yourself  of  their  contents,  you 
concurr  efficaciously  to  their  obedience  and  observance  in  the  part  referring 
to  yoursflf,  leaving  the  administration  of  justice  and  the  good  conduct  of  the 
Audiencia  of  Charcas  in  charge  of  the  new  Regent  whom  I  shall  appoint 
for  it. 

XIII. — Among  the  duties  more  to  be  recommended  of  the  Viceroys  and 
Govei'nors  of  my  Western  Indies,  there  is  the  one  of  procuring  with  all 
efficacy  and  care  that  the  fruits  and  products  of  the  territories  of  their  res- 
pective charges  increase  and  the  national  commerce  with  these  Kingdoms  be 
encouraged  and  it  having  been  ordered,  since  the  discovery  of  America,  by 
Law  XX,  Title  XVIII,  Book  IV  of  the  Recopilation  of  the  Indies  that  the 
Viceroys  and  Governors  should  see  that  linen  and  hemp  be  sown  and  bene- 
fited, and  that  they  procure  that  the  Indians  devote  themselves  to  this 
improvement  and  cultivation,  I  request  you  to  give  your  care  and  attention  to 
the  obedience  and  observance  of  the  said  Law  in  all  the  places  and  territories 
which  may  be  deemed  convenient  for  the  sowing  and  benefit  of  the  hemp 
and  linen,  with  the  purpose  that  these  products'  may  be  brought  to  Spain 
free  of  duty  and  be  used  in  the  important  manufactures  of  cloths,  canvass  and 
ropes. 

XIV. — You  will  equally  take  care,  and  with  the  same  attention,  that  in 
all  the  Provinces  under  your  charge  the  Indians  and  the  other  castes  which 
constitute  the  plebe,  devote  themselves  to  the  labor  and  cultivation  of  the 
fertile  lands  where  they  live,  strictly  requesting  the  Governors  and  other  sub- 
Judges  to  give  their  greatest  attention  to  this  point,  so  that  they  will  avoid 
thctserious  troubles  produced  by  indolence  and  misery  among  those  natives. 

XV. — According  to  the  previous  advices  of  the  Governor  Juan  Joseph 
de  Vertiz,  there  are  several  Portuguese  residing  in  the  capital  of  Buenos  Ayres 
who  maintained  secret  correspondence  with  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento,  and 
since  in  the  Military  Instructions  of  the  fourth  of  this  month,  I  have  com- 
manded you  to  send  to  distant  countries  of  Peru  the  individuals  of  the  said 
nation  which  may  be  conquered,  not  being  military  persons,  I  advice  and 
order  by  this  that,  making  the  due  inquiries,  if  they  are  not  already  made,  as 
to  those  who  were  accomplices,  in  such  a  crime  of  treachery,  you  shall  impose 
upon  them  the  corresponding  penalty,  and  in  order  to  avoid  its  recidivation 
make  all  the  Portuguese  inhabiting  my  Dominions  leave  that  Province  and 


—  295  — 

those  of  the  frontiers  of  the  Dominion  of  Brazil,  sending  them  to  the  interior 
ones  of  Peru  or  Chili,  with  absolute  prohibition  to  again  return  to  their 
present  residences. 

XVI. — As  the  present  constitution  of  South  America  leads  to  the  sup- 
position that  it  will  many  times  be  the  seat  of  a  war,  and  that  in  these 
circumstances  it  is  necessary  to  take  all  possible  advantage  of  its  own  forces 
and  means,  I  request  you  to  raise  all  the  militias  that  can  be  formed  in  the 
Provinces  under  your  charge,  giving  for  this  purpose  commissions  to  officers 
of  good  character,  and  taking  the  most  efficacious  and  opportune  steps  for 
their  uniform,  armament  and  discipline,  and  on  the  termination  of  the 
present  Expedition  you  are  to  arrange  the  annual  share  of  monies,  and  the 
appropriations  for  the  veteran  troops  and  the  vessels  of  war  which  you  may 
consider  necessary  for  maintening  those  frontiers  and  the  River  Plate  res- 
pected and  in  defense. 

XVII. — I  finally  advise  you  that  the  Paymaster,  destined  to  the  Military 
Expedition,  with  Instructions  given  by  my  reserved  way  of  the  Treasury,  a 
copy  of  which  will  be  communicated  to  you,  is  to  take  care  of  the  monies  and 
of  every  thing  financial  until  the  conclusion  of  the  Expedition  and  your 
return  to  Spain  with  the  forces  which  you  may  not  deem  necessary  in  those 
Provinces,  but  it  is  to  be  understood  that  on  account  of  your  character  of 
Viceroy  which  I  have  given  you,  you  are  to  exercise  the  functions  of  General 
Superintendent  of  the  Royal  Treasury  during  your  period  of  office  and  the 
said  Paymaster  and  his  inferiors  Auditors  and  Treasurers  of  the  army  will  be 
subordinate  to  you  and  under  your  orders  and  disposition  in  what  refers  to 
the  collection  of  all  amounts  to  be  delivered  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Expedi- 
tion by  the  Royal  officers  of  the  Head  Treasury  of  Buenos  Ayres,  with  the 
intervention  of  the  High  Auditor  of  that  district.  And  you  will  request  to 
the  ones  and  to  the  others  to  keep  their  respective  accounts  with  their  res- 
pective vouchers  and  with  due  clearness  so  that  their  examination,  liquidation 
and  balancing  may  be  easy;  on  your  part  you  will  see  above  all  that  the 
troops  are  punctually  aided  and  with  equity,  their  salaries  not  to  be  totally 
paid  to  them,  until  the  end  of  the  war,  so  that  the  interesst  and  hope  of 
collecting  them  shall  keep  the  soldiers  in  my  service  and  prevent  their 
desertion.  And  since  by  my  said  Royal  Letters  of  the  first  of  this  month  I 
have  appointed  you  Viceroy,  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  all  the 
Provinces  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Superior  Audiencia  of  Charcas,  I  have 
granted  you  ample  powers  and  extraordinary  prerogatives ;  I  have  confidence 
in  your  zeal,  accredited  conduct  and  love  for  my  service  to  be  sure  that  you 
will  fulfil  with  all  exactness  and  vigilance  every  thing  entrusted  to  you  in 
this  Instruction,  which  I  have  ordered  to  be  given,  signed  with  my  hand  and 
countersigned  by  my  undersigned  Secretary  of  State  and  of  the  Universal 
Despatch  of  the  Indies,  and  also  every  thing  else  that  you  are  to  execute  in 
obedience  to  the  Laws  of  those  Dominions,  Royal  Letters  and  Ordinances, 
and  that  you  will  correspond  to  your  great  obligations  and  to  my  sovereign 
confidence.  Giv-en  in  San  Ildefonso  on  the  fifteenth  of  August  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  seventy  six. — I,  THE  KING. — There  is  a  scroll. 


1784 


COFV    or    THE    LETTER 

of  the  Viceroy,  IVEarquis  of  Loreto^  bearing  date  Buenos  Ayres, 

July  4th,  1784,  to  the  Zntendant  Governor  of  Paraguay, 

placing  him  in  Command  over  theFueblos  of  IKEisiones,  in 

accordance  with  the  Regulations  of  Zntendants.  (*) 

As  upon  my  starting  to  fulfil  my  charge,  I  found  the  pueblos  of  Misiones 
of  Uruguay  and  Parana  were  under  your  immediate  jurisdiction,  I  proceeded  to 
take  steps  in  order  not  to  retard  the  measures  which  those  parts  demanded ; 
in  the  meanwhile,  as  in  other  places,  setting  to  work  to  establish  the 
complete  fulfilment  of  the  New  Royal  Ordinance,  for  the  establishment 
of  Intendant  Governors.  Now,  in  conformity  to  it,  and  agreeably  to 
my  resolution  of  this  day,  I  have  sent  on  this  date,  an  official  notification 
to  the  Intendant  Governor  of  this  province,  placing  him  in  command  over 
the  seventeen  pueblos  that  correspond  to  his  district,  and  I  place  Your  Ex- 
cellency in  charge  of  the  thirteen  pueblos  remaining,  without  thereby  hold- 
ing myself  less  ready  to  proceed  with  my  aid,  and  superior  authority,  when- 
ever it  may  be  necessary ;  advices  of  these  appointments,  having  been  al- 
ready sent  to  the  pueblos,  to  the  protector  of  the  natives  and  to  the  Admini- 
strator of  their  estate.  May  God  preserve  Your  Excellency  many  years. 
Buenos  Ayres,  the  fourteenth  day  July,  one  thousand  hseven  undred  and 
seventy-six.  EL  MARQUES  DE  LORETO.— To  the  Intendant  Governor 
of  Paraguay. 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archives  o 
Indies  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms  part  ol 
Group  A,  No.  26  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "'  Argentine  Evidence." 


1803 


ROY-AL    LETTER, 

G-iven   at    Arai^uez,    on  the  17th  of  IMEay,  1803,  appointing 

Don  Bernardo  Velasco   IWEilitary  G-overnor  of  the   Thirty 

Pueblos  of  IMEisiones  on  the  Rivers  Faran^  and  Uruguay.  (*) 

By  the  Royal  letter  dated  the  seventeenth  day  of  May  of  last  year,  estab- 
lishing a  new  method  of  Government  in  the  pueblos  of  Misiones,  on  the  Riv- 
ers Uruguay  and  Parana,  the  incorporation  to  the  Crown  of  all  the  encomien- 
das  subsisting  in  that  province,  in  opposition  to  the  former  sovereign  resolutions 
already  executed  in  the  greater  part  of  these  dominions,  is  ordered,  without 
admitting  to  the  holders  any  resource  that  may  embarras  its  effective  rever- 
sion. And,  in  order  that  you  may  carry  into  a  full  and  due  effect  this  just 
mandate,  and  thus  you  may  issue  the  suitable  dispositions  for  the  fulfilment 
of  the  aforsaid  Royal  letter,  a  copy  thereof  I  give  you,  recommending  you  to 
give  an  account  of  its  results. 

So  may  God  preserve  you  many  years.      Buenos  Ayres,    twelfth   day  of 
June,   one   thousand   eight   hundred   and   one. — MARQUIS    DE    SOBRE 
MONTE — To  His  Excellency  the  Governor  Intendant  of  Paraguay. 
THE  KING: 

Viceroy  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the  provinces  of  the  River 
Plate,  and  the  President  of  my  Royal  Audiencia  of  Buenos  Ayres : — Upon  con- 
sultation of  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  April,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
seventy-eight,  of  my  Supreme  Council  of  Indies,  I  have  been  pleased  to  ap- 
prove only  upon  the  condition  of  provisional  ordinances  and  instructions,  for- 
mulated by  the  Captain  General  of  those  provinces  for  the  successive  Govern- 
ment of  the  thirty  pueblos  of  Indians  Guaranis  and  Tapes,  situated  on  the 
borders  of  the  Rivers  Parana  and  Uruguay,   with  the  additions  and  preven- 


(*)  This  is  translation  of  the  original  documents  existins  in  the  Argentine  National 
Archive  and  in  the  General  Archives  of  Indies  which,  in  copies  duly  legalized,  form  part  of 
group  A,  No.  27,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence." 


—  300  — 

tions  proposed  to  me  by  the  above-mentioned  Council,  in  consequence  of  the 
reports  which  had  been  presented  to  it  by  the  Extraordinary,  one  of  them  be- 
ing that  the  Governor  was  to  give  an  account  of  the  effect  it  should  produce  ; 
and  as  no  communication  has  come  to  hand  since  then  on  the  results,  until 
on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  Februaiy,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety- 
five,  the  Superintendent  of  the  extinct  Direction  of  Temporalities  signified 
that,  during  the  term  of  twelve  years,  only  one  circular  provision  had  been  sent 
out,  on  the  thirty-first  day  of  January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
eighty-four,  addressed  to  the  Viceroy,  to  the  Superintendent  and  Reverend 
Bishops  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  Paraguay  so  that,  they  might  individually  in- 
form about  the  spiritual  and  temporal  Government  of  the  Misiones  which 
were  under  the  control  of  the  Regulars  of  the  Order.  Not  having  happened 
that  the  said  information  be  evacuated,  I  was  pleased  to  determined,  that 
the  above-mentioned  Council  should  consult  me  upon  what  might  be  deemed 
expedient.  Having  regard  to  the  antecedents  which  it  had  about  the  spirit- 
ual and  temporal  Government  of  the  aforesaid  pueblos,  and  which  would  be 
the  most  convenient  of  the  the  letters  and  informations  that  have  been  had  at 
sight  from  the  late  Viceroy  of  those  provincns,  Marquis  de  ,  Aviles,  Superint- 
endent Don  Francisco  de  Paula  Sanz,  Reverend  Bishop  of  Paraguay,  his 
Chapter  and  the  Administrator,  General  Don  Manuel  Cayetano  Pacheco  ;  thus 
it  results  that  the  pernicious  communal  rule  under  which  the  said  pueblos 
have  been  hitherto  governed,  is  the  most  ruinous  for  them  and  that,  were 
that  rule  to  perdure,  they  would  never  improve:  The  said  Viceroy  evacuating 
the  information  asked  from  him,  in  his  letter  of  the  eighth  day  of  May,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred,  after  proposing  the  means  which  he  esteemed  con- 
venient as  to  answering  the  natural  civil  constitution  of  said  natives,  pro- 
posed to  grant  them  the  same  freedom  enjoyed  by  the  Spaniards,  and  to 
restore  to  them  their  individual  property,  and  the  fathers'  rights  over  their 
sons,  so  that  they  should  live  under  the  protection  afforded  by  the  law,  ruhng 
themselves  accordingly  and  observing  the  ordinances  of  Peru,  in  all  that 
which  might  be  adaptable,  and  those  of  Captain  General  Bucareli,  in  all 
that  which  should  be  deemed  expedient  in  the  critical  circumstances  of  pas- 
sing from  an  ignorant  and  rude  state  to  one  of  enlightenment  and  freedom  ; 
thereby  extinguishing  the  encomiendas  of  Paraguay  and  those  of  the, pueblos 
"Mitayos,"  of  the  Parana  and  Uruguay.  My  said  Viceroy  having  resolved, 
in  consequence  of  my  Royal  order  of  thirtieth  of  November,  ninety-eight,  to 
grant  freedom  to  three  hundred  heads  of  families,  to  whom  lands  and  cattle 
were  adjudicated  with  only  the  moderate  tax  of  a  dollar  imposed  upon  them 
from  some  time  ago,  with  which  measure  he  expected  to  be  able  to  enliven 
the  energies  of  the  rest ;  and  in  fact,  the  news  by  the  said  Viceroy  communi- 
cated in  his  letter  of  the  eighth  day  of  March,  one  thousand  eight  hundred, 
containing  the  advice  of  the  inexpressible  rejoicings  of  the  pueblos  for  the 
freedom  he  gave  to  three  hundred  heads  of  families,  by  a  writ  bearing  the 
date  of  the  eighteenth  day  of  February  of  said  year,  according  to  what  he  had 
been  informed  of  by  the  curates  and  chapters  ;  the  Indians  having  thereon 
devoted  themselves  to  the  rebuilding  of  their  dwellings,  the  manuring  of  their 


—  30I   — 

respective  lands  and  every  other  occupation  of  agriculture  and  industry  ; 
they  being  already  exempted  of  the  obligrtion  of  communal  labor,  and  in  pos- 
session of  all  the  rights  they  had  been  in  want  of,  the  number  then. amount- 
ing already  to  six  thousand  two  hundred  and  twelve  of  both  sexes,  and  of  all 
ages,  now  living  with  their  repective  families  ;  and  my  Viceroy  ended  his  re- 
port by  specifying  the  divers  measures  he  had  taken  to  establish  the  system 
of  freedom  among  the  Indians  of  the  above-mentioned  pueblos. 

This  being  examined  by  my  Council;  conjointly  with  the  information  ob- 
tained of  its  Accountant  General's  office,  and  that  stated  by  my  Attorney  Gen- 
eral, and  having  been  consulted  upon  it,  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  November  of 
last  year,  I  have  been  pleased  to  order  that  the  said  pueblos  be  brought  to  the 
new  system  of  freedom  of  the  Indian  Guaranis,  proposed  and  began  to  be  ex- 
ecuted with  success  by  my  late  Viceroy  of  those  provinces,  Marquis  de  Avi- 
les,  and  in  order  that  it  may  be  verified,  with  the  consequent  advantages,  I 
have  deemed  very  convenient  the  congregation  of  said  pueblos,  under  one 
single  Government,  comprising  all  the  Misiones,  as  it  happens  with  those  of 
Maynas,  Mojos  and  Chiquitos,  to  which  end  I  have  conferred  the  military  and 
political  Government,  which  I  have  been  pleased  to  institute  by  my  Royal 
decree  of  the  twenty-eighth  of  March  of  this  year,  to  the  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Don  Bernardo  de  Velasco,  so  that  lie  may  have  the  command  over  the  thirty 
pueblos  of  the  Misiones  Guaranis  and  Tapes,  with  full  independence  of  the 
Governments  of  Paraguay  and  Buenos  Ayres,  under  which  they  are  at  pres- 
ent divided.  The  creation  of  a  Government  in  that  quarter  being  very  im- 
portant, and  I  have  also  been  pleased  to  order  that  all  and  whatever  enco- 
miendas  existing  in  Paraguay,  in  opposition  to  my  Royal  letters,  already  ex- 
ecuted in  the  greater  part  of  my  dominions  in  America,  be  immediately  incor- 
porated to  my  Royal  Crown,  without  allowing  the  holders  any  recourse  that 
may  embarras  its  effective  reversion,  as  no  just  right  assists  them  for  so  doing, 
and  this  my  Royal  resolution  is  to  extend  to  the  ancient  "  Mitayos  " — the 
Indian  to  be  gently  induced  to  pay  the  tribute  in  the  proportion  established. 
That  land  and  cattle  shall  be  unsparingly  distributed  to  everyone  of  those 
having  them  in  excess  for  their  subsistence  and  that  of  their  families,  as  well 
as  for  the  encouragement  of  their  agriculture  and  industry,  and  moreover, 
that  lands  proper  for  communal  purposes,  pueblo  uses,  pasture  grounds  and 
other  necessities  according  to  laws  and  ordinances  of  township,  be  designated 
without  being  borne  by  the  prescription,  fixing  a  league  to  every  quarter,  as 
there  is  plenty  of  land  for  every  thing;  that  great  caution  is  to  be  taken,  so 
that  within  their  limits,  the  Spaniards  may  not  acquire  any  lands,  as  the  ex- 
perience has  shown  them  as  always  ending  by  the  seizing  all,  or  the  greater 
part  of  the  land  in  possession  of  the  Indians  ;  and  I  forbid  the  Indians  to  sell 
the  land  alloted  to  them,  so  that  they  might  hold  them  as  entailed  to  their 
families,  applying  themselves  to  have  them  cultivated  and  well  provided 
with  cattle  ;  and  I  order  that  in  every  town  a  school  for  the  teaching  of  the 
Spanish  language  be  established,  the  teachers'  salary  to  be  paid  from  the' 
municipal  or  the  communal  treasure,  under  the  absolute  prohibition  of  their 
receiving  any  other  reward  or  present,  be  it  in  fruits  or  in  coin,  so  that  no  one 


—  302  — 

may  fail  from  attending  or  sending  those  depending  on  him,  care  being  taken 
that  this  christian  teaching  of  civil  and  political  instructions  in  the  essentials, 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  persons  of  learning,  probity  and  good  behavior, 
for  the  great  influence  they  may  have  upon  the  pupils  owing  to  their  early 
age  ;  and  I  order  that  with  equal  solicitude  the  parishes  of  said  pueblos  be 
entrusted  to  persons  of  certified  ability,  virtue  and  other  good  accomplish- 
ments, upon  the  condition  of  keeping  the  necessary  Vicars,  for  the  sound 
spiritual  administration  of  all  their  parishioners  ;  assigning  to  you  in  con- 
formity with  the  Prelates  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  Paraguay  the  corresponding 
synod  for  their  honest  support  on  the  branch  of  tributes,  making  them  un- 
derstand that  their  merit  and  the  services  they  may  render,  shall  be  rewarded 
with  their  promotion  to  some  other  more  beneficial  preferment  without  the 
exclusion  of  prebends  and  cathedral  dignities  ;  endeavoring  to  appoint  to 
such  persons  of  legitimate  birth,  education  and  competent  illustration  ;  and 
lastly  I  have  been  pleased  to  approve  the  measures  of  my  above-mentioned 
Viceroy,  Marquis  de  Aviles,  and  to  most  earnestly  recommend  you  that 
until  the  total  improvement  and  new  government  of  these  pueblos  be  settled, 
an  annual  account  be  rendered  of  their  condition  and  improvement;  doing  all 
that  you  may  deem  convenient  for  its  progress,  all  what  I  impart  to  you,  so 
that,  as  1  order,  is  to  you  may  have  a  fulfilment  mentioned  in  my  Royal  reso- 
lution, which  you  shall  communicate  to  the  Governor  of  Paraguay  and  that 
of  the  said  pueblos  and  to  all  whom  it  may  concern;  for  such  is  my  will. 

Done  at  Aranjuez  on  the  seventeenth  of  May,  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  three.  I,  the  KING. — By  order  of  the  King  our  Lord,  Silvestre 
Collar.. — Three  signatures. 


1805 


Title   of  Zntendant    Governor  of  the    Province  of  Paraguay, 

adding  thereto  the  command  of  the  Thirty  Pueblos 

of  niisiones,  conferred  to  Don  Bernardo 

Velasco.     (*) 

September  12th,  1805. 
Don  Pedro  Cevallos,  on  the  date  of  September  the  twelfth  writes  to  me 
as  follows  : — Your  Excellency :  The  Board  of  Fortifications  and  Defence  of 
Indies,  in  its  consultation,  the  eleventh  of  July  last,  has  reported  to  the  King 
as  follows: — Sir:  The  consulting  Board  of  Fortifications  and  Defence  of  In- 
dies has  examined  with  the  greatest  attention  the  despatch  addressed  to  your 
General  in  Chief,  dated  the  fifteenth  of  February,  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  four,  in  which  the  Intendant  Governor  of  Paraguay  sets  forth  the 
difficulties  met  with  in  trying  to  get  into  active  shape  the  corps  of  militia,  or- 
dered by  the  decree  of  January  the  fourteenth,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  one,  in  consequence  of  the  considerable  number  of  individuals  who  have 
bound  themselves  to  the  contract  of  the  «  Royal  Tobacco  Tax,  »  stimulated  to 
this  step  by  the  exemptions  conceded  by  the  director  of  this  department  at 
Buenos  Ayres,  which  have  been  authorized  by  the  Viceroy  of  that  Province. 
In  this  document  the  Intendant  Governor  sets  forth,  that  in  following  out  the 
above-mentioned  decrees,  great  harm  would  result  to  thejRoyal  income,  and  in 
it  he  also  represents  the  sad  state  of  decadence  in  which  the  militia  corps  are 
at  present,  and  the  urgent  necessity  of  attending  to  the  defence  of  that  pro- 
vince. The  Board  would  say  to  Your  Majesty  that  it  deduces  from  the  con- 
tents of  the  said  Governor's  reply,  that  the  question  lies  with  the  Director  of 
the  Tobacco  Tax  in  the  Viceroyalty  of  Buenos  Ayres  who,  seeing  that  this 
income  was  disappearing,  because  Paraguay  did  not  supply  him  with  suffi- 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Argentine  National 
Archive,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized,  forms  part  of  group  A,  No.  28,  ot  manuscript  doc- 
uments of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  304  — 

cient  tobacco  with  which  to  pay  for  the  stamps  of  the  Viceroyalty,  put  into 
practice,  with  his  Viceroy's  approbation,  what  has  been  done  in  similar  cases 
at  other  parts  of  America — that  is,  to  make  a  contract  with  a  number  of  in- 
dividuals who  would  bind  themselves  to  sell  to  the  contribution  office  at  least 
twenty-five  arrobas  per  head,  freeing  them  from  the  obligation  of  military 
service  and  all  other  public  taxes,  in  order  to  stimulate  their  endeavors  to  the 
desired  end.  The  Intendant  Governor  sets  forth  this  innovation  would  re- 
sult disastrously,  and  demands  that  according  to  the  custom  of  former  times 
the  Tobacco  Tax  office  shall  buy  all  the  tobacco  of  good  quality  that  the  in- 
habitants of  that  province  shall  voluntarily  cultivate  ;  explaining  not  oply  the 
frauds  and  abuses  that  the  contract  system  has  given  rise  to,  but  also  the 
fact  that  because  of  the  contract  system, one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  individuals  who  have  entered  into  it.  and  their  children  and  overseers 
and  laborers,  are  totally  exempt  from  military  duty ;  and  therefore  there  is 
not  enough  people  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  State  and  to  defend  the  pro- 
vince from  the  dangers  to  which  it  is  exposed  on  the  part  of  the  Portuguese, 
not  less  than  from  the  barbarous  Indians.  Wishing  to  have  an  impartial 
report  of  the  system  of  military  government  and  of  the  political  methods  of 
that  province,  as  well  as  of  the  nature  of  the  contracts  made  by  the  «  Royal 
Tobacco  Tax, »  and  of  the  results  of  said  system,  the  Board  has  heard,  by 
word  of  mouth  and  also  by  writing,  the  opinions  of  Don  Felix  Azaraand  Don 
Miguel  Lastarria.  The  former  is  the  consulting  lawyer  of  this  Board,  who 
has  lived  a  long  time  in  the  country  under  discussion,  and  his  knowledge  on 
the  subject  is  extensive;  and  the  second  is  a  person  of  instruction  and  talent, 
who  has  enjoyed  many  opportunides  and  has  had  much  constancy  and  desire 
to  post  himself  on  this  and  other  braochcs  that  relate  to  the  Viceroyalty  of 
Buenos  Ayres ;  and  having  weighed  all  these  considerations,  the  Board  has 
agreed  to  express  itself  to  Your  Majesty  as  follows:  It  appears  doubtful  that 
the  Royal  Tobacco  Tax,  such  as  it  is  established  in  that  Viceroyalty,  can  be 
of  any  use  to  the  treasury ;  however,  if  it  be  deemed  advisable  to  keep  it  up, 
the  Board  does  not  think  it  can  be  done  in  the  way  suggested  by  the  Gov- 
ernor, because  experience  has  already  proved  that  system  to  be  insufficient. 
From  this  viewpoint  the  Board  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  system  of  contracts 
and  exemptions  shall  continue,  such  as  it  was  established  by  the  Director; 
but  that  special  efforts  be  directed  to  exterminate  the  abuses  it  occasions,  and 
that  they  be  reduced  to  the  smallest  possible  number,  in  order  to  diminish 
the  laziness  it  gives  rise  to,  and  to  injure,  as  little  as  possible,  the  public  and 
military  state. 

With  the  object  of  achieving  these  ends,  the  Board  is  of  opinion  that  the 
contracts  calling  for  the  supply  of  tobacco  should  not  be  made  by  the  Direc- 
tor, as  is  done  at  present,  nor  less  still  by  his  agent,  be  he  a  property  owner 
or  one  holding  the  land  ad  interim,  but  by  the  Intendant  Governor  of  Para- 
guay himself,  as  he  is  the  only  one  who  can  make  them  less  arbitrary  and 
can  clear  them  of  the  abuses  they  contain,  as  he  is  at  the  same  time  the  per- 
son most  interested  that  their  number  shall  not  be  excessive,  so  as  not  to  find 
himself  without  men  or  troops  on  whom  to  call ;  he  is  the  only  person  who 


—  305  — 

can  compel  their  fulfilment,  and  the  only  person,  according  to  the  actual 
provincial  system,  who  can  keep  in  existence  said  tax.  He  is  also  the  only 
person  interested  in  the  fact  that  the  number  of  the  contracts  shall  not  be 
greatly  dimished,  because  the  Tax  office  would  call  him  to  account  by  rekson 
of  a  lack  in  the  tobacco  supply.  In  order  that  everything  shall  work  smooth- 
ly, the  Board  thinks  that  the  Governor  should  punctually  and  in  advance, 
give  notice  to  his  agent  of  the  number  of  contracts  and  of  the  stipulated  ar- 
robas  from  each  one  ;  not  only  that  the  Tax  office  be  certain  that  the  neces- 
sary amount  of  tobacco  is  to  be  supplied,  but  also  that  the  examiners  shall  see 
the  crops  and  plantations  of  the  contracting  parties,  in  order  that  frauds  may 
be  prevented  on  the  part  of  the  latter,  and  that  the  examiners  may  be  enabled 
to  help  the  planters,  as  is  sometimes  necessary,  furnishing  them  with  what- 
ever they  may  need ;  and  the  Governor  shall  see  to  it  that  in  the  books  of 
the  tobacco  factories,  where  are  recorded  the  quantities  of  tobacco  bought  by 
the  Tax  office,  there  be  marked  the  quantity  that  is  really  needed,  because 
the  Director  or  his  agent  ad  interim  have  closed  contracts  with  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  eighty -three  persons  at  twenty-five  arrobas  each,  that  should 
turn  in  a  total  of  forty-two  thousand  and  seventy-five  arrobas,  when  the 
Board  is  informed  that  with  half  that  amount  the  tax  would  have  been  paid 
for.  It  would  likewise  be  advantageous  for  the  Governor  to  order,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  Governor  that  preceded  his  predecessor,  that  the  Indians  under 
his  command  should  enter  into  a  contract  to  cultivate  and  to  improve  tobac- 
co in  proportion  to  their  ability,  which  would  result  in  the  production  of  about 
six  thousand  arrobas,  without  injuring  the  military  service,  because  these  In- 
dians do  not  render  any  military  assistance,  and  they  would  derive  greater 
benefit  devoting  themselves  to  tobacco  growing  than  to  any  other  branch. 

The  Board  recognizes  that  this  plan  can  only  be  practiced  so  long  as  the 
system  of  commercial  Government  shall  exist,  which  form  of  Government 
Your  Majesty  has  already  decreed  shall  be  abolished;  but  when  this  shall  be 
carried  into  effect  it  will  be  an  easy  matter  to  order  that  the  tributes  be  paid 
in  the  form  of  tobacco.  The  Governor  shall  decide  for  himself  whether  in 
order  to  stimulate  the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  it  will  be  sufficient  (as  the  opin- 
ion of  the  Board  leads  it  to  believe)  to  exempt  the  contracting  parties  from 
military  service,  leaving  them  to  fulfil  the  other  burdens  of  the  State,  and 
the  proper  distribution  of  contracts  and  their  payment  and  accounts,  shall 
also  be  left  to  the  Governor's  decision.  In  like  manner,  the  Governor  will 
be  careful  that  no  contract  be  entered  into  with  those  who  are  not  agricul- 
turers,  and  that  these  contracts  shall  demand  twenty-five  arrobas  from  the 
poor;  but  when  made  with  a  person  in  easy  circumstances,  that  the  sum  be 
larger,  according  to  the  party's  resources,  and  finally  that  the  Governor  him- 
self shall  exact  the  fulfilment  of  the  contracts,  punishing  and  levying  fines, 
proportionate  to  the  breach  of  contract,  and  not  permitting  more  than  one 
packer  for  the  wholesale  tobacco  storage  house  at  Asuncion.  These  are  the 
principal  frauds  and  abuses  of  which  the  Governor  complains,  and  the  rem- 
edy for  which  must  be  left  in  his  hands,  inasmuch  as  the  supply  of  tobacco 
also  rests  on  his  responsibility.      The   Board  opines  that  what  has  already 


—  3o6  — 

been  set  forth  is  all  that  can  be  decided  upon  at  this  moment,  not  only  to 
conciliate  in  so  far  as  may  be  possible  the  controversy  of  which  the  despatch 
treats,  but  also  to  keep  up  the  Royal  Tobacco  Tax  in  that  Viceroyalty. 
However,  it  does  not  thereby  assert  that  the  measures  indicated  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  supply  the  said  Tax  office  with  the  purchase  and  quantity  of  tobacco 
it  needs,  as  the  Board  is  informed  that  in  the  actual  state  of  this  Tax  office 
it  cannot  pay  a  bigger  price,  and  that  nearly  all  the  inhabitants  of  Paraguay 
find  it  more  profitable  to  occupy  themselves  in  cultivating  other  things  than 
this  plant.  The  Board  also  knows  that  the  tax  on  tobacco  cannot  be  made 
profitable  to  the  State  unless  it  be  effectively  aided  by  the  Governor;  and  as 
it  sees  that  the  Governor  is  acting  in  opposition  to  it,  the  Board  foresees  new 
disputes  that  shall  ruin  the  said  tax  and  its  legal  resources,  and  suits  will  be 
interminable.  Upon  this  point,  as  the  Governor  is  irreconciliably  opposed  to 
the  destruction  of  the  tyrannical  communal  Government  of  the  Indian  pue- 
blos, as  Your  Majesty  has  already  ordered,  the  Board  would  make  known 
to  you  that  it  would  be  of  advantage,  provided  it  meets  with  His  Majesty's 
approbation,  to  relieve  of  said  charge  that  Governor,  who  it  appears  has  al- 
ready served  a  double  term,  more  than  the  one  usually  filled  by  Governors  in 
America;  to  which  may  be  added.that  the  Board  being  engaged  in  meditating  a 
new  military  plan  for  that  province,  which  it  imperiously  needs,  cannot  expect 
the  said  Governor  to  execute  and  put  it  into  practice,  a  further  obstacle  to 
which  is  the  fact  of  his  low  military  grade,  which  is  simply  that  of  Lieutenant 
with  the  grade  of  Captain.  And  as  the  said  plan  must  necessarily  embrace 
the  defence  of  the  Guarani  Misiones,  which  are  adjacent,  the  Board  would 
say  to  Your  Majesty  that  it  would  be  very  desirable  that  Colonel  D.  Bernardo 
Velasco,  Governor  of  these  Misiones,  and  a  person  who  possesses  in  abun- 
dance the  honesty  and  talent  required,  should  unite  in  his  person,  for  the 
present,  the  two  Governments  of  Paraguay  and  of  the  Misiones,  because  in 
this  way  the  new  system  relative  to  the  defence  of  said  provinces  shall  be 
put  into  execution  well  and  efficaciously,  and  Your  Majesty's  will,  directing 
that  liberty  be  granted  to  the  poor  Indians  within  them,  shall  be  fulfiled. 

Besides  what  has  already  been  set  forth,  it  has  appeared  proper  to  the 
Board  to  make  known  to  Your  Majesty  that  there  exists  in  Paraguay  what  is 
called  «  Funds  for  War,  »  which  is  now  an  amount  of  some  consideration,  and 
are  subject  to  the  will  of  that  Governor  without  previous  notice  to  the  Viceroy 
or  the  Royal  Audiencias,  and  in  this  regard  the  Board  is  of  the  opinionjit  would 
be  to  advantage  were  these  funds  administered  from  now  on,  as  the  other 
sources  of  the  Royal  Exchequer,  by  the  Ministers  of  Finance,  keeping  sepa- 
rate accounts  and  leaving  the  funds  in  deposit,  because  the  Board  will  be 
obliged  to  make  use  of  them  whenever  the  question  of  the  defence  of  the 
country  should  turn  up. 

This  subject  having  been  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  General  in  Chief, 
he  has  decided  this  opinion  is  well  founded  and  may  be  carried  into  effect, 
and  if  the  funds  for  which  the  Governor  is  responsible  pass  into  the  control 
of  the  Royal  Exchequer,  they  may  be  considered  as  existing  apart,  and  cred- 
ited to  a  separate  department. 


—  307  — 

He  also  presented  the  following  letter  at  the  consultation  of  the  eight- 
eenth of  the  same  month  : — Sir  :  The  Executive  Board  of  Fortifications  and 
Defence  of  the  Indies  held  a  consultation  with  Your  Majesty  on  the  eleventh 
instant,  upon  the  representation  made  to  you  by  the  Intendant  Governor  of 
Paraguay,  in  which  he  complains  of  the  method  recently  estabhshed  in  that 
province,  to  supply  with  the  amount  of  tobacco  it  needs,  the  Royal  Tax  office 
of  that  plant,  established  in  the  Viceroyalty  of  Buenos  Ayres.  In  it  he  says 
that  the  exceptions  to  military  duty,  which  are  caused  by  this  motive,  do  not 
leave  him  enough  men  to  form  his  militia  or  to  defend  the  country  against 
the  urgent  danger^  in  which  it  finds  itself,  or  even  to  fulfil  the  other  public 
duties.  Subsequently  the  Board  has  received  another  despatch  from  the 
same  Governor,  in  the  same  vein,  which  has  already  been  read  in  your  Coun- 
cil of  War,  and  the  advice  which  this  Governor  solicits  from  Your  Majesty; 
and  the  Board  being  obhged  by  reason  of  this  to  again  consider  its  decision 
upon  the  subject,  the  Board  does  so  now,  prefixing  some  observations  it 
omitted  in  its  previous  consultation  relative  to  the  person  of  the  said  Intendant 
Governor.  The  latter  has  forwarded  his  appeal,  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  who  is  his  immediate  chief  and  who  resides  at 
the  capital,  precisely  the  way  by  which  it  was  addressed  by  the  Governor. 
He  complains  that  the  Viceroys  have  not  replied  to  his  repeated  letters  dur- 
ing three  years,  when  the  Board  is  informed  that  at  least  he  received  an  an- 
swer to  his  letter  of  February  the  seventh,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  one, 
and  that  when  he  wrote  to  your  General  in  Chief  complaining  of  the  silence 
of  the  Viceroys,  sufficient  time  had  not  elapsed  to  enable  the  Viceroy  to  an- 
swer his  letter,  dated  January  the  eighteenth  of  the  same  year.  These  facts 
do  not  furnish  the  Board  with  the  best  proofs  of  the  said  Governor's  sincerity; 
neither  is  his  sincerity  proved  to  the  Board's  satisfaction,  when  it  sees  that 
he  has  made  his  appeal  through  different  channels,  namely,  your  General  in 
Chief,  the  Minister  of  War,  and  the  Council  of  Indies.  His  affected  style, 
which  is  wanting  in  respect  to  his  superiors,  equally  indicates  his  animosity 
towards  them  and  towards  the  Director  of  the  Tobacco  Tax;  and  one  is  led 
to  infer  that  in  everything  he  says  there  is  wanting  that  frankness  which 
should  be  conspicuous  in  all  who  have  recourse  to  law  and  justice,  as  it  is 
administered  by  the  hi^h  tribunals  and  by  Your  Majesty  himself.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  D.  Miguel  Lastarria,  in  his  report,  remarks  to  him  that  he 
supposes  a  paragraph  in  the  official  communication  of  the  Marquis  of  Aviles, 
which  in  reality  does  not  exist,  and  that  he  does  not  reply  to  all  the  rest  of 
the  communication,  which  was  a  direct  answer  to  all  he  had  written  about, 
and  to  which,  the  Governor  now  says,  he  never  received  an  answer.  The 
Attorney-General  of  your  War  Council,  after  remarking  that  they  do  not 
speak  with  the  knowledge  of  either  the  Viceroy  or  the  Board  of  Tobacco  as 
they  should  do,  in  order  to  decide  with  good  results,  propose  the  following 
means  so  as  to  close  the  subject :  First,  that  until  the  Viceroy  and  said  Board 
give  in  their  decision,  the  Royal  Tobacco  Tax  should  be  supplied  with  tobac-r 
CO,  as  proposed  by  the  Intendant  Governor,  according  to  the  method  by 
which  it  was  furnished  in  its  earliest  years ;  and  should  this  method  not  be 


—  3o8  — 

feasible,  they  propose  this  second  plan:  that  the  tobacco  be  supplied  to  the 
Tax  office  by  means  of  the  contracts  lately  established  and  so  impugned  by 
the  said  Governor,  but  with  the  care  to  purge  it  of  its  abuses. 

Your  Council  of  War  has  adopted  at  its  meeting  the  first  of  the  means 
proposed  by  the  Attorneys,  and  the  same  would  have  occurred  at  this  Board 
had  not  the  Board  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  hearing,  orally  and  by  writing, 
Don  Felix  Azara,  the  consulting  lawyer  of  the  Board,  and  Don  Miguel  Las- 
tarria.  The  former  lived  many  years  in  Paraguay  and  has  an  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  military  and  political  system  of  that  province;  the  second 
^was  precisely  the  man  who,  as  Secretary  to  the  Vicerdy,  the  Marquis  of 
Aviles,  wrote  the  correspondence  between  the  said  Viceroy  and  the  above- 
mentioned  Governor,  whose  reports  accompany  this  information,  by  which 
are  seen  the  reasons  and  reports  he  has  addressed  to  this  Board  in  particu- 
lar. By  them  is  seen  that  the  military  service  in  Paraguay  is  not  as  effective 
nor  the  dangers  of  that  province  as  urgent  as  the  Governor  would  lead  us  to 
believe,  and  that  the  system  he  wishes  to  re-establish  for  the  supplying  of 
tobacco,  and  that  the  Board  adopts  for  the  present,  is  insufficient,  and  brings 
along  with  it  the  ruin  of  the  tax,  as  experience  has  demonstrated;  because 
having  seen  and  realized  this  loss,  gave  rise  to  a  change  in  method  and  to 
the  establishment  of  the  last  system  of  contracts.  The  Board,  after  the  fore- 
going remarks,  repeats  its  former  reports  in  its  integrity,  believing  that  by 
the  proposed  means  there  will  be  a  considerable  decrease  in  the  losses,  inevit- 
ably associated  with  the  contract  system,  and  that  the  abuses  which  have 
crept  in  as,  a  result  of  it  will  be  largely  corrected.  This  is  precisely  the  sec- 
ond measure  proposed  by  your  War  Council's  Attorney-General,  although 
the  Council  has  not  adopted  it.  The  Board  would  also  insist  in  declaring  to 
Your  Majesty  that  for  the  present  it  would  be  a  great  advantage  to  unite  the 
Government  ot  the  Thirty  Pueblos  of  Misiones  of  Guarani  Indians  to  that  of 
Paraguay,  placing  at  its  head  the  Colonel  Don  Bernardo  Velasco,  not  only 
because  of  the  reasons  set  forth  to  Your  Majesty,  at  the  Board's  previous 
consultation,  but  also  because  it  is  a  difficult  task  for  the  Governor  of  Para- 
guay to  put  into  practice  the  abolition  of  Encomiendas  of  Indians,  so  often 
ordered  by  Your  Majesty,  and  finally  decided  upon  on  May  the  seventeenth, 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  three,  without  it  having  ever  been  carried 
into  effect. 

This  report  likewise  having  been  examined  by  the  General  in  Chief,  he 
has  decreed,  as  herein  appears,  in  belief  that  if  Velasco  does  not  conquer 
these  obstacles  now  there  will  never  be  another  opportunity  to  destroy  them. 

And  His  Majesty,  having  seen  fit  to  agree  with  the  opinion  of  his  Gen- 
eral in  Chief,  I  make  it  known  to  Your  Excellency,  for  your  information  and 
fulfilment  in  the  part  that  relates  to  you,  in  the  understanding  that  you  will 
forward  the  enclosed  Royal  Decree  to  the  said  Intendant  Governor  Don 
Lazaro  de  Rivera,  that  he,  on  his  part,  shall  also  comply  with  its  decrees. 
May  God  guard  Your  Excellency  many  years.  Buenos  Ayres,  March  the 
twenty-fourth,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  six. — THE  MARQUIS  OF 
SOBRE  MONTE.— To  Seiior  Don  Bernardo  de  Velasco:— 


1806 


Relating  to  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  new   town,  which 
it  has   been  ordered   shall   be  established  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Ibicui  and   Urug-uay  Rivers.     (*) 

The  rapidity  with  which  the  frontier  Portuguese  have  been  capturing  and 
continue  to  slyly  capture  the  lands  situated  on  the  western  part  of  the  Ibicui, 
Santa  Maria  and  other  rivers,  under  the  pretext  that  those  grounds  are  not 
inhabited,  demands  that  with  the  utmost  speed,  this  Superior  Government 
shall  take  the  most  rapid  and  active  measures  to  check  them.  Among  other 
steps  I  have  dictated,  in  order  to  accomplish  this  object,  I  consider  it  of  the 
greatest  importance,  that  in  the  western  coast  of  the  Ibicui  river,  and  on  the 
most  convenient  spot  near  its  union  with  the  Uruguay  river,  there  be  esta- 
blished a  strong  town,  with  Indians,  whose  heads  of  families  shall  not  be  oc- 
cupied in  fulfillng  important  places,  and  others  who  shall  voluntarily  decide 
to  reside  there :  to  whom  shall  be  distributed  all  the  lands  they  may  wish,  and 
they  shall  be  defended  by  one  hundred  select  militiamen,  shoud  this  number 
be  made  up,  which  I  believe  is  possible  with  the  forces  your  Excellency  has 
at  this  moment  and  they  shall  guard  that  point  as  the  last  limit  on  the  part 
of  the  frontier  line,  your  Excellency  coming  to  an  agreement  in  this  point 
with  the  Commander  General  of  the  Campaign  and  the  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Don  Francisco  Xavier  de  Viana,  about  the  Commission  with  which  he  is 
charged  of  settling  said  frontier  and  locating  the  settlements.  I  have  deemed 
it  proper  to  entrust  the  fulfilment  of  this  important  measure  to  your  Excel- 
lency's zeal  and  activity ;  hoping  you  will  carry  it  out  with  the  celerity  it  de- 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Archives  of 
Argentine  Department  of  Forcing  Relations  which  forms  part  of  group  A,  No  29  of  manuscript 
documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  310  — 

mands,  in  order  that  the  frontier  Portuguese  shall  not  get  ahead  of  us ;  I  with 
the  reserve  that  is  necesssary,  so  they  may  not  see  through  our  intentions,  I 
hope  you  will  make  our  plans  known  to  the  Lieutenant  Governor  of  that  De- 
partment, Don  Jose  de  Lariz,  that  he  may  begin  at  once  to  take  measures  and 
make  arrangements  for  the  enterprise,  taking  care  that  nothing  shall  be  done 
openly  until  everything  shall  be  in  readiness,  and  also, being  careful  to  inform 
me  of  everything,  that  I  may  give  the  necessary  orders  for  the  moving  of  the 
troops  that  may  be  needed  to  aid  you,  and  sustain  you  in  the  carrying  out  of 
so  important  an  enterprise.  May  God  guard  you  many  years. — Buenos  Ay- 
res,  September  14th,  1805. — The  Marquis  of  Sobre  Monte,  to  the  Governor 
of  the  Province  of  Guarani  Misiones. — This  is  a  copy. — Sallego. 


In  view  of  the  superior  decree  which  your  Excellency  transmit  to  me, 
bearing  date  of  September  30th,  in  which  His  Excellency  the  Viceroy  Mar- 
quis of  Sobre  Monte,  wishes  to  put  a  rapid  and  effective  stop  to  the  alacrity 
with  which  the  frontier  Portuguese  are  taking  possession  of  the  territory  on 
the  western  coast  of  the  river  Ibicui,  by  our  forming  a  strong  settlement, 
Avith  the  Indian  families  that  may  be  situated  about,  without  any  special  ad- 
vantageous circumstances,  and  those  who  may  voluntarily  wish  to  settle  in 
the  said  new  town,  that  shall  be  situated  at  the  spot  most  convenient  to  and 
nearest  to  the  junction  of  the  said  Ibicui  river  with  the  Uruguay,  where  they 
shall  be  supported  by  one  hundred  militiamen, and  grounds  shall  be  distributed 
among  tjiem  according  to  their  needs,  I  must  express  myself  to  your  Excel- 
lency, as  I  shall  do,  in  the  following  order : 

A  hundred  families  of  Indians  applied  at  once  to  form  the  new  town, 
without  counting  those  who  are  coming  over  from  already  established  towns, 
occupied  by  the  Portuguese;  because,  having  had  it  circulated  among  those 
natives,  that  here  they  would  be  well  received,  and  they  would  get  all  the 
lands  they  needed,  so  they  could  established  themselves,  thirty-five  have 
arrived  in  a  few  days;  and  these  have  told  me,  they  are  obliged  to  undergo 
great  difficulties  to  come  over,  as  they  have  no  horses  on  which  to  bring  their 
children  to  the  shore  of  the  Uruguay :  and  others,  though  they  start  to  come 
here,  cannot  cross  the  river  as  they  do  not  know  how  to  swim;  and  also, 
because  they  expose  themselves,  on  that  account,  to  be  arrested  and  punished 
by  the  Portuguese.  These  obstacles  shall  be  greatly  diminished,  if  we,  on 
our  part,  should  place  an  armed  force  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Ibicui, 
because,  besides  those  towns  having  the  defensive  troops  nearer,  in  the  sum- 
mer, the  natives  can  pass  the  river  without  swimming,  and  they  would  always 
find  the  protection  and  security  of  our  Spanish  forces.  In  this  manner,  this 
town  shall  become  the  largest  of  all  those  of  Misiones.  and  it  shall  prosper 
wonderfully,  because  of  the  excellent  pasture  its  grounds  offer  for  the  breed- 
ing and  cultivation  of  flocks  and  herds. 

These  families,  once  established  here,  the  most  important  thing  is  that 
they  establish  a  farm  for  cattle  to  graze  in,  and  that  these  cattle  be  distri- 
buted among  them  with    equity,  and  let  this  farm   for  the  time  being,  their 


—  311  — 

supply  of  food,  while  they  build  their  huts,  their  ranches  and  quarters,  for  it 
is  very  difficult  at  times,  and  even  dangerous  to  make  the  cattle  of  this  bor- 
der cross  to  the  other.,  After  that,  they  may  be  allowed  to  have  another  cow- 
farm,  to  raise  their  cattle  ranches  and  their  breeds. 

It  is  preferable  that  the  priest  they  are  provided  with  at  the  start,  shall 
be  one  of  the  companions  of  the  one  at  Yapeyu;  although  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  put  another  in  the  latter's  place ;  so  that  the  natives  shall  not  be  led 
to  think  they  will  be  unhappy  by  living  apart  from  their  parish. 

The  settlement  shall  be  made  on  the  same  spot  where  stands  the  Chapel 
of  Saint  Michael,  that  is  the  highest,  the  healthiest,  and  the  nearest  spot  to 
the  union  of  the  Ibicui  and  Uruguay  rivers,  because  although  it  is  a  league's 
distance  from  the  said  Ibicui  river  it  is  low  land  that  is  inundated  when  both 
rivers  swell;  and  then,  this  is  no  great  distance  in  these  countries. 

I  consider  the  one  hundred  militiamen  a  very  small  number,  if  we  take  into 
account  the  objects  to  which  they  must  attend.  It  is  necessary  at  the  start, 
to  place  a  very  large  detachment  at  the  spot  most  conveniently  situated  to 
the  post  of  the  Ibicui,  the  one  called  de  Reyes,  and  the  other  Santa  Rosa; 
to  despatch  a  strong  scorting  party  with  those  who  may  go  out  to  hew  wood, 
that  can  only  be  found  on  the  coast  of  this  river,  and  in  differently  situated 
places,  and  with  those  who  go  to  cut  straw,  with  which  to  cover  the  roof  of 
the  huts,  the  cow-pens  and  the  quarters  of  the  militia,  and  to  guard  the 
horses,  as  the  unfaithful  Charruas,  and  Mimianes,  now  at  peace,  are  abetted 
by  the  Portuguese  (although  clandestinely),  and  if  our  troops  of  defence  are 
low  in  number,  is  to  be  feared  that  along  the  western  coast  of  the  said 
Ibicui,  there  will  arise  confusion,  and  the  enemy  shall  continually  molest 
said  town.  Besides,  the  Portuguese  are  prepared  with  sufficient  number  of 
armed  people,  and  they  never  hesitate  to  oppose  their  forces  to  ours;  as  they 
have  shown  on  the  occasion  of  the  uprising  of  the  Paraguayans  ;  when  the 
Commander  of  the  pueblo  of  Saint  Borja,  believing  it  true,  gave  out  that  the 
Spanish  troops  were  on  the  march,  and  immediately,  four  hundred  dragoons 
of  the  open  of  San  Martin  left  for  the  Ibicui,  where  they  were  repulsed.  The 
news  turned  out  to  be  false,  and  the  said  Commander  of  Borja  was  relieved 
of  his  Command.  For  these  reasons,  it  seems  to  me,  it  would  be  better  to 
have  two  hundred  armed  men  with  the  necessary  ammunition,  keeping  in 
mind  that  to  carry  out  the  enterprise  with  the  secrecy  and  promptitude  that 
your  Excellency  recommends,  it  is  necessary  that  all  the  troops  cross  over  at 
one  time;  that  this  troop  shall  be  strong  and  that  it  must  have  skins,  to  pro- 
tect them  from  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather,  until  huts  and  forts  shall  be 
built;  and  that  all  this  requires  celerity,  strength  and  vigilance.  I  am  fully 
aware  that  the  Exchequer  is  in  no  condition  to  make  these  extravagant  ex- 
penditures on  behalf  of  the  increase  in  troops;  but  it  is  also  certain,  that 
when  the  question  of  defending  His  Majesty's  dominions  are  at  stake,  and 
to  secure  them  from  the  usurpation  of  frontier-men,  these  expenses  are  a 
good  to  the  State,  and  the  Viceroy  will  not  decide  against  them,  because  he 
knows  full  well,  how  profitable  it  is,  on  occasions,  to  spend  large  sums  of 
money;  then  the  question  cannot  be  settled  by  an  appeal  to  arms. 


—  312  — 

The  troops  that  are  to  be  dedicated  to  guard  the  new  settlement,  it  would 
be  better,  were  they  chosen  from  the  militia  created  in  this  province  that  has 
already  been  subjected  to  trials;  and  your  Excellency  knows  that  the  veteran 
troops,  and  specially,  the  Blandengues,  cannot  perform  the  service,  perhaps 
because  of  the  greater  impression  that  commence  with  these  women  produces 
upon  them.  A  good  witness  of  these  facts  is  the  Illustrious  Bishop,  who 
knows  that  of  a  hundred  men  that  the  Order  has  under  salary,  there  are  only 
five  or  six  sick  members;  and  of  thirty  Blandengues  in  this  town,  only  six 
men  are  in  a  position  to  mount  guard. 

It  will  also  be  convenient  to  give  each  Indian  that  comes  into  the  new 
settlement,  a  spear  or  lance,  of  those  the  King  has  in  this  province;  because 
while  at  their  farms  or  ranches,  that  usually  are  to  be  found,  at  a  distance 
from  the  forts,  and  the  Indians  being  accustomed  to  enter'the  towns  in  dis- 
guise, if  the  Indian  has  no  weapon  of  defence,  he  and  his  family  may  be  a 
victim  of  the  barbarians. 

I  will  also  be  pleased  to  know  without  delay,  what  expenses  may  be  in- 
curred, and  the  method  of  making  them ;  because  it  is  necessary  to  buy  some 
tools  and  other  utensils,  and  we  shall  need  a  master  carpenter,  to  put  up  the 
Church,  the  doors  and  other  things  that  cannot  be  trusted  to  the  Indians. 

'  These  are  the  considerations  I  have  deemed  it  opportune  to  lay  before 
your  Excellency  for  the  better  service  of  the  King,  and  that  the  wise  disposi- 
tions of  His  Excellency  the  Viceroy  Marquis  de  Sobre  Monte  shall  be  carried 
out  with  efficacy  and  decorum ;  upon  which  your  Excellency,  with  more  au- 
thority than  I  shall  determine  what  shall  be  most  convenient  on  the  subject, 
and  I  await  your  Excellency's  orders  to  begin  operations,  of  whatever  you 
shall  leave  to  my  commission;  and  I  shall  in  due  time  inform  you  of  what- 
ever facts  may  be  worthy  of  your  Excellency's  attention.  May  God  guard 
your  Excellency  many  years. — Pueblo  of  Santo  Tome,  October  5th  1805. — 
Jose  de  Lariz:  to  the  Governor  Don  Bernardo  de  Velasco. — This  is  a  copy. 
— Velasco. 


Your  Excellency  :  Informed  of  all  that  your  Excellency  recommends  in 
your  official  note  of  the  14th  inst,  with  respect  to  the  formation  of  a  strong 
town  on  the  southern  coast  of  the  Ibicui  river,  near  its  junction  with  the 
Uruguay,  I  at  once  sent  a  copy  of  your  Excellency's  resolution  to  Don  Jose 
de  Lariz,  urging  him  to  devote  all  his  zeal  and  knowlege  to  the  fulfilment  of 
so  important  an  enterprise;  and  his  answer  is  enclosed: 

In  order  to  carry  into  effect  the  interesting  determinations  of  your  Ex- 
cellency, it  is  necessary,  first  of  all,  to  guard  that  place  with  sufficient  troops 
that  we  may  not  be  trampled  on  in  case  of  a  raid,  and  though  within  a 
short  time,  the  families  that  are  to  form  the  new  settlement  will  be  ready,  no- 
thing will  be  done  however,  until  we  hear  your  Excellency's  decision  regard- 
ing the  number  of  troops  that  will  support  the  undertaking  with  regard  to  the 
points  that  are  to  be  defended,  as  according  to  the  exposition  of  Don  Jose  de 
Lariz ;  it  being  my  opinion,  that  until  these  people  shall  be  firmly  estabhshed 


—  313  — 

on  their  territory,  two  hundred  men,  at  least,  are  required  to  afford  them 
protection,  among  the  forces  in  this  province,  as  I  shall  explain  to  your  Ex- 
cellency in  a  separate  note. 

Knowing  the  laborious  work  and  the  long  time  it  takes  these  natives  to, 
do  any  work,  especially  in  wood  and  excavations,  that  are  so  easily  accom- 
plished with  the  proper  tools,  which  they  lack,  I  think  it  necessary  that  your 
Excellency  give  orders  that  they  be  supplied  with  hatchets,  scythes,  pick- 
axes, hand-saws  and  chisels,  and  that  these  be  distributed  among  those  who 
are  to  form  the  new  settlement;  and  some  one,  capable  of  directing  the  nati- 
ves in  their  work  should  take  charge  of  these  tools;  to  whom  a  competent 
salary  should  be  paid;  and  to  fill  this  place  I  consider  Don  Manuel  Paloma- 
res,  very  capable;  but  I  have  not  placed  him  in  the  first  Commission,  not 
only  because  I  did  not  wish  to  fetard  the  people  he  was  leading  to  the  new 
town,  but  because  I  did  not  know  whether  the  choice  might  meet  your  Ex- 
cellency's approbation. 

The  salaried  Militia  Company  that  should  be  employed  on  this  occasion, 
has  no  other  ofificer  than  the  Lieutenant,  the  Captain  is  at  this  moment  under 
arrest  by  Don  Vicente  Carballo  and  the  Ensign  is  at  that  capital.  This  ab- 
sence of  officers  in  a  company  being  at  all  times,  and  especially  at  this  mo- 
ment, a  consideration  of  the  greatest  importance,  your  Excellency  will  decide 
the  means  to  repair  the  lack. 

With  regard  to  the  troops  that  from  this  place  are  to  start  for  the  coast  of 
Ibicui  river,  they  shall  go  armed  and  supplied  with  ammunition,  as  the  case 
requires,  and  the  Indians  be  provided  with  lances;  when  the  day  is  decided,  I 
shall  notify  the  Lieutenant  Colonel,  Don  Francisco  Xavier  de  Viana.  The 
confidence  I  place  in  Don  Jose  de  Lariz  because  of  his  honesty,  zeal  and 
knowledge,  assures  me  your  Excellency's  intentions  will  be  carried  out.  May 
God  guard  your  Excellency  many  years. — Concepcion,  October  loth  1805. — 
Your  Excellency:  Bernardo  de  Velasco. —  To  his  Illustrious  Sir,  The 
Viceroy  Marquis  de  Sobre  Monte. 


1806 


Private  letter   of  the   Marquis   de   Sobre-Iiaonte,  Viceroy  of 
Buenos  Ayres,  to  the  Prince  de  La  Paz   upon  the  ques- 
tion of  boundaries  with  the  Portuguese,  and  the  means 
proposed  by  the  Spanish  Cl-overnment,  in  or- 
der to  check  their  usurpations.  {*) 

(Private.) 

Your  Excellency  :  On  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  December  of  the  year 
eighteen  hundred  and  four,  I  informed  your  Grace,  by  the  private  channels 
of  State  and  War,  of  what  had  occurred  with  the  Portuguese  in  this  frontier, 
and  what  I  had  officially  addressed  to  the  Governor  of  the  Continent,  Don 
Paulo  Josef  da  Silva  Gama,  stating  how  I  placed  but  little  reliance  on  secur- 
ing a  favorable  result  from  these  requests,  as  constant  experience  has  proved 
the  artifices  and  even  falsehoods  with  which  the  Portuguese  endeavor  to 
elude  them.  Indeed,  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  anything  since  then 
with  that  Governor,  who  lately  demanded  I  should  retire  my  troops,  that 
occupied  the  vicinity  of  the  hills  of  Yarao  ;  in  which  case,  he  promised  also 
to  withdraw  his  soldiers  from  that  place.  This  cunning  proposition  obliged 
me  to  send  him  the  note  of  July  5th,  a  copy  of  which,  designated  by  the 
No.  I,  I  hereby  enclose,  proposing  the  measures  that  seemed  to  me  mos} 
opportune  to  cut  short  the  disputes  and  prevent  the  encounter  of  the  troops, 
until  such  time  as  the  respective  Courts  shall  pass  upon  the  ownership  of 
these  pueblos  of  Misiones  occupied  during  the  late  war,  and  the  other  settle- 
ments to  the  North  of  the  Yaguaron,  upon  the  frontier  called  the  Cerro  Lar- 


( *" ) .  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archives 
of  Indies,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  Consul  of  the  United  States  of  America  at 
Sevile,  forms  part  of  group  A,  No.  30,  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  « Argentine 
Evidence. » 


—  3i6  — 

go  and  the  Ibicui,  upon  whose  western  banks  I  have  decided  to  establish  five 
towns,  not  being  able  to  found  three  of  them  because  they  are  occupied  by 
the  Portuguese,  and  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  proceed  by  violent 
means,  which  I  have  abstained  from,  not  only  because  I  wished  to  avoid 
consequences  which  might  prove  serious,  as  I  ignore  the  condition  and 
designs  of  our  Government,  through  the  lack  of  correspondence  with  the 
authorities,  but  because  of  the  small  resources  at  my  command,  should  a 
partial  war  break  out  in  this  locality.  Notwithstanding  these  considerations, 
believing  it  was  not  at  all  proper  to  weaken  in  my  protests,  I  fully  explained 
my  position  to  that  General,  in  the  terms  your  Excellency  will  observe  in 
the  copy  of  my  note  to  him  of  July  5th,  already  referred  to  :  and  observing 
that  he  delayed  his  answer  too  long  notwithstanding  he  had  promised  me, 
on  September  20th,  (No.  2)  that  he  was  trying  to  arrange  matters  in  such  a 
way  as  to  end  the  question,  1  thought  it  necessary  on  December  14th,  to 
address  him  the  notification,  marked  No.  3,  calling  his  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  delay  in  replying  must  no  longer  continue,  and  to  the  urgency  of  a 
satisfactory  determination  on  his  part  to  do  what  might  be  necessary;  but  as 
his  troops  have  remained  on  the  Yarao,  where  they  have  penetrated  inland 
to  the  extent  of  20  leagues  distant  from  the  Ibicui,  whose  western  shore  I  now 
solicit  as  provisional  limit,  without  compromising  or  renouncing  the  right  to 
a  greater  extension,  1  see  that  the  movements  of  the  Portuguese  are  directed 
solely  to  subterfuges,  in  order  to  retain  possession  of  the  territory  unlawfully 
occupied,  and  to  slowly  extend  themselves  all  they  can  over  the  rest,  which 
they  aspire  to  possess;  eluding  the  vigilance  of  our  troops,  who  cannot  attend 
to  everything  in  so  immense  a  region;  making  use  of  our  herds  for  the  leather 
they  need,  and  appropriating  all  movable  things :  proceedings  which  demand 
a  prompt  remedy,  either  on  the  part  of  our  Ministry,  or  else,  authorizing  and 
aiding  me  to  proceed  by  force,  in  case  they  should  attempt  resistance,  as 
surely  they  will,  when  I  attempt  to  expel  them  ;  this  idea  of  their  resistance 
has  been  forced  upon  me,  by  the  observation  I  have  made,  that  in  proportion 
to  the  increase  of  the  forces  on  our  frontiers,  they  have  augmented  their 
troops ;  when  I  have  ordered  some  pieces  of  field  artillery  to  be  placed  on 
our  coast,  they  have  put  others  in  opposition;  so  that  \  am  fully  convinced 
that  were  I  to  carry  out  my  suggestions,  hostilities  would  break  out  ;  and  a 
rupture  being  a  matter  so  fraught  with  gravity  and  consequences,  it  has 
seemed  more  prudent  to  me,  to  first  employ  other  methods  and  plans  with  a 
view  of  settling  upon  provisional  boundaries,  and  inform  Your  Grace  of 
everything  that  you  may  announce  your  sovereign  will. 

This  recourse  to  arms  and  this  use  of  the  troops,  in  addition  to  the  ob- 
jections already  stated,  present  others  no  less  important,  according  to  my 
views;  such  as  the  considerable  expense  which  these  measures  would  call 
for,  at  a  time  like  the  present,  when  they  cannot  well  be  met,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  sending  the  workers  and  farmers  who  compose  the  militia,  away  from 
their  homes  and  lands,  because  of  the  scarcity  of  veteran  troops ;  keeping 
them  for  a  long  time  in  the  camp,  when  their  presence  is  needed  on  the 
other  frontiers  of  this  metropolitan  province,  and  on  the  frontiers  of  Paraguay 


—  317  — 

and  Cordoba  which  are  the  ones  most  likely  to  be  called  upon  for  help ;  for 
in  this  case,  it  would  be  necessary  to  despatch  a  detachment  proportioned  to 
the  resistance  they  would  offer;  and  they  have  amihtia  of  over  3,000  men,  and 
on  a  very  different  footing  trom  ours,  their  men  being  well  disciplined  and 
clothed,  (while  ours  lack  even  the  simple  decency  of  atlire  which  exercises 
so  great  an  influence  on  the  soldier)  and  over  1,000  dragoons  and  volunteers, 
perfectly  mounted. 

Don  Jose  Antonio  Cavallero,  on  the  19th  of  August,  1804,  (eighteen 
hundred  and  four)  sent  me  the  Royal  Decree,  in  strict  privacy,  of  which  I 
now  enclose  your  Exellency  a  copy,  distinguished  by  the  No.  4,  and  under 
No.  5,  I  enclose  my  reply  thereto,  dated  January  twenty-eight,  eighteen 
hundred  and  five  ;  and  as  that  document  indicates  that  only  in  the  case  of 
our  being  in  war  directly  or  indirectly  with  that  nation  (Portugal)  am  I  to 
take  advantage  of  the  circumstances  to  declare  hostilities,  I  have  refrained 
from  acting,  as  there  has  not  been  a  rupture  between  us  ;  as  I  take  it,  that 
unless  we  find  ourselves  in  that  case  and  in  those  circumstances,  I  may  not 
nor  should  I  venture  or  attempt  anything  further  on  my  own  responsibility, 
than  what  I  have  heretofore  practised,  employing  all  the  methods  of  concilia- 
tion in  accordance  with  the  first  part  of  the  said  sovereign  document,  agreea- 
bly to  yoiiv  Excellency's  wishes ;  but  I  must  not  omit  to  manifest  to  your 
Excellency  ,  that  it  would  be  very  novel  and  unexpected,  for  the  Portuguese 
to  yield  up,  of  their  free  volition,  a  rood  of  ground  that  they  have  once  put  a 
footing  on,  and  claimed  as  their  own,  no  matter  how  unlawfully  and  unjustly. 
This  has  always  been  their  method  of  procedure,  as  witnessed  to  by  constant 
experience. 

I  have  informed  your  Excellency  thoroughly  of  everything,  .  I  will  con- 
tinue this  system,  while  I  have  no  new  orders  from  your  Excellency  except 
those  I  have  stated,  I  shall  not  omit  any  step  to  gain  the  desired  point.  The 
Portuguese,  up  to  the  present  on  the  other  hand,  manifest  good  fellowship, 
wiih  our  ships  of  commerce,  endeavoring  to  hide  their  property  by  means  of 
their  passport  and  papers,  and  admitting  and  protecting  them  while  in  their 
harbors,  as  though  to  offset  the  impression  of  the  political  occurrences  on 
the  frontier,  but  in  the  matter  of  the  boundaries  are  always  firm,  of  the  ter- 
ritory belonging  to  us,  always  cunning  and  always  ready  to  introduce  them- 
selves as  far  as  possible  into  our  camps,  and  even  to  ingratiate  themselves  with 
the  Indians  to  our  harm,  as  the  paper  Not  i  will  demonstrate.  I  incline  to 
the  belief  that  in  this  communication,  my  remarks  will  strike  them  as  being 
well  taken  and  that  my  threats  will  not  fail  to  arouse  their  fear,  for  I  argue 
with  positive  data  ;  but  I  do  not  trust  altogether  on  thereby  achieving  a 
favorable  result ;  and  as  I  go  on  observing  their  line  of  conduct,  I  shall  give 
a  detailed  account  of  everything  to  your  Excellency,  as  is  most  proper,  in 
order  that  your  resolutions  may  serve  as  guides  to  my  procedures,  it  being 
my  earnest  wish  ever  to  second  your  beneficent  intentions.  May  God  save 
Your  Excellency  many  years.  Buenos  Ayres,  January  sixteenth,  one  thou- 
sand, eight  hundred  and  six. — Your  Excellency. — THE  MARQUIS  DE 
SOBRE  MONTE. — To  His  Excellency  the  Prince  de  la  Paz. 


—  319  — 

LATITUDE    and    LOZVaiTUDE 
or    THE    FUEBLOS    OF    IMIISIOITES.    (*) 


PUEBLOS  OR    TOWNS. 


Yapeyu 

La  Cruz 

San  Borja 

Santo  Tome 

Concepcion 

Santa  Maria 

Marurev  .....    . 

San  Javier 

San   Nicolas 

San  Luis 

San  Lorenzo 

San  Miguel 

San  Juan 

Santo  Angel 

Apostoles 

San  Josef. 

San  Carlos 

Candelaria 

Santa  Ana 

Loreto 

San  Ignacio  Miri.  .    . 

Corpus 

Jesus 

Trinidad 

Itapua 

San  Cosme  Nuevo.    . 

Santiago 

Santa  Rosa 

San  Ignacio  Guazii.    . 
Nuestra  Senora  de  Fe 


SOUTHERN  LATITUDE. 

29° 

31^ 

30'' 

29° 

12^ 

28° 

41' 

28° 

36^ 

27° 

58^ 

27° 

52^ 

27° 

w 

27° 

46' 

28° 

13' 

28° 

19^ 

28° 

7.^' 

28° 

25^ 

28° 

21^ 

28° 

15^ 

30'/ 

27° 

53^ 

27° 

42^ 

27° 

43^ 

27° 

24^ 

27° 

23^ 

30'' 

27° 

22^ 

27° 

18^ 

27° 

\\' 

27° 

n' 

27° 

r 

27° 

15^ 

27° 

6' 

27° 

II' 

26° 

\r 

* 

26° 

sy 

26° 

44/ 

LONGITUDE    COUNTED 

from  the  Island  of  Fierro. 


320° 

52^   . 

321° 

12'    , 

321° 

49'   . 

321° 

53'   . 

322° 

46'   , 

322* 

54'   . 

322° 

49'   . 

323° 

7'   , 

322° 

56'   . 

323° 

12'   . 

323° 

27'   , 

323° 

27'   , 

323° 

51'   . 

323° 

55'   . 

322° 

36'   . 

322° 

35'   . 

322° 

29'   , 

322° 

22'   , 

322° 

32'   . 

322° 

33'   , 

322° 

32^   . 

322° 

35'   . 

322° 

21'   , 

322° 

23'   . 

322° 

10'   , 

321° 

36^   . 

\ 

321° 

9'   . 

321° 

13'   . 

321° 

3'  30^^ 

321° 

9'     3c 

5^^ 

( * )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Archive  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  History,  which  in  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at 
Madrid,  forms  part  of  group  A,  No.  31  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evid- 
ence. " 


THIRD    FART. 


1639-1810 


PORTUGUESE    USURPATIONS 

in  the  South  American  dominions  of  Spain, 

and  measures  taken 

by  this  Nation  to  repel  them. 


1639 


RXsaARDiira   the   puxvisHiMEirT 

to  be  dealt  to  the  Portuguese  IMEamelukes  of  San  Pablo,  who 

came  to  captivate  the  Indians  of  the  reductions  of  the 

Province  of  Paraguay.  (*) 

THE  KING: 

Don  Francisco  de  Avendano  y  Valdivia,  Knight  of  the  Order  of  San- 
tiago, my  Governor  of  the  province  of  Tucuman,  or  the  person  or  persons  in 
whose  charge  the  Government  may  be :  By  your  letters  and  other  reports 
which  I  have  received,  it  is  understood  that  very  injurious  invasions  are  made 
by  the  Portuguese  of  Brazil,  and  other  nations  who  usually  mingle  in  the 
provinces  of  Paraguay,  to  captivate  and  carry  away  the  Indians  settled  there- 
in, thus  disturbing  and  destroying  the  care  and  labor  which  by  my  orders 
and  the  medium  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Order  of  Jesuits  have  been  used  to- 
wards their  conversion,  teaching,  and  political  life  ; — and  in  order  to  remedy 
such  grave  and  scandalous  excesses  whereby  riiuch  is  sinned  against,  I  com- 
mand the  call  of  several  meetings,  as  the  importance  of  the  case  demanded, 
and  at  the  said  meetings  such  measures  have  been  proposed  to  me  as  seem 
fit  for  the  punishment  of  past  excesses,  stopping  them  in  the  future,  and  I 
have  resolved  what  you  will  learn  from  the  letter  accompanying  this  ;  more- 
over, as  since  then,  it  has  been  reported  that  the  said  raids  and  captivations 
are  kept  up,  and   every  day  with  'greater  liberty  and  insolence ;  and  as  the 


(  * )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  documents  printed  in  the  book  entitled  «  Annex  of 
the  Memoir  on  the  boundaries  question  between  the  Argentine  Republic  and  Paraguay  by 
Manuel  R.  Trelles.  Official  Publication.  Buenos  Ayres,  1867, »  page  46  and  following. 
The  book  accompanies  the  "Argentine  Evidence." 


—  324  — 

greater  part  of  the  said  measures  are  to  pass  through,  and  be  executed  by 
the  Crown  of  Portugal,  I  have  thought  to  advise  and  command  you,  as  I  do, 
that,  should  you  hear  that  such  invasions  are  continued  and  the  dispositions 
in  the  said  letter  do  not  suffice,  you  shall,  in  order  to  remedy  it,  endeavor  on 
your  part,  and  communicating  with  my  Viceroy  of  those  provinces  and  the 
Governors  of  Tucuman,  River  Plate  and  Paraguay,  to  collect  the  greatest 
force  of  armed  people  you  can  gather,  sparing  as  much  as  possible  the  ex- 
penses of  my  Royal  Treasury,  helping  one  another  and  preventing  and  dis- 
posing matters  so  that  those  who  thus  come  to  make  the  said  raids  and  cap- 
tivations,  from  whatever  part,  people  or  nation  they  may  be,  shall  be  defeated 
and  chastised  ;  and  those  of  them  who  can  be  made  prisoners  and  caught  by 
hand,  be  punished  judicially  with  all  the  rigor  of  the  law,  as  the  gravity  of 
such  enormous  trespasses  demands,  for  they  who  are  doing  this  are  open 
enemies  of  religion  and  of  this  Crown.  For  this  I  shall  consider  myself  well 
served,  and  you  will  regularly  advise  me  what  you  are  doing  and  executing, 
and  of  the  most  efficacious  means  oiiering  to  attack  them,  if  those  referred  to 
do  not  suffice. 

Dated  at  Madrid  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  September  of  the  year  sixteen 
hundred  and  thirty-nine. — I,  THE  KING.  By  order  of  the  King  Our  Lord, 
Don  Fernando  Ruiz de  Leon.     Duplicate.     (There  are  seven  rubrics.) 


Copy  of  the  certification  of  Jnan  Bautista  de  Larrazabal,  Notary  of  the 

Reverend  Bishop  of  Paraguay  Don  Fray  Cristoval  de  Aresti,  reg-ard- 

ing'  the  losses  suffered  in  that  Province  by  the  invasions  of  the 

Portuguese,  on  the  11th  of  December  1632. 

I,  Juan  Bautista  de  Larrazabal,  one  of  the  Notaries  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Court  in  this  city  of  La  Asumpcion  and  Bishopric  of  Paraguay  :  certify,  to 
the  King  Our  Lord  in  His  Royal  Council  of  the  Indies  and  to  the  gentlemen 
of  the  said  Council  who  should  see  these  presents,  as  to  how  the  Very  Illust- 
rious Sir  the  Master  Don  Fray  Cristoval  de  Aresti,  Bishop  of  the  said  Bi- 
shopric, in  this  present  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-two  made 
a  general  visit  to  the  persons  of  Guaira  and  Jerez,  after  marching  more  than 
6oo  leagues  up  and  down  through  plains  and  deserts,  suffering  great  misery, 
penury  and  necessities,  as  much  by  land  as  by  the  Rivers  Paraguay,  Jejui 
and  Aguari,  Muyci,  Parana,  and  Ubay,  and  very  grave  dangers  from  bad 
and  warlike  enemies,  reefs  and  waterfalls,  and  squalls,  sleeping  at  night  in 
the  woods  and  fields  and  on  the  rivers  on  rafts  made  of  canoes  covered  with 
straw  matting,  among  settlements  of  Spaniards  and  ten  Indian  reductions 
where  no  other  Bishop  has  ever  reached  before  ;  with  great  zeal  in  the  serv- 
ice of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls,  he  confirmed  7,675  persons,  not  count- 
ing other  12,175  whom  he  confirmed  in  his  first  trip,  which  he  did  on  this 
visit,  and  another  great  number  whom  he  confirmed  in  six  or  seven  times  in 
the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  both  Spaniards  and  Indians  ;  and  he  visited  and 


—  325  — 

exercised  other  pontifical  acts  connected  and  associated  with  his  dignity  and 
pastoral  office  ;  besides  this,  His  Holiness  being  advised  by  those  of  Villa 
Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  as  he  travelled  by  the  River  Muyci  towards  the  said 
Villa,  giving  him  an  account  of  the  great  straits  they  were  in,  being  sur- 
rounded by  the  Portuguese  of  the  Villa  de  San  Pablo,  of  the  State  of  Brazil, 
who  wanted  to  carry  away  the  Indians  of  that  district,  as  they  have  been  wont 
to  do  for  many  years,  which,  according  to  the  general  opinion  in  this  country, 
the  number  taken  and  stolen  by  them  from  the  province  exceeds  one  hun- 
dred thousand  souls,  destroying  settlements  and  reductions  of  Indians,  pro- 
faning and  destroying  temples  where  the  Lord  was  worshipped  and  revered, 
he  hastened  on  his  way  surmounting  the  difficulties  and  dangers  referred  to, 
to  reach  to  the  asistance  and  succor  of  his  flock ;  and  entering  by  the  River 
Ubay  in  his  said  pursuit,  he  received  another  advice  with  news  of  still  greater 
straits,  asking  assistance  from  the  city  of  Guaira  and  the  Spaniards  who  were 
in  Maracayu,  whereupon  His  Holiness  doubled  his  work  on  the  road,  so  hard 
and  dangerous,  rushing  in  extraordinary  manner,  walking  day  and  night  ; 
and  arriving  with  all  this  care  at  the  said  Villa,  he  found  it  all  torn  down  to 
the  ground  and  its  neighbors  and  the  Indians  they  could  gather,  intrenched 
inside  of  a  palisade,  which  when  seen  by  His  Holiness,  and  as  they  had  no 
power  to  defend  themselves,  being  besieged  by  the  said  Portuguese  who  had 
already  taken  their  farms  and  supplies,  while  the  other  chiefs  and  principal 
Indians  with  their  people  were  pledged  to  surrender  and  go  with  the  Portu- 
guese, forced  and  compelled  by  hunger,  hardship  and  necessity,  thus  first  to 
prevent  his  flock  from  being  made  slaves,  and  second  by  virtue  of  a  license 
they  had  from  His  Majesty,  which  was  shown  tHem,  to  move  the  said  Villa  to 
another  convenient  spot,  he  took  them  all  out  of  the  said  enclosure  and  con- 
ducted them  to  the  fields  of  Yariz  which  is  a  district  of  his  Bishopric  and 
Government  of  Paraguay,  thus  rescuing  more  than  4, 500  people  from  that 
peril  and  captivity,  first  notifying  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion  by  quick  mes- 
sages to  despatch  a  thousand  or  more  cows  for  the  nourishment  of  the  people, 
giving  orders  that  if  they  did  not  have  the  means  to  pay  for  them  or  could 
not,  to  forego  their  episcopal  contributions,  so  that  the  city,  by  virtue  of  this 
advice,  sent  the  cows  ;  and  much  of  the  loss  that  would  have  undoubtedly 
arisen  from  hunger  and  hardships,  was  thus  averted  ;  and  while  His  Holiness 
was  within  the  enclosure,  an  alarm  was  sounded  twice,  which  when  seen  by 
His  Holiness  the  two  times  he  sallied  with  a  crucifix  in  his  hands  accomp- 
anied by  his  clergy,  rallying  and  encouraging  the  people  to  take  valor  and 
make  efforts  ;  and  afterward  they  went  out  under  their  protection  for  the 
said  transfer,  His  Holiness  leading  and  encouraging  with  great  valor  and  will 
till  all  were  in  safety.  And  in  witness  whereof,  as  Notary  of  the  said  visit 
and  as  a  person  who  was  present  during  all  the  foregoing,  and  at  the  reques. 
of  His  Illustrious  Holiness,  I  issued  these  presents  in  this  settlement  and  re- 
duction of  Yaguaron,  on  the  eleventh  day  of  the  month  of  December  of  the 
year  sixteen  hundred  and  thirty-two  ;  in  faith  whereof  I  affixed  my  signature, 
rubric  and  customary  signs  which  are  genuine. — Juan  Bautista  de  Larrazabal. 


—  326  — 

Letter  vmtten  by  Father  Dieg-o  de  Boroa  of  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits  to  the 

King-  Our  Lord,  asking- him  to  remedy  the  insolence  of  the  Portuguese 

of  San  Pablo.    Dated  at  the  Sierra  of  Uruguay  on  the  28th  of 

January,  1637. 

Sir  : — For  many  j'^ears  this  province  of  the  Company  of  Jesus  in  Para- 
guay busy  themselves,  by  order  and  at  the  expense  of  Your  Majesty,  with 
the  conversion  of  infidel  Indians  of  various  provinces  of  the  same,  in  Guaira, 
Parana  and  the  Itatines,  district  of  the  Government  of  Paraguay,  and  the 
Uruguay  and  Sierra  del  Tape  of  the  Government  of  Buenos  Ayres,  having 
converted  and  baptized  in  the  Parana  and  Uruguay  alone,  more  than  sixty 
thousand  souls,  as  is  confirmed  by  the  sworn  faith  in  the  books,  not  includ- 
ing in  this  count  twenty-two  thousand  and  twenty-six  persons  and  many 
others  which  are  numbered  owing  to  the  loss  of  some  books  caused  by  the 
revolutions  in  that  country ;  which  were  baptized  in  thirteen  reductions  they 
established  in  the  province  of  Guaira,  eleven  of  which  were  already  destroyed, 
from  the  years  twenty-eight  to  thirty-two,  by  the  Portuguese  of  the  Villa  de 
San  Pablo  of  the  coast  of  Brazil,  profaning  temples,  burning  settlements, 
captivating  and  killing  their  inhabitants  and  carrying  them  away  collared 
like  slaves,  and  satisfied  with  this,  and  having  compelled  two  other  remain- 
ing reductions  to  withdraw  to  lands  more  secure,  with  great  loss  of  their  in- 
habitants, they  destroyed  other  settlements  subject  to  the  common,  and  even 
the  Spaniards  of  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  who  were  in  a  tight  place  when 
they  took  away  from  them  even  the  people  of  service  in  their  houses,  were 
pressed  upon,  to  break  up,  "with  the  consent  and  authority  of  Don  Fray 
Cristoval  de  Aresti,  Bishop  of  Paraguay  who  was  present ;  and  for  that  very 
reason  the  Royal  city  of  Guayra  and  the  city  of  Jerez  were  afterwards 
abandoned,  some  fleeing,  and  others  surrendered  and  went  over  to  the  enemy, 
and  uniting  themselves  treacherously  to  him  they  helped  him  to  destroy  and 
captivate  many  Indians  of  the  province  of  the  Itatines,  most  of  which  were 
under  the  care  of  the  Order  ;  and  they  added  crimes  to  crimes  this  past  year 
six  hundred  and  thirty-six,  knowing  as  they  did,  that,  on  the  part  of  the 
Order,  through  the  Attorney  General  and  particulars  sent  by  this  province  to 
that  Court  about  this.  Your  Majesty  had  been  advised  of  their  cruelties,  at- 
tacks, and  treachery,  and  that  you  now  tried  to  correct  and  chastise  them  with 
your  Royal  Councils,  notwithstanding  that  the  Dutch  were  within  the  State 
in  possession  of  a  great  part  of  its  coast,  and  your  Royal  army  is  at  present 
icngaged  in  fighting  for  its  recovery,  forgetting  the  duties  they  have  towards 
their  own  country  and  soil  and  to  their  King  and  Lord,  and  what  is  more, 
what  they  owe  God  as  Christians.  Antonio  Tabares  Raposo  and  his  follow- 
ers raised  the  flag  and  gathered  an  army  at  the  beat  of  drums  to  make  war,  not 
against  the  enemies  of  Your  Majesty  and  of  Your  Royal  Crown,  as  they  ought 
to,  but  against  her,  entering  by  Castile  and  the  Government  of  Paraguay  and 
River  Plate  with  hostility  Hke  on  enemy's  land,  attacking  this  last  Decem- 
ber of  six  hundred  and  thirty-six,  the  province  of  Uruguay  and  Sierra  del 
Tape,  surrounding  and  besieging  the   settlements  of  the  Indians, 'in  their 


—  327  — 

greater  part  reduced  Christians,  and  put  under  the  Royal  protection  of  Your 
Majesty  with  priests  of  the  Order,  churches  and  Divine  religion  at  its  highest 
point,  with  flying  banners,  drums  and  trumpets  of  war ;  and  because  they 
did  not  surrender  and  gave  up  at  once,  like  good  shepherds  of  those  flocks  of 
the  Lord,  delivering  themselves  into  their  hands,  more  cruel  than  tigers,  they 
insulted  and  maltreated  the  priests  who  were  preaching  the  law  of  Christ  Our 
Lord,  beating  and  wounding  in  their  own  house  a  Father  and  two  of  our 
brethren,  for  no  other  sin  than  protecting  their  sheep  ;  they  burned  and  pro- 
faned the  churches  of  some  of  the  reduction,  and  the  Holy  Images  of 
Christ  Our  Lord  and  of  His  Most  Holy  Mother,  and  the  Holy  Oils,  tearing 
the  baptismal  book  to  pieces  with  impiety,  stealing  a  part  of  the  jewels  of  the 
clergy  who  were  there,  killing  with  inhumanity  a  great  number  of  Indians 
and  women,  boys  and  girls,  beheading  them,  and  cutting  them  open  with 
their  swords,  burning  them,  showing  more  cruelty  than  wild  beast  and  more 
inhumanity  than  Alarbes,  Heretics,  Calvinists  or  Huguenots,  carrying  those 
they  caught  alive  to  a  fort  of  timbers  made  by  them  in  the  same  reduction, 
compelling  them  afterwards,  by  force,  to  go  to  another  palisade,  some  laden 
with  their  baggage,  others  bound  with  collars  and  chairs,  not  only  the  men 
but  also  the  women,  insulting  their  Count  Sefior  de  la  Villa  de  San  Pablo,  as 
if  he  were  not  a  subject  of  Your  Majesty,  saying  that  by  your  orders  and  com- 
mand they  came  there  to  eject  the  priest  and  to  insult  them ;  and  of  much 
of  the  foregoing  I  am  an  eye  witness,  having  been  at  the  Sierra  del  Uruguay, 
three  leagues  from  where  they  were  lately  besieged,  killing  and  captivating 
people,  where  I  passed  with  another  eight  clegymen  of  the  Company  and  saw 
with  my  own  eyes,  with  great  pain  in  my  soul,  the  destroyed  and  profaned 
temples,  three  reductions  or  large  settlements  destroyed  and  burned,  and 
the  lodgings  of  those  cruel  enemies  of  the  human  race,  of  the  Faith,  and  of 
Your  Majesty,  filled  with  dead  and  burned  bodies  which  I,  with  the  other 
clergymen,  buried,  not  counting  many  that  filled  the  woods  ;  refering  for  this 
and  for  all  that  happened  to  the  authentic  information  which  the  Attorney 
General  of  this  province  takes  to  Your  Majesty,  whom  they  humbly  beg  at 
Your  Royal  feet  to  extend  the  arm  of  Your  Royal  power  for  the  protection 
of  these  poor  defenceless  Indians,  ordering  with  the  utmost  speed  required 
by  the  urgency  of  Your  Majesty's  pious  and  Catholic  zeal  in  the  defence  of 
the  Faith,  and  by  that  of  these  enemies  of  Your  Royal  Crown  who  come  to 
invade  and  steal  the  settlements  of  your  new  subjects  with  hostility,  to  use 
a  speedy  and  efficacious  remedy,  as  is  expected  of  your  clemency,  although 
Don  Juan  de  Ilizaraevi,  President  of  Your  Majesty  in  the  Royal  Audiencia  of 
Charcas,  as  a  very  faithful  Minister,  with  his  great  zeal,  foresight  and  prud- 
ence, which  have  caused  the  admiration  of  these  Kingdoms,  has  desired  to 
correct  such  great  disorders  with  the  losses  these  Indians  of  these  new  reduc- 
tions began  to  feel  from  the  neighbours  and  encommenderos :  but  as  the  del- 
inquents and  invaders  of  the  settlements  of  the  Uruguay  and  Tape  are  be- 
yond his  jurisdiction,  in  Brazil,  and  the  forces  to  resist  their  daring  in  the 
government  are  meagre,  it  is  necesary  to  recur  to  Your  Majesty  so  that  with 
your  powerful  hand,  you  may, — and  God  may  guard  Your  Royal  and  Cath- 


—  328  — 

olic  person  with  increase  of  new  kingdoms  and  possession.  From  the  Sierra 
del  Uruguay,  January  twenty-eight,  one  six  hundred  and  thirty-seven. — 
Diego  de  Boroa. 


Letter-Report  of  the  Bishop  of  Buenos  Ajrres  in  which  he  gives  an  acconnt 
to  the  Pontiff,  of  the  continuous  attacks  of  the  Portuguese  of  San  Pablo 
upon  the  converted  Indians  of  the  reduction,  and  asks  him  to  thre- 
aten them  yxrith  some  penalties  and  censure. 

Most  Holy  Father: — When  the  flock  and  sheep  of  Jesus  Christ  are 
attacked  by  wolves  so  mad  and  powerful,  that  we,  the  particular  shepherds, 
cannot  defend  them,  it  is  necessary  to  give  notice  to  the  Leader  and  Universal 
Pastor  in  whose  care  they  are  committed,  so  that  he  with  his  mighty  power 
shall  protect  them. 

In  Brazil  there  is  a  city  (subject  to  a  prelate  who  is  not  a  Bishop)  called 
San  Pablo  ;  in  it,  a  great  number  of  men  of  different  nations  have  gathered, 
Englishmen,  Dutch  and  Jews,  who,  joining  those  of  the  country,  like  mad 
wolves  create  havoc  in  the  new  flock  of  Your  Holiness,  such  as  the  Indians 
lately  converted  in  this  Bishopric  of  the  River  Plate  and  in  that  of  Paraguay; 
they  have  entered  the  same  with  diabolical  spirit  raiding  Indians,  which  they 
called  (( certon  »,  carrying  them  away  from  their  doctrines  where  they  are 
being  instructed  in  our  Holy  Faith,  collaring  and  taking  them  off  as  prisoners, 
maltreating  them,  to  sell  them,  and  killing  those  they  cannot  take  along, 
children  and  women,  burning  some  in  their  own  houses  and  huts,  unmarr)-ing 
and  remarrying  them  to  others,  as  they  take  away  many  men  leaving  their 
wives  behind,  and  married  women,  leaving  their  husbands  behind,  and  this 
under  such  painful  circumstances  that  are  a  torture  to  the  heart  of  him  who  hears 
them,  for  they  profanate  the  temples  and  burn  them,  and  their  filthiness  does 
not  respect  the  holy  altars,  and  it  seems.  Most  Holy  Father,  that  in  these 
times  and  in  these  Indians  the  distress  and  tears  of  C.  5  of  Jeremiah  have 
being  realized.  This  very  great  harm,  I  have  attempted  to  prevent,  looking 
for  this  bad  people,  and  they  had  fled  from  me;  I  have  sent  censures  and  they 
have  not  overtaken  them  to  convey  the  same  to  them,  because  althought  they 
know  they  are  excomulgated  by  right,  as  they  say  it,  this  excommunion  will 
not  punish  them,  even  if  much  time  passes  ;  neither  on  account  of  the  same  it 
seems  they  will  deliver  them  to  the  Holy  Inquisition,  such  as  is  dd  homine  ; 
when  the  fixed  time  passes,  they  flee  fearing  the  excommunion  will  be  enfor- 
ced ;  the  Fathers  of  this  Order  who  teach  the  doctrine  to  these  Indians  have 
defended  them  all  that  was  possible  with  great  zeal  and  spirit,  like  very 
valiant  coadjutors  of  Your  Holiness  ;  we  have  not  been  able  to  check  the 
evil  and  thus  I  supplicate  Your  Holiness  to  remedy  it  with  penalties  and  severe 
censure  against  any  one  who  should  employ  such  diabolical  treatment  and 
encourage  it,  reserving  the  absolution  to  Your  Holiness  or  to  whom  be  better 
served,  so  as  not  to  offend  the  Majesty  of  God  who  may  guard  Your  Holiness 
for  the  good  of  his  church. 

Buenos  Ayres  September  30th.  1637.  Servant  and  Chaplain  of  Your 
Holiness  whose  feet  I  kiss. —  Fray  Cristoval,  Bishop  of  the  River  Plate. 


1647 


I^emorial  of  Father  Antonio   Ruiz   de  IMEontoya.  {*) 

Your  Excellency : — Father  Antonio  Ruiz  de  Montoya,  of  the  Order  of 
the  Jesuits,  Rector  of  the  College  of  La  Asumpcion  and  Attorney  General  of 
the  Province  of  Paraguay,  as  appears  in  the  power  presented  by  him  at  the 
Royal  Advice,  says  :  that  his  Order  converted  in  the  said  Province  to  the 
Gospel  and  obedience  of  His  Majesty,  with  the  death  of  nine  priests  who 
suffered  glorious  torture,  twenty  four  settlements  of  unbelievers,  who  lived 
scattered  about  and  without  towns,  in  the  Provinces  of  Uruguay,  Tape  and 
Rio  Parana  ;  and  in  the  Province  of  Itati,  he  also  made  three  settlements  of 
unbelievers  bordering  on  the  Province  of  Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra,  where  to- 
day more  than  fifty  priests  of  the  same  Order  of  the  Jesuits  tfeach  in  peace  ; 
which  Indians  have  had  in  the  last  few  years  several  well-fought  encounters 
with  the  Portuguese  rebels,  who  to  this  day  still  keep  up  their  persistent 
intent  to  conquer  those  lands  to  gain  a  foothold  in  the  Peru,  and  over  whom 
they  have  gained  signal  victories,  killing  a  great  number  and  driving  them 
away  from  our  borders  on  many  occasions ;  several  times  they  have  gone  out 
assisting  the  Spaniards  in  the  pacification  of  the  country  against  other  Indian 
rebels,  with  all  fidelity  and  success  in  the  victories  they  have  achieved  ;  and 
all  at  their  expense,  without  having  any  help  ;  nay,  they  have  bought  with 
their  own  money  more  than  six  hundred  fire  arms  and  ammunition  ;  and  to 
their  valor  is  due  that  that  country  is  not  in  the  power  of  the  Portuguese 
rebels,  regarding  whom  frequent  advices  are   received   of  their  designs  to 


(■*")  This  is  a  translation  from  the  documents  printed  in  the  book  entitled  :  "  Annex  o 
the  Memoir  on  the  boundaries  question  between  the  Argentine  Republic  and  Paraguay  by 
Manuel  R.  Trelles. — Official  Publication,  Buenos  Ayres,  1867." — Page  130  and  following. 
The  said  book  accompanies  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  33°  — 

again  subject  the  land ;  and  for  this  reason  the  said  Indians  live  in  watchful 
practice  with  their  arms,  as  is  notorious,  and  is  confirmed  by  the  certifica- 
tions he  presents.  His  Majesty,  being  informed  of  all  this  and  considering  it 
good  service,  commanded  the  despatch  of  the  letter  he  presents,  wherein  he 
orders  that  mercy  be  granted  them  by  way  of  reward  ;  and  as  the  said  Indians 
have  not  so  far  been  put  under  any  taxes,  His  Majesty,  taking  into  account 
that  in  their  gentility  they  have  resisted  the  faith  and  obedience  to  His 
Majesty  owing  to  their  horror  at  the  vexations  and  bad  treatment  the  Indians 
usually  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards  in  this  Kingdom,  they  sub- 
mitted to  reduction,  trusting  in  the  word  given  them  in  the  name  of  His 
Majesty  that  they  would  not  be  subjected  nor  be  put  under  the  intolerable 
yoke  of  personal  servitude,  which  at  the  request  of  the  petitioner,  His  Majesty 
saw  fit  to  confirm  by  his  Royal  letter  ;  because,  if  the  said  Indians  were 
burdened  with  taxes  and  forced  labor,  increasing  the  weight  they  carry  in 
maintaining  the  war  against  the  rebels,  grave  and  irremediable  damages 
might  be  apprehended,  having  collectors  and  exactors  upon  them  who  would 
molest  them  unmercifully,  when  they  ought,  instead,  to  be  rewarded  for  their 
fidelity  and  services,  and  no  occasion  should  be  given  them  for  changing,  as 
it  might  happen  that  they  joined  the  Portuguese  rebel,  his  bordering  neigh- 
bor, who  solicits  his  friendship  with  promises  and  interests  ;  from  which, 
very  grave  disturbances  might  result  in  all  this  Kingdom  and  a  serious  loss 
to  the  service  of  His  Majesty,  as  is  remarked  by  the  petitioner ;  for,  if  at  any 
time  some  disturbance  arises,  it  should  not  be  charged  to  the  neglect  or  inad- 
vertence of  his  Order.  In  behalf  of  the  Royal  service,  I  ask  and  request 
Your  Excellency  to  order,  in  execution  of  the  Royal  letter  presented  by  him, 
and  declare  the  said  Indians  vassals  of  His  Majesty  and  belonging  to  his 
Royal  Crown, — as  at  his  expense  they  were  conquered  by  the  Gospel  and 
doctrined  to  this  day  ; — and  also  as  men  of  that  garrison,  whom  the  Marquis 
of  Mansera,  predecessor  of  Your  Excellency,  by  virtue  of  a  Royal  letter  which 
His  Majesty  saw  fit  to  have  sent  to  them  at  the  request  of  the  petitioner,  has 
aided  with  firearms  and  ammunitions,  with  which  they  feel  to-day  encouraged 
to  continue  in  the  Royal  service  ;  and  that  Your  Excellency  equally  be 
pleased  to  declare  them  free  from  taxes  and  forced  labor  in  conformity  with 
the  said  letter,  so  that  thus  encouraged  they  may  continue  with  the  services 
they  are  at  present  rendering  His  Majesty  ;  and  this  mercy  will  not  be  ex- 
cesive,  as  it  has  had  many  and  noteworthy  examples :  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Chili  His  Majesty  has  companies  of  Indian  soldiers,  who,  not  only  do  not 
pay  taxes  or  forced  labor,  as  is  well  known,  but  His  Majesty  gives  them  the 
free  salaries  of  soldiers  the  same  as  the  Spaniards;  in  the  city  of  Cusco  also  live 
from  taxes  and  «  mitas »  the  Caiiares  Indians,  as  a  reward  for  showing  their 
loyalty  during  the  first  conquest  of  these  Kingdoms ;  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Tierra  Firme,  the  said  Royal  Audiencia  has  granted  freedom  and  exemption 
of  taxes  and  «  mitas  »  to  the  Indians  of  the  Provinces  of  Guavi  Darien,  merely 
for  having  become  converted  to  the  Faith,  and  His  Majesty,  with  his  Royal 
liberality,  gives  them  the  doctrine  at  his  Royal  expense  ;  and  in  the  King- 
dom of  Chili  the  Marquis  of  Mansera  gave  in  his  Royal  name  the  same 


—  331  — 

privilege  to  the  Chief  Manqui  before  his  sons  and  vassals,,  for  signing  the 
peace  and  submitting  to  the  Crown  ;  and  if  the  said  Indians  have  been  and 
are  rewarded  for  the  said  reasons,  those  of  the  said  Provinces  of  Parana  and 
Tape,  and  Itatines,  deserve  it  more  so,  because, besides  taking  the  Gospel  and 
submitting  to  His  Majesty,  they  are  at  present  serving  him  with  their  means 
and  lives  in  the  defense  of  his  Kingdoms;  and  the  Monarchs  extend  this 
mercy,  says  Doctor  Juan  de  Solorsano  (de  jure  indiarum)  which  is  in  use 
et  cadeni  de  causa  die  et  solent  tributare  mitis  indis  ani  moderatius  taxari  quia 
justa  allios  barbaros  et  infidelis  sivi  et  nobis  habitant  et  fities  nostras  juacara  et 
armis  defendunt  {/uan  Sator,  Tom.  II,  De  Jure  hidiarum  guber,  Lib.  I, 
Cap.  XIX,  No.  7/  )  ;  and  in  case  that,  besides  the  services  the  said  Indians 
are  at  present  rendering  His  Majesty,  in  the  defense  of  the  land,  it  would 
seem  to  be  wise  to  place  some  tax  on  them  as  an  acknowledgment  of  their 
submission  ;  considering  their  poverty  and  the  lack  of  gold  and  silver,  which 
does  not  exist  and  is  not  known  in  that  country,  they  might  be  taxed  at  one 
peso  of  eight  reales,  each  Indian  for  each  year,  say  those  who  in  accordance 
with  the  Royal  orders  must  pay  taxes,  and  not  with  the  products  of  their 
crops  which  are  quite  small,  so  as  to  avert  inconveniences  that  might  be 
caused  by  the  collectors,  and  the  cartages  and  expenses  they  are  compelled 
to  meet  with  the  said  spices  and  products  of  the  soil,  which  require  a  trans- 
portation of  more  than  two  hundred  leagues  to  the  port  of  Buenos  Ayres  or 
the  government  of  Tucuman  in  order  that  they  may  have  some  value  ;  thus 
the  gains  or  losses  will  be  for  account  of  the  Indians,  and  accounts  and  dis- 
honesty with  the  collectors  will  be  avoided;  and  in  order  that  this  new  tax  be 
accomplished  in  peace  and  without  risk  of  disturbances,  it  would  seem  to  be 
wise,  that,  inasmuch  as  the  Royal  officials  of  Buenos  Ayres  are  charged  with 
collecting  the  Royal  revenues,  and  the  collection  of  this  tax  also  corresponds 
them,  the  Treasurer  and  Auditor,  or  any  of  them,  shall  also  undertake  the 
enrolment  and  visit  to  the  Indians  receiving  the  said  taxes  in  reales  ;  and 
this  shall  not  rest  in  care  of  the  Governors,  as  these,  looking  to  their  inter- 
ests and  the  limited  time  of  their  government,  do  not  hesitate  to  molest  the 
Indians,  and  this  might  cause  their  attempt  to  throw  off  this  yoke,  as  they 
are  new  people  who  have  not  yet  been  under  it;  and  thus  His  Majesty  will  be 
well  served.  Your  Excellency  sooner  be  pleased  to  prohibit  the  said 
Governors,  when  occupying  them  in  their  labors  and  profits,  directing  that 
with  the  said  tax  and  duty  to  defend  the  country,  the  said  Indians  remain 
free  from  all  kind  of  burden,  as  His  Majesty  has  already  exempted  them 
from  personal  servitude  by  a  new  and  special  letter  which  he  saw  fit  to  have 
issued  at  the  request  of  the  petitioner  ;  and  it  will  also  be  wise  to  recommend 
strongly  the  said  Royal  officials  the  gentleness  and  tact  they  must  use  when 
initiating  these  taxes,  guarding  themselves  against  serious  inconveniences,  as 
this  is  a  disagreeable  matter  with  new  people  not  accustomed  to  submission  ; 
all  of  which  the  petitioner  proposes  in  behalf  of  the  Royal  service,  and  he 
asks  and  supplicates  Your  Excellency  to  be  pleased  to  command  the  execu- 
tion of  what  may  be  to  the  greater  glory  of  God  and  the  service  of  His 
Majesty.— ANTONIO  RUIZ  DE  MONTOYA. 


—  332  — 

Royal'Lettor  referred  to  in  the  preceding*  membriaL 

THE  KING: — The  Marquis  ofMansera,  member  of  my  Council  of  War, 
Knight  of  my  Chamber,  my  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the  Pro- 
vinces of  Peru,  or  to  the  person  or  persons  who  may  be  in  charge  of  his 
Government  :  Juan  Pastor,  of  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits,  Attorney  General  of 
the  Provinces  of  Paraguay,  has  reported  to  me  that  the  Indians  of  Uruguay 
and  Parana  in  the  Province  of  Paraguay  who  are  under  the  care  of  the 
Fathers  of  said  Order  in  twenty  four  very  populous  settlements,  have  de- 
fended themselves  brilliantly  and  valerously  in  these  twelve  years  against  the 
Portuguese  of  Brazil,  at  their  expense  and  risk  of  their  lives,  purchasing  arms 
and  ammunition  and  other  necessary  things  for  their  defense,  in  great 
quantity,  and  of  value,  exceeding  seven  hundred  firearms ;  being  compelled 
to  thus  protect  themselves,  owing  to  the  invasions  of  the  said  Portuguese  who 
took  captives  to  Brazil  where  they  sold  them  as  slaves  ;  and  that  after  I 
gave  them  permission  to  use  the  said  weapons  in  their  protection,  they  had 
defended  their  country  driving  away  the  Portuguese  and  putting  them  twice 
to  an  ignominious  flight,  after  which  they  now  enjoyed  peace,  without  the 
Portuguese  daring  again  to  come  upon  them  ;  and  that  this  redounded  in  my 
service  and  the  defense  of  the  Province  of  Paraguay,  and  that  he  feared  the 
enemy  would  attempt  to  take  possession  of  it,  in  view  of  its  scant  resistance, 
and  that  if  any  could  be  offered  in  such  an  event,  it  would  be  by  these 
Indians,  who,  when  called  by  my  Governor  of  the  said  Provinces  would  come 
with  their  weapons  and  assistance  to  defend  the  country  ;  he  supplicated 
that,  in  view  of  this  intelligence,  I  should  extend  some  mercy  to  them  to- 
wards lightening  the  taxes  they  pay,  leaving  this  at  your  disposition  or  that 
of  my  President  of  the  Audiencia  of  Charcas ;  and  having  been  seen  by  my 
Royal  Council  of  Indies,  together  with  what  the  Licentiate  Don  Geronimo  de 
Camargo,  my  Attorney,  said  on  the  subject,  it  has  been  decided  to  charge 
and  recommend  you  to  use  all  care  in  procuring  the  alleviation  of  the  Indians 
of  the  said  Reductions  as  it  is  just  to  assist  them,  in  view  of  the  report  of  their 
good  ser\'ices  in  the  defense  against  the  rebels  of  Portugal,  encouraging  them 
to  continue  whenever  a  future  opportunity  presents  ;  for  this  is  my  will,  and 
it  fosters  my  service. 

Dated  in  Madrid  on  the  fourteenth  of  February,   sixteen  hundred  and  • 
forty  six. — I,  THE  KING. — By  Order  of  the  King  Our  Lord  :    Don  Gabriet 
de  OcuHa  y  Aloran. 


Besolntion  and  decision  of  the  Viceroy  upon  the  memorial  of  Father  Rtiiz. 

In  the  city  of  the  Kings,  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  the  month  of  March  of 
the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  forty  nine,  in  General  Council  of  the  Treasury, 
at  which  were  present  His  Excellency  and  the  gentlemen  Don  Andres  de 
Videla,  Don  Antonio  de  Calatayu,  Don-Sebastian  de  Alarcon  and  Don  Pedro 
de  Meneses,  Auditors ;  Don  Fernando  Bravo  de  Lagunas,  Treasurer  of  the 
Tribunal  of  Accounts  ;   Bartolome  Astete  de  Vlloa,  Juan  de  Casada  and  Bal- 


—  333  — 

tazar  Becerra,  Royal  Official  Judges  ;  this  Memorial  from  Father  Antonio 
Ruiz,  of  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits,  in  behalf  of  the  Indians  of  the  Province  of 
Uruguay,  Tape,  Rio  Parana  and  Itatines  of  the  Government  of  Paraguay,  the 
Royal  Letter  and  Certifications  he  presents,  and  the  replies  of  the  Honorable 
Attorney  of  His  Majesty  and  of  the  Attorney  Protector,  were  seen,  all  of 
which  His  Excellency  ordered  to  be  brought  to  this  Royal  Council  ;  and  as  it 
appears  from  the  reasons  set  forth  by  the  said  Father  in  the  said  Memorial, 
which  are  just  and  true,  that  His  Excellency  may  receive  as  vassals  of  His 
Majesty  the  Indians  of  the  said  Provinces  recently  converted,  declaring  them 
forthwith  as  such  and  belonging  to  the  Royal  Crown ;  and,  as  they  are 
located  by  the  garrison  and  opposite  the  Portuguese  of  Brazil,  that  they  may 
for  the  present  be  relieved  of  «  mitas  «  and  personal  servitude,  as  they  are 
busy  working  in  that  prison,  which  is  considered  quite  enough  labor ;  and  in 
the  service  of  His  Majesty  and  the  public  cause,  and  for  the  present  they 
only  shall  pay  His  Majesty,  in  acknowledgment  of  seigniory,  only  one  peso 
of  eight  reales  for  each  Indian  in  silver,  and  not  in  produce ;  to  which  end 
the  enrolment  of  the  said  Indians  shall  be  made  by  the  Royal  officials  of  the 
port  of  Buenos  Ayres  in  whose  charge  shall  rest  the  collection  of  the  said 
taxes,  and  in  none  other,  and  to  whom  shall  be  recommended  and  advised 
to  make  the  collection  with  the  utmost  possible  gentleness  and  kindness, 
especially  until  it  is  well  established  ;  and  to  the  said  Governor,  not  to  occupy 
the  Indians  with  labors  or  services  of  his  own  convenience ;  and  that  all 
shall  be  despatched  and  provided  ;  and  His  Excellency  so  pointed  it  out  to 
the  said  gentlemen. — Doti  Joseph  de  Caceres. 


DECISION. — In  conformity  wherewith  and  in  view  of  the  causes  and 
reasons  set  forth  by  the  said  Father  Antonio  Ruiz  de  Montoya  in  the  Me- 
morial herewith  attached,  and  those  present  considering  them  true  and  just, 
wherefore,  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  and  by  virtue  of  the  powers  and 
commissions  that  I  have  from  his  Royal  person,  I  do  receive  as  vassals  the 
Indians  recently  converted  in  the  Provinces  of  Uruguay,  Tape,  Rio  Parana 
and  Itati  of  the  Government  of  Paraguay,  and  I  declare  them  as  such  and 
'belonging  to  the  Royal  Crown,  and  as  men  of  the  garrison  opposite  the  Por- 
tuguese of  Brazil,  and  I  command  that  for  the  present  they  shall  be  relieved 
of  «  mitas  »  and  personal  servitude,  because  they  assist  in  the  said  garrison 
where  it  is  considered  they  are  quite  busy  in  behalf  of  the  Royal  service  and 
the  public  cause  ;  and  also  that  for  the  present,  they  shall  pay  a  tax  to  His 
Majesty,  in  acknowledgment  of  seigniory  and  submission,  of  only  one  peso  of 
eight  reales  for  each  Indian,  in  silver  and  not  in  produce,  and  to  this  effect 
I  also  command  that  the  Royal  officials  of  the  port  of  Buenos  Ayres,  in 
whose  charge,  and  in  none  other,  rests  the  collection  of  the  said  tax,  shall 
effect  the  enrolment  of  the  saicl  Indians  and  collect  it  with  the  greatest  pos- 
sible gentleness  and  kindness,  especially  until  all  is  well  established  ;  and 
that  the  Governor  of  the  said  Provinces  shall  not  occupy  the  Indians  in 
labors  or  services  of  his  own  convenience,  as  it  is  stated  and  declared  in  the 


—  334  — 

said  writing  hereto  attached,  and  which  I  command  to  be  kept,  and  this  pro- 
vision executed  in  all  and  for  all  without  acting  against  its  tenor  and  form  in 
any  manner  whatsoever,  and  the  said  Governor  and  Royal  officials  and 
sundry  Justices  of  the  said  Provinces  shall  so  observe  it,  under  penalty  of  five 
hundred  pesos  in  gold  for  the  Chamber  of  His  Majesty. 

Dated  at  Los  Reyes,  on  the  twenty  first  of  June  of  the  year  sixteen 
hundred  and  forty  nine.— COUNT  OF  SALVATIERRA.— By  command  of 
the  Viceroy:  Don  Joseph  de  Caceres  y  Ulloa. 

It  agrees  with  the  Letter  and  provision  referred  to  which  was  delivered 
in  the  original  to  me  by  Father  Juan  de  Rojas,  Father  of  the  Order  of  the 
Jesuits  and  Attorney  General  of  this  Province,  which  he  returned,  and  which 
is  referred  to  opposite  ;  and  at  his  request  I  issued  these  presents  in  the  city 
of  La  Asumpcion  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  the  month  of  the  year  sixteen 
hundred  and  fifty  two. — In  witness  of  the  truth,  Pedro  de  Salas,  Notary  of 
His  Majesty. 

It  agrees  with  the  original,  whence  1  took  it,  which  I  returned  to  Father 
Juan  de  Rojas,  Attorney  General  of  the  College  of  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits  in 
this  Province,  as  appears  in  the  reference  ;  and  by  order  of  the  said  Auditor 
Visitor  and  Governor  of  La  Asumpcion  of  Paraguay  on  the  fourteenth  day  of 
the  month  of  October  of  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  fifty  two.  In  witness 
of  the  truth,  Pedro  de  Salas,  Notary  of  His  Majesty. 


1649 


RECORD  OF  THE  COUNCIL 

of  La  Asumpcion  disposing-  the  taking  of  people  of  war  from 

Villa  Rica  to  reconnoitre  the  places  of  the  O-overn- 

ment  of  Faraguay,  occupied  according  to  the 

advices,  by  the  Fortuguese,  and  ordering 

the    preparation    of  ammunition, 

arms,  and  material  to  repulse 

them,  Jan.  12.  {*) 

In  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  January,  sixteen 
hundred  and  forty-nine,  the  Council,  Justice  and  Municipality  of  the  said  city 
being  together  and  assembled  in  these  Royal  and  Administration  Halls,  as 
we  are  wont  to  do,  appending  out  signatures  hereunto,  with  the  assistance  of 
the  Grand  Master  General,  Don  Diego  de  Escobar  Osorio,  Governor  and 
Captain  General,  and  Chief  Justice  of  this  city  and  province,  by  His  Majesty, 
whom  God  may  guard,  to  discuss  matters  of  the  Royal  service,  confirmation 
and  extension  of  these  provinces,  having  conferred  upon  many  things,  and 
in  particular  regarding  the  arrival  of  news,  although  not  certain,  that  the 
district  and  jurisdiction  of  this  Government  and  Province  has  been  entered  by 
Portuguese,  it  has  been  decided  by  common  consent  to  send  to  Villa  Rica  del 
Espiritu  Santo  reliable  persons,  taking  from  this  city  some  soldiers,  to  which 
he  shall  add  from  Villa  Rica,  and  them  proceed  to  the  spots  where  it  is  said 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  documents  existing  in  the  National  Archives  of 
Paraguay,  which  in  copies  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul,  at  La  Asumpcion, 
form  part  of  group  B,  No.  i,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  33^  — 

they  have  arrived,  and  ascertain  if  it  is  so  in  truth,  and,  finding  them,  and 
reconnoitring  their  strength,  he  shall  advise  the  Government,  and  in  every- 
thing he  will  follow  the  orders  and  instructions  that  the  said  Governor  may 
give  him.  And  the  said  Governor  was  equally  authorized  to  prepare  in  this 
city  ammunitions  and  war  material,  such  as  powder  and  other  ammunition 
of  cord  and  lead.  We  also  agreed  with  the  said  Governor  that,  in  view  of 
the  Viceroy  of  these  Kigdoms  having  granted  one  thousand  pesos  as  succor 
to  this  city,  and  two  hundred  arquebuses  of  war,  one  hundred  swords,  a 
quantity  of  steel,  iron,  lead  and  sulphur,  which  the  Royal  officers  of  the  port 
of  Buenos  Ayres  shall  dispatch,  thirty  swords,  several  hundredweight  of  iron, 
and  arrobas  of  steel  and  garments,  all  of  which  were  stored,  and  having  or- 
dered one  hundred  iron  lances,  and  there  being  still  five  thousand  and  odd 
pesos  of  coined  silver  to  be  collected  in  the  said  Real  of  the  Port,  that  the 
persons  who  have  been  depositaries  shall  give  account,  and  all  that  shall  be 
due,  shall  be  collected,  acting  with  it  in  accordance  with  the  instructions  of 
the  said  Viceroy,  and  the  Royal  Audiencia  of  La  Plata.  We  also  agreed  that 
great  qnantities  of  money  are  due  the  Estates  and  Revenues  of  this  city,  and 
that  the  common  judges  and  deputies,  as  this  Council  shall  name  them,  exa- 
mining the  books  and  deposits,  leases,  and  employing  any  other  methods  ; 
whereupon  the  Majordome,  appointed  for  this  city  by  the  Council,  shall  be 
put  in  possession  thereof.  And  with  this  we  close  this  meeting,  and  sign 
before  ourselves  for  want  of  a  Royal  and  Public  Notary,  and  upon  this  com- 
mon paper,  there  being  none  with  the  seal. — Don  Diego  de  Escovar  Osorio. 
— Juan  del  Valle  Villasanti. — Diego  Hernandez. — Diego  de  Yegros. — Fran- 
cisco de  Aquino,  etc. 

1664 

Royal  Decree  commanding'  the  Governor  of  Paraguay,  Diez  de  Andino,  to 

inform  regarding  the  advisability  of  separating  the  Government  from 

the  Doctrine  of  San  Pedro  deTerzano  and  San  Francisco 

Ibira  Pariga. 

THE  KING. 

Don  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  my  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the 
provinces  of  Paraguay,  Don  Alonso  Sarmiento  de  Figueroa,  serv^ing  at  in- 
terim in  compliance  with  my  orders  of  October  seventh  of  the  past  3^ear,  six- 
teen hundred  and  sixty-two,  sends  with  a  letter  of  May  the  thirtieth,  sixteen 
hundred  and  sixty-two,  a  statement  of  the  villages  and  Doctrines  of  the 
Indians  existing  in  that  province,  being  in  his  charge,  and  says,  amongst 
other  things,  that  the  nine  of  them  are  administered  by  clergymen  with  my 
presentation  and  canonic  institution,  and  they  have  two  more  who  help  and 
assist  them  in  two  annexes,  one  of  which  is  the  village  of  San  Francisco  de 
Ibira  Pariga,  belonging  to  the  Doctrine  of  San  Pedro  de  Terzano,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  nine  leagues,  with  two  abundant  rivers  running  through  it,   and  in 


—  337  — 

some  seasons  of  the  year  their  freshets  prevent  the  curate  from  going  to  his 
annex,  considering  which,  a  substitute  has  been  given  him  to  attend  to  the 
needs  of  his  parishioners,  and  it  would  be  convenient  to  divide  them  in  two 
Docttines,  as  each  one  will  have  a  sufficient  number  of  Indians  to  support 
the  curate  ;  and  this  having  been  looked  into  by  my  Council  of  Indies,  with 
the  request  made  with  reason  by  my  Attorney,  as  I  wish  to  know  the  causes 
existing  to  effect  the  division  which  the  said  Don  Alonso  Sarmiento  proposes, 
and  the  conveniences  arising  therefrom,  I  command  you  to  advise  me  of  all 
very  particularly  and  distinctly,  giving  your  opinion  in  regard  to  it,  that  it 
shall  be  provided  as  may  be  deemed  advisable,  and  in  the  interim  you  will 
not  permit  any  changes  to  be  made  touching  this  point.  Dated  at  Madrid, 
on  the  twenty-seventh  of  May,  sixteen  hundred  and  sixty-four. — I,  THE 
KING. — By  order  of  the  King,  our  Sire-,  Don  Juan  del  Solar. 

To  the  Governor  of  Paraguay,  that  he  may  inform  upon  the  proposition 
presented  by  his  predecessor  at  interim,  to  place  under  doctrine  the  annex 
of  San  Francisco  de  Servian,  etc. 

.  1675 

Record  of  the  Council  resolving"  the  departure  offerees  to  check  the  Mamel* 

ukes  of  San  Pablo  and  Tupis  who  captivate  the  Indians  to  make  slaves 

of  them.    Decree  relative  to  the  foreg'oing'  provision  and  measures 

that  were  adopted  for  the  execution  of  the  preceding'  resolution. 

The  Council,  Justice  and  Municipality  of  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  pro- 
vince of  Paraguay,  by  His  Majesty,  whom  God  may  guard,  has  resolved,  to 
wit:  The  Field  Master,  Rodrigo  de  Roxas  Aranda,  Royal  Ensign  and  Com- 
mon Justice  of  the  first  vote,  and  the  Serjeant  Major,  Alonso  Fernandez  de 
Montiel,  Common  Justice  of  the  second  vote,  the  Captain,  Don  Francisco 
Martinez  del  Monte,  High  Constable,  the  Captains,  Don  Gabriel  Riquelme  de 
Guzman,  Antonio  Gonzalez  Freire,  and  Juan  de  Brizuela,  Aldermen-owners, 
by  virtue  of  the  superior  jurisdiction  of  this  province,  which  we  use  and  ad- 
minister, in  view  of  the  imprisonment,  absence  and  impediment  of  the  Ser- 
jeant Major  Don  Phelipe  de  Rexe  Corvalan,  Governor  and  Captain  General 
of  the  same,  by  the  King,  our  Sire  :  Whereas,  in  the  writs  of  relief  ordered 
in  behalf  of  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  we  have  prohibited  and  published 
the  edicts  which,  with  their  publications,  are  as  follows :  The  Council,  Justice 
and  Municipality  of  this  said  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  province  of  Paraguay, 
by  His  Majesty,  whom  God  may  guard,  be  it  known  :  the  Royal  Ensign, 
Rodrigo  de  Roxas  Aranda,  and  the  Serjeant  Major,  Alonso  Fernandez  de 
Montiel,  Common  Justices,  the  Captain,  Don  F.  Martinez  del  Monte,  High 
Constable,  the  Captains,  Juan  Cabrera  de  Ovalle,  Don  Gabriel  Riquelme  de 
Guzman,  and  Antonio  Gonzalez  Freire,  Aldermen-owners  by  virtue  of  the 
superior  political  and  military  jurisdiction  which,  presided  by  the  said  Common 
Justice  of  the  first  vote,  we  use  and  exercise  during  the  absence,  imprison- 
ment and  impediment  of  the  Serjeant  Major,  Don  Phelipe  de   Rexe  Corva- 


—  338  — 

Ian,  former  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  this  province,  by  His  Majesty, 
whom  God  may  guard  :  By  these  presents  we  order  and  command  that,  forth- 
with, immediately,  without  excuse,  objection  or  delay,  the  two  hundred 
equipped  soldiers  of  the  guard  of  the  city  shall  start  in  command  of  the  Field 
Master  Lazaro  Vallejo  Villasanti,  Captain  and  General  of  War  of  this  garrison, 
who  is  in  the  fields  of  Pirayu,  with  all  his  weapons,  offensive  and  defensive, 
powder  and  ammunttion,  sound  horses,  and  other  war  material,'  so  that  to- 
morow  Sunday  the  twenty-third  instant  all  shall  be  ready  at  dawn  on  the  said 
spot.  And  we  also  order  and  command  that  the  Spanish  Captains  and  prin- 
cipal officers  of  the  twelve  garrisons  of  all  the  coast,  leaving  some  force  in 
them,  shall  go  with  all  the  soldiers  of  their  companies,  armed  and  equipped 
in  the  same  manner  as  those  of  this  said  city,  to  the  said  place  of  Pirayu, 
and  farm  of  the  said  Captain,  with  the  best  horses  they  have,  at  a  long  gate, 
to  arrive  at  day-break,  to-morrow  Sunday  the  first  instant,  in  the  said  farm: 
All  of  which,  shall  be  obeyed  and  done  by  each  and  everybody  precisely  and 
punctually,  in  the  matter  of  such  importance  and  in  the  best  service  of  His 
Majesty,  for  the  complete  protection  and  defense  of  this  garrison  against  the 
foes,  the  Portuguese  Mamelukes  and  Tupis  of  San  Pablo,  who  are  coming  to 
strip  the  country  of  their  aborigines,  to  make  them  slaves,  calling  them  the 
Blacks  of  the  Earth,  and  in  which  all  our  reputation  is  at  stake  in  the  defense 
of  the  Kingdoms  of  His  Majesty  and  his  vassals  of  this  province,  and  the 
preservation  of  the  Sacred  Gospel,  to  which  we  must  all  contribute  with  our 
lives,  blood  and  money,  as  loyal  vassals  and  faithful  Catholics,  in  emulation 
of  our  forefathers  and  progenitors,  who  left  so  many  examples  of  victory  and 
valor  against  the  said  Portuguese,  and  against  all  the  infidels  of  these  fron- 
tiers, wherefore  we  must  proceed  with  the  same  valor  and  vigilance,  each 
one  being  intent  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  and  with  the  blood  of  gen- 
tlemen and  Hidalgos,  that  the  enemy  shall  know,  with  the  experience  of  his 
punishment,  the  pluck  and  valor  of  the  Spaniards  and  vassals  of  our  King  and 
Catholic  Monarch,  under  penalty  of  their  lives  and  of  traitors  to  His  Royal 
Crown,  loss  and  confiscation  of  their  properties,  and  loss  of  their  manors  and 
lands  granted  by  the  decrees,  political  and  military  laws  and  ordinances  in 
such  cases.  Drawn  in  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  on  the  twenty-second  day 
of  the  month  of  February,  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy-six,  before  us  and 
witnesses'for  want  of  Notary  Public,  on  this  common  paper,  there  being  none 
with  the  seal.  And  besides  the  High  Constable  of  this  city  is  commissioned 
to  publish  this  edict,  with  drum  call,  and  through  the  town-crier  in  the  public 
square,  and  other  customary  places,  that  nobody  shall  plead  ignorance. 
Date  ut  supra. — Rodrigo  de  Roxas  Aranda.—Alonso  Fernandez  Montiel,  etc. 
In  the  City  of  La  Asumpcion,  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  the  month 
of  February,  of  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy-six,  I,  the  Captain  Don 
Francisco  Martinez  del  Monte,  High  Constable  of  this  city,  by  virtue  of  the 
commission  given  me,  I  do  publish  this  edict  in  the  public  square  of  this  city, 
at  the  beat  of  drums,  and  through  Francisco  Lopez,  town-crier,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  many  people,  and  I  affixed  on  the  doors  of  the  City  Hall,  after  hav- 
ing read  and  published  the  same,  together  with  the  said  edict,  a  list  of  the 


—  339  — 

soldiers  equipped  for  the  relief  of  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  which 
are  to  start  in  charge  of  Senor  Don  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  in  the  presence  of 
Ensign  Juan  de  Herera  y  Abreu,  Francisco  Gomez  de  Soria,  and  Lazaro  Gar- 
cia de  Jara,  neighbors  and  residents  of  this  city,  who  signed  with  me  for 
want  of  notary  on  this  common  paper,  there  being  none  with  the  seal. — Don 
FRA>fCisco  Martinez  del  Monte.  Witness,  Jiian  de  Herrera  y  Abreu, 
etc.,  etc. 


The  Council,  Justice  and  Municipahty,  of  the  City  of  La  Asumpcion, 
Province  of  Paraguay,  by  His  Majesty,  whom  God  may  guard,  to  wit:  The 
Fieldmaster,  Rodrigo  de  Roxas  Aranda,  Royal  Ensign,  Owner  and  Common 
Justice  of  the  First  Vote,  and  the  Serjeant-Major,  Alonso  Fernandez  de  Mon- 
tiel,  Common  Justice  of  the  Second  Vote,  etc.,  by  virtue  of  the  political  and 
military  jurisdiction  which  we  use  and  administer  legitimately,  owing  to  the 
imprisonment,  absence  and  impediment  of  the  Serjeant-Major,  Don  Phelipe 
Rexe  Corvalan,  Governor  and  Captain-General  of  this  province,  by  the  King, 
our  Sire,  this  edict  being  presided  by  the  said  Common  Justice  of  the  First 
Vote :  It  being  understood  that  the  greater  part  of  the  soldiers  equipped  for 
the  relief  of  four  hundred  Spaniards  and  six  hundred  and  fifty  Indians  are 
unarmed  and  have  very  few  reserves,  and  considering  this,  they  said  that  the 
two  hundred  soldiers  and  reserves  that  were  equipped  and  prepared  for  what 
might  occur  in  this  garrison,  according  to  the  list  that  was  made  and  pub- 
Hshed  for  this  Council  on  the  fifteenth  of  July,  of  the  past  year  sixteen  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five,  and  which  are  to  start  at  once  without  waiting  an  in- 
stant for  the  farm  of  Pirayu  of  the  Fieldmaster,  Lazaro  de  Vallejo  Villasanti, 
Captain  of  War  and  Superintendent  General  of  these  frontiers,  the  seat  of 
arms  and  garrison,  assigned  for  the  march  and  meeting  of  the  army  of  the 
said  relief,  in  order  that  the  four  hundred  of  the  said  relief  shall  be  completed 
from  the  list  of , the  said  two  hundred  soldiers;  and  as  the  Sergeant-Major, 
Don  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  who  came  to  this  Council,  has  told  likewise  and 
especially  of  the  want  of  weapons,  not  only  of  firearms,  but  some  swords, 
powder  and  ammunition  and  horses,  the  preparation  and  good  provision  of 
which  is  essential  to  good  service,  and  he  urges  us  to  their  cjuick  despatch, 
he  having  taken  leave  from  this  Council  for  the  seat  and  garrison  of  the  said 
relief,  asking  us  for  his  title  and  instructions,  we  order  and  command  that 
the  two  hundred  soldiers  and  reserves  of  the  said  list  of  July  the  fifteenth,  of 
the  past  year  seventy-five,  and  the  four  hundred  equipped  for  the  said  relief, 
shall  appear  in  the  said  garrison  forthwith,  with  all  the  weapons,  offensive 
and  defensive,  firearms,  swords,  lances,  shields,  jackets,  escopiles,  horses, 
powder  and  ammunition,  and  besides  war  material,  so  that  to-morrow,  the 
twenty-sixth  instant,  very  early  in  the  morning,  the  inspection  and  muster  of 
arms  can  be  effected  of  the  soldiers  and  reserves,  which  in  number  of  four 
hundred  Spaniards  are  to  start  for  the  said  relief  with  six  hundred  and  fifty 
Indians  of  war  to  the  relief  of  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  against  the 
enemies,  the  Portuguese,  Mamelukes  and   Tupis  of  San  Pablo,  in  charge  of 


—  340  — 

the  said  Senor  Don  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  whose  title  and  instructions  shall 
be  delivered  him  in  the  said  garrison  by  the  said  Serjeant-Major,  Alonso 
Fernandez  de  Montiel,  etc.,  etc.  And  we  command  the  said  deputies  and 
the  said  Captain  of  War  and  Superintendent  General,  and  the  Fieldmaster, 
Pedro  de  Vallejo  Villasanti,  and  the  Serjeant-Major,  Juan  de  Vargas  Machu- 
ca,  and  all  the  Captains  of  the  cavalry  and  infantry  companies  of  this  garri- 
son and  of  the  other  garrisons,  and  remaining  officers  and  soldiers  of  these 
frontiers,  to  be  at  the  orders  of  the  said  Common  Justice  in  everything  and 
subject  to  the  penalties  contained  in  the  edict  of  the  twenty-second  instant 
and  current  year,  of  which  a  report  shall  be  given  to  the  said  Common  Justice 
with  the  original  list  of  July  the  fifteenth,  of  the  year  seventy-five,  and  twen- 
ty-second of  the  current  month  and  year,  in  order  that  with  the  same  he  may 
complete  the  said  number  of  four  hundred  soldiers  and  reserves,  and  the 
march  of  our  army.  And  that  this  may  be  known  by  all,  and  nobody  may 
plead  ignorance,  we  command  this  edict  to  be  published  by  the  High  Con- 
stable of  this  city,  in  the  public  square,  at  the  beat  of  drums,  and  through 
the  town-crier.  Drawn  in  this  City  of  La  Asumpcion,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
February,  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy-five,  before  us  and  witnesses  for  want 
ot  notary,  and  on  this  common  paper,  there  being  none  with  the  seal,  etc., 
etc.     (Here  follows  the  signatures  of  the  members  of  this  chapter.) 


1673 

Proclamatioii  of  Royal  Letters  Patent,  in  ViUa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  by 

the  Governor  of  Paraguay,  Don  Phelipe  Rexe  Corvalan,  commanding* 

the  obedience  of  a  Royal  Order,  given  at  Villa  Rica  on  tho  second 

of  February. 

In  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  on  the  second  day  of  the  month  of 
February,  of  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy-three,  the  Serjeant-Ma- 
jor, Don  Phelipe  Rexe  Corvalan,  Governor  and  Captain-General  of  this  Pro- 
vince of  Paraguay,  by  his  Majesty,  whom  God  may  guard,  at  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  more  or  less,  before  me,  the  undersigned  Notary, 
opened  a  sheet  which  was  closed  and  bound  with  a  superscription  which  read, 
«  By  the  Queen  Regent  to  Don  Phelipe  Rexe  Corvalan,  Governor  and  Cap- 
tain-General of  the  Province  of  Paraguay,  Asumpcion.  »  It  weighed  sixteen 
ounces  and  six  drachms,  and  after  cutting  the  threads  of  the  said  cover, 
amongst  other  despatches  and  Royal  Decrees  was  found  the  above  testimony, 
which,  seen  by  His  Honor,  he  took  in  his  hands  and  folded  it  with  due  rev- 
erence; and  he  said  that  for  its  execution  and  fulfilment,  to-morrow,  the 
third  of  this  current  month  and  year,  at  general  call,  the  Council  of  founders 
and  residents  of  this  Villa  shall  assemble,  and  in  the  public  square,  and  with 
the  concurrence  of  all  of  them,  the  said  testimony  shall  be  read  and  pub- 
lished loudly  and  intelligibly,  that  everybody  may  know  it,  recording  its 
publication,  and  duly  copied,  shall  be  put  with  the  papers  of  the  archives  of 
this  said  Villa,  and  the  original  testimony  shall  be  forwarded  at  once  to  the 


—  341  — 

City  of  La  Asumpcion,  the  head  of  this  province,  that  with  due  solemnity  it 
shall  be  published  there  by  Captain  Francisco  Ramirez  de  Guzman,  founder 
and  resident  of  said  city,  and  Superintendent  of  Justice  and  War,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  His  Honor,  the  said  Governor,  who  is  at  present  visiting  the  Indians 
of  this  said  Villa,  keeping  due  record  of  the  said  publication  and  this  des- 
patch, together  with  the  other  decrees  and  provisions  to  this  Government. 
And  he  signed — Don  Phdipe  Rexe  Corvalan. 


1676 

Letter  of  the  Licenciate  Mong'elos  Garces  to  the  Governor  of  Paragnay, 
giving*  an  account  of  the  operation  of 'war  against  the  Portiigtiese  Ma- 
melukes of  San  Pablo,  March  the  third. 

General: — The  grace  of  the  Holy  Father  be  with  you  and  me.  Tues- 
day, the  third  instant:  The  enemy  knew  that  you  were. coming  against  him, 
armed  with  your  valor  and  with  four  hundred  Spaniards  and  eight  hundred 
friendly  Indians. 

Wednesday  in  the  morning :  The  Indians  of  this  Crown  marched  towards 
San  Pablo,  guided  by  some  of  the  bandits  and  some  Tupes;  the  same  day  in 
the  afternoon  they  were  expected  in  the  village  of  Terecaiiy  by  the  Indians  of 
Maracayu  and  by  thirteen  bandits  who  had  guided  them.  On  Thursday  the 
said  bandits  fled,  although  with  arrogance  and  pretending  to  fight,  such  as 
they  are,  from,  ambush;  but  I  know  them  very  well,  and  I  regret  that  you  are 
so  far  from  here  and  they  so  near  to  their  canoes,  on  the  river  Amambay, 
distant,  in  my  opinion,  forty  leagues  from  the  village  of  Terecafiy.  All  this 
I  know  as  an  eye  witness. 

To-day,  Friday,  I  learned  in  this  Villa  that  you  were  coming  with  eight 
hundred  and  sixty  Spaniards  and  three  thousand  friendly  Indians,  that  with 
so  large  an  army  it  is  not  possible  to  overtake  the  enemy,  consisting  of  one 
hundred  and  eight  Portuguese  from  San  Pablo  and  other  villages  of  their 
neighborhood,  with  addition  of  five  hundred  Tupes,  who  also  handle  the  guns 
with  the  same  dexterity  as  the  whites,  and  some  who  do  do  not  bring  any, 
come  armed  with  sabres,  bows  and  arrows ;  and  in  order  to  reach  them  it 
will  be  necessajy  that  you,  even  with  fewer  people  than  you  bring,  be  in  this 
Villa  on  Sunday,  so  as  to  command  on  to  march  in  pursuit  of  the  said  thieves, 
for  which  I  offer  myself,  like  a  good  Spaniard,  as  soldier  and  guide,  which  I 
am  a  good  one,  having  been  a  prisoner  amongst  them  six  months,  accom- 
panying them,  the  particulars  of  which  I  leave  for  a  better  opportunity.  And 
I  only  say  that  I  regret  that  I  arrived  yesterday  in  ill  health,  for  which  rea- 
son I  do  not  go  to  kiss  the  feet  of  Your  Lordship,  and  also  because  I  shall  be 
stronger  to  accompany  you  when  you  decide  to  push  forward,  a  step  which 
will  be  in  vain  if  we  do  not  start  from  here  on  Monday,  the  ninth  instant; 
and  if  the  start  is  made  on   Tuesday,  in  their  pursuit,  some  horses  may  be 


—   342  — 

taken  from  them  but  no  people.  This  is  certain,  as  also  that  I  remain  at  the 
orders  of  your  Lordship,  whose  life  God  may  guard.  Villa  Rica,  March  the 
sixth,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-six.  Your  Lordship's  most 
obedient  servant — The  Licentiate,  Don  Juan  de  Mongelos  Garces. 


1676 

Edict  of  the  Governor  Diez  de  Andmo  providmsr  the  recruitment  of  men  to 

pursue  the  Mamelukes  ivho  have  ruined  four  Indian  villages  near 

Villa  Kica. 

The  Serjeant-Major,  Don  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  Governor  and  Captain- 
General  that  has  been,  of  this  Province  of  Paraguay,  by  virtue  of  the  order 
and  faculty  of  full  jurisdiction  that  was  given  me  by  tbe  Council,  Justice  and 
municipality  and  the  rest  of  the  commonwealth  of  the  City  of  La  Asump- 
cion,  in  order  that  I  might  act  and  judge  matters  and  suits,  political  and 
military,  and  in  especial  to  leave  the  said  city,  to  the  relief  of  this  Villa,  with 
the  army  that  is  in  my  Charge,  to  oppose  the  Poituguese  and  Mamelukes  of 
San  Pablo,  who  have  invaded  and  depopulated  this  said  Villa,  taking  with 
them  four  tribes  of  Christian  Indians  of  its  vicinity,  which  has  caused  and 
causes  great  damage  and  loss  to  the  neighbors  of  the  said  City  of  La  Asump- 
cion  and  the  said  Villa,  as  it  also  detracts  from  the  Castilian  reputation;  and 
in  order  to  apply  a  punishment  commensurate  to  their  audacity,  I  at  once 
command  that  all  the  neighbors  of  this  said  Villa,  both  feudatory  and  resi- 
dent, shall  prepare  to  leave  with  me  in  pursuit  of  the  said  Portuguese  and 
Mamelukes,  under  penalty  that  he  who  shall  fail  in  this,  will  have  a  bad  case, 
and  the  feudatory  neighbor,  and  he  who  be  not  such,  will  be  put  to  a  penalty 
of  four  years  of  exile  to  the  port  of  Buenos  Ayres,  where  he  shall  be  without 
salary,  living  at  his  expense  and  risk,  with  obligation  to  report  the  failure  in- 
curred to  the  King,  our  Sire,  and  to  his  Royal  Council  of  Indies,  that  nobody 
shall  pretend  to  deny  what  occurs.  I  command  that  this  edict  be  published 
at  the  call  of  drums  in  the  public  square  of  this  said  Villa,  in  the  presence  of 
all;  and  I  have  signed  before  me  and  two  witnesses,  for  want  of  Notary,  and 
on  this  common  paper,  dated  in  this  Villa,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  the  month 
of  March,  of  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy-six. — ^Juan  Diez  de  An- 
dino. Witnesses — Don  Francisco  de  Tixeira  Valderrania,  Sebastian  de 
Aguilera. 


Record  regarding  the  coming-  of  the  Portuguese. 

The  Field-master,  Alonso  Fernandez  Montiel,  Lieutenant  Governor, 
Chief  Justice  and  Captain  of  War  of  this  province  of  Paraguay,  by  His  Ma- 
jesty, whom  God  may  guard,  in  whose  charge  lies  the  political  and  military 


—  343  — 

government  of  the  same,  in  the  absence  of  Field-master,  Don  Antonio  de 
Vera  Muxica,  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  this  said  province,  by  His 
Majesty,  whom  God  may  guard:  whereas  to-day,  at  about  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  more  or  less,  I  received  advice  on  a  paper  which  was  addressed  to 
jne  by  Serjeant  Mayor  Melchor  Alfonso,  of  the  garrison  of  the  village  of  To- 
bati,  enclosing  another  paper  from  Pedro  Rolon,  Corporal  of  the  said  gar- 
rison, in  which  he  advises  him  as  how  yesterday  Monday,  at  about  noon,  an 
Indian  woman  of  the  said  village  of  Tobati,  who  went  for  water  to  a  well, 
met  a  Tupi  Indian,  who  said  to  her  that  by  land  and  by  water  many  Portu- 
guese Mamelukes  and  Tupis  of  San  Pablo  were  coming  to  invade  this  city 
and  province.  This  news,  which,  added  to  other  circumstances  that  have 
preceed  days  before,  it  is  fair  to  admit  to  be  true,  and  it  is  advisable  in  any 
event  to  be  ready  with  due  preparation,  vigilance  and  the  necessary  care,  for 
so  difficult  a  case;  therefore,  by  these  presents  I  order  and  command  all  the 
neighbors  and  residents  at  present  in  this  city  to  remain  within  and  be  pre- 
pared with  all  their  weapons,  offensive,  defensive,  horses  and  other  war  mate- 
rial, and  no  person  shall  leave  this  city,  either  by  land  or  water,  for  the  lower 
provinces,  or  the  woods,  or  other  dependencies  of  the  Villa  Rica  of  this  go- 
vernment, nor  for  any  other  part,  in  spite  of  any  permission  that  I  may  have 
granted  them,  which  from  this  moment  I  suspend  until  the  truth  of  the  said 
news  is  investigated  and  inquired  into;  and  thus  shall  all  obey  for  the  good 
of  the  service  of  His  Majesty,  whom  God  may  guard,  and  for  the  defense  of 
the  province,  under  penalty  of  their  lives  and  treason  to  the  King,  our  Mas- 
ter. And  in  order  that  all  shall  know  this,  and  no  one  plead  ignorance,  to- 
morrow in  the  forenoon,  which  would  be  the  twenty-eighth  instant,  this  edict 
shall  be  published  in  the  public  square  of  this  city,  at  the  call  of  drums,  and 
through  the  town  crier,  recording  its  publication.  Thus  I  have  provided, 
ordered  and  signed,  with  witnesses,  owing  to  the  illness  of  the  notary,  on 
this  common  paper,  there  being  none  with  the  seal,  in  the  city  of  La  Asump- 
cion,  on  the  27th  day  of  the  month  of  February  of  the  year  sixteen  hundred 
and  eighty-five.  And  for  its  publication  I  give  the  necessary  commission  to 
the  High  Constable  of  this  city,  or  any  other  able  person  who  through  his 
impediment  or  other  occupation  might  undertake  it. — Alonso  Fernandez  Mon- 
tiel. — Witness:  Juan  de  Vargas  Machuca. — Witness:  y.  la  Rua  de  la  Jar  a. 


In  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  on  the  fifth  day  of  the  month  of  March,  of 
the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  eighty-five,  the  Field-master,  Alonso  Fernan- 
dez Montiel,  Lieutenant  General,  Chief  Justice  and  Captain  of  War  of  this 
province  of  Paraguay,  by  His  Majesty,  whom  God  may  guard,  and  Governor 
in  absence  of  the  Field-master  Don  Antonio  de  Vera  Muxica,  who,  by  superior 
orders,  went  to  the  war  of  the  Chaco :  Whereas,  according  to  advise  that  was 
sent  to  me  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  February  last  of  this  year,  by  the  corporals 
of  the  village  and  garrison  of  Tobati  that  a  Tupi  Indian  had  met  an  Indian 
woman  of  the  said  village,  and  told  her  that  the  Portuguese  of  San  Pablo  were 


—  344   — 

coming  by  the  river  and  some  by  land  with  Indian  allies  of  those  called  Tu- 
pis,  and  in  regard  to  this  for  the  better  welfare  of  this  province  I  ordered  the 
publication  of  the  edict  which  is  at  the  head  of  this  in  the  public  square  of 
this  city,  and  after  sending  the  necessary  orders  to  the  said  village  and  the 
other  garrisons  on  the  border  up  the  river,  and  men  equipped  and  well  armed 
to  run  through  the  land  and  by  the  river,  to  ascertain  the  matter,  as  it  is  of 
such  importance,  I  have  sent  for  the  Indian  woman  who  spoke  with  the  said 
Tupi  Indian,  to  examine  her  and  take  a  judicial  account  of  what  passed  be- 
tween them,  in  order  to  proceed  to  do  that  be  necessary  to  defend  this  province, 
and  as  it  is  imperative  to  appoint  for  the  said  examination  a  person  knowing 
the  original  language  of  the  Indians  of  this  province,  and  inasmuch  as  the  Ensign 
Juan  Duarte,  High  Constable  of  this  city,  is  capable  and  sufficiently  versed 
in  it,  I  appoint  him  as  such  interpreter,  and  I  comand  that  this  order  be  sent 
to  him  for  acceptance,  and  the  usu^l  oath,  and  being  present  I  ordered  this 
to  be  read  to  him  and  acknowledged  in  person,  which  being  duly  understood 
by  him,  he  sajd  that  he  accepted  the  said  appointment,  and  I  forthwith  took 
his  oath,  which  he  did  in  the  name  of  God,  our  Lord,  and  by  the  sign  of  the 
Cross,  as  is  lawful,  which  charge  he  promised  to  fulfil  faithfully  and  loyally, 
as  interpreter  with  the  said  Indian  woman, and  give  in  the  CastiHan  language 
what  she  might  answer  to  the  questions  propounded  to  her.  And  he  signed 
jointly  with  me  and  witnesses,  in  the  absence  of  the  notary,  and  on  this  com- 
mon paper,  there  being  none  with  the  seal. — Alonso  Fernandez  Montiel. — 
Juan  Duarte. — Witness:  Tomlis  Jimenez. — Witness:  Esteban  Rodtigues  Car- 
vajal. 


Deposition  of  the  Indian  woman. 

In  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  on  the  fifth  day  of  the  month  of  March,  of 
the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  eighty-five,  the  Field-master,  Alonso  Fernan- 
dez Montiel  Lieutenant  Ceneral,  Chief  Justice,  and  Captain  of  War.  of  this 
province  of  Paraguay,  by  His  Majesty,  whom  God  may  guard,  and  Gover- 
nor in  the  absence  of  the  Field-master,  Don  Antonio  de  Vera  Muxica,  who 
went  to  the  war  of  Chaco,  in  the  proceedings  ordered  regarding  the  Indian 
woman,  whom  I  ordered  to  be  brought  from  the  village  of  Tobati,  I  made 
her  appear  before  me,  and  the  Ensign  Juan  Duarte,  appointed  as  interpreter, 
and  I  took  her  oath  in  the  name  of  God,  our  Lord,  and  by  the  sign  of  the 
Cross,  as  is  lawful,  which  charge  she  took  and  promised  to  say  the  truth  of 
what  she  knew,  and  being  asked  to  give  her  name  and  encomienda,  she 
said  her  name  was  Maria,  and  that  she  belongs  to  the  encomienda  of  the 
Castilian  Ventura  Rjarelos.  Being  asked  where  she  was  at  the  time  the  Tupi 
Indian  spoke  to  her,  she  said  that  going  from  the  said  place  to  the  farm  ly- 
ing before  the  said  village,  she  was  met  by  an  Indian,  small  in  body,  who 
came  out  of  a  small  woods,  carrying  a  spear  in  his  hand,  and  clad  in  grogram 
and  red  cotton  drawers,  praising  God,  and  that  she  became  frightened  and 


—  345  — 

wanted  to  flee,  leaving  her  little  child  behind,  and  that  the  said  Indian  began 
to  call  her  and  caress  her  child,  and  that  she  recovered  and  asked  who  he 
was,  and  he  told  her  he  was  a  Tupi,  and  that  in  the  company  of  many  Por- 
tuguese and  Tupis  he  had  arrived  that  night  in  the  neighborhood,  and  that 
the  Tupis  that  accompanied  him  were  very  near,  pointing  to  a  large  woods, 
and  that  the  others  had  returned  where  the  Portuguese  were  lodged,  and 
then  the  Indian  woman  saw  that  the  Indian  had  some  black  spots  in  the  face, 
such  as  said  Indians  are  accustomed  to  wear.  She  was  asked  by  the  said 
interpreter  what  she  did  with  the  Indian  after  that  which  passed  between 
them,  according  to  deposition  so  far  made:  she  said  that  after  that  he  said  In- 
dian, without  speaking  one  more  word, turned  towards  the  woods  and  she  never 
saw  him  again,  and  that  she  went  in  search  of  her  husband  and  related  what 
had  happened,  and  the  two  went  then  to  their  village  and  in  the  best  pos- 
sible manner  said  to  the  Spanish  Commander  what  had  occurred,  in  order 
not  to  excite  the  people,  and  that  they  might  take  measures.  Being  asked  if 
they  had  seen  any  spies  or  any  other  thing  from  which  it  could  be  understood 
that  some  enemies  were  in  the  vicinity  of  their  villages,  she  said  that  in  the 
last  few  days  they  have  seen  smokes  up  the  river,  but  she  did  not  know  whe- 
ther they  were  of  the  Portuguese  or  of  the  Payaguas  or  Guaycurus  Indians, 
who  usually  wander  through  these  parts,  and  that  what  she  has  said  and  de- 
clared is  the  truth  of  what  occurred  in  regard  to  what  she  has  been  ques- 
tioned, and  she  confirmed  the  oath  she  had  taken.  And  it  was  signed  by 
the  said  interpreter,  jointly  with  me,  etc.,  etc. — Alotiso  Fernandez  Montiel. — ■ 
Jnati  Duar^e. — Tonias  Jimenez. — Esteban  'Rodriguez  Carvajal. 


(There  follow  in  this  set  of  documents  the  records  concerning  the  inva- 
sion of  the  Mamelukes  of  San  Pablo,  through  the  upper  Paraguay  river.) 


1676 


ACT  OF  THB  CZTIT  COUIVCIIi 

of  La  Asumpcion,  calling  a  Council  of  War  to  discuss  matter 
concerning  the  IMEamelukes  invaders.   ( * ) 

Resolution  of  the  Council,  Justices  and  Board  of  Aldermen  of  this  City 
of  La  Asumpcion  which  has  under  its  charge  the  political  and  military 
Government,  on  account  of  the  absence,  imprisonment  and  impediment  of  the 
Serjeant  Major,  Felipe  Rexe  Corvalan,  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  it, 
for  the  purpose  of  assembling  all  the  militariy  chiefs  in  a  Council  of  war,  to 
discuss  the  means  of  expelling  the  Portuguese  and  Mamelukes  of  San  Pablo, 
and  the  Tupis  Indians  in  their  militaiy  service  who  number  three  thousand 
men,  commanded  by  Francisco  Pedroso,  who  headed  them  and  the  towns  of 
Tereca-Mi,  Ibira  Pariga,  Candelaria  and  who  put  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu 
Santo  in  great  peril. 

This  Council  took  place  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  February  of  the  year 
sixteen  hundred  and  seventy-six,  the  following  being  resolved  :  that  an  army 
of  four  hundred  Spaniards  and  five  hundred  armed  Indians  be  approved 
commanded  by  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  Ex-Governor  and  Captain  General  of 
this  Province,  giving  him  ample  power  for  the  best  success  of  the  proposed 
expulsion,  defence  and  safety  of  those  natives. 

(There  follows  a  hst  of  the  soldiers,  and  the  quantity  of  arms  and  am- 
munition which  were  delivered  to  the  said  Commander.  ) 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  National  Archives  of 
Paraguay  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  La  Asuncion, 
forms  part  of  group  B,  No.  2  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence.  » 


—  348  — 

The  Council,  Justices  and  Board  of  Aldermen  of  the  City  of  La  Asump- 
cion,  Province  of  Paraguay,  to  wit  :  the  Royal  Ensign  Rodrigo  de  Roxas 
Aranda:  Serjeant  Mayor,  Alonso  Fernandez  Montiel;  the  Mayor,  Captain 
Francisco  del  Monte;  High  Constable,  Captain  Juan  Cabrera  de  Ovalle,  and 
Gabriel  Riquelme  de  Guzman  and  Antonio  Gonzalez  Freire,  Aldermen,  by 
virtue  of  the  superior,  political  and  mihtary  jurisdiction  which  we  enjoy  and 
posses,  on  account  of  the  imprisonment,  absence  and  impediment  of  Felipe 
Rexe  Corvalan,  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the  said  Province,  for  the 
King  Our  Lord  ;  the  meeting  being  presided  by  Field  Master  Rodrigo  de 
Roxas  Aranda  as  First  Ordinary  Mayor  in  fufilment  of  the  resolution  and 
Council  of  War  of  this  day,  month  and  year,  which  took  place  in  the  house 
of  our  Board,  in  the  best  form  of  law,  we  resolve  to  carry  the  resolutions  to 
their  complete  execution  and  fulfilment  by  sending  the  aid  to  be  given  to 
Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  and  its  districts,  with  four  hundred  Spanish 
soldiers  and  six  hundred  and  fifty  Indias,  or  a  greater  number  if  it  can  be  obtain- 
ed to  fight  against  the  enemy,  Portuguese,  Mamelukes  and  Tupis  of  San  Pa- 
blo ;  and  to  do  so  we  inform  Serjeant  Major  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  ex- 
Governor  and  Captain  General  of  this  Province,  that,  in  accordance  with  the 
decree  of  the  said  Couucil  of  War  and  by  all  the  laws  and  prerogatives, 
pohtical  as  well  as  military,  and  all  other  means,  we  empower  him  with  the 
greatest  authority  required  in  this  case,  inserting  the  said  decree  and  the 
writ  which  are  as  follows  ;  Writ. — In  the  City  of  La  Asumpcion,  in  the  said 
2oth.  day  of  February  of  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy-six,  the 
Council,  Justice  and  Board  of  Aldermen  of  it,  to  wit  :  Field  Master  Rodrigo 
Roxas  de  Aranda,  Royal  Ensign  and  First  Mayor;  Serjeant  Major  Alonso 
Fernandez  Montiel ;  Second  Mayor,  Captain  Francisco  Martinez  del  Monte  ; 
High  Constable  and  Captain  Antonio  Gonzalez  Freire,  Alderman  and  Proprie- 
tor, assembled  in  the  halls  of  our  deliberations  and  of  the  Board  as  we  are 
accustomed,  in  order  to  confer  in  regard  to  the  service  of  Our  Lord  and  His 
Majesty,  for  the  welfare  and  usefulness  of  our  Republic,  and  Rodrigo 
Roxas  de  Aranda  presiding  on  account  of  the  absence,  imprisonment  and 
impediment  of  the  Serjeant  Major  Felipe  Rexe  Corvalan,  Governor  and 
Captain  General  of  this  Province  of  Paraguay,  for  His  Majesty  (whom  God 
Save )  after  seen  the  other  writs  in  regard  to  the  coming  of  the  Portuguese 
and  Mamelukes  of  San  Pablo,  Kingdom  and  State  of  Brazil,  and  the  Tupi 
Indians,  in  their  military  service,  in  number  of  one  thousand  Portuguese  and 
two  thousand  Tupis  who  have  taken  the  towns  of  San  Pedro  de  Tere-Cane,  Sah 
Francisco  de  Ibira  Pariga  and  Nuestra  Seiiora  de  la  Candelaria,  and  who 
threaten  with  great  peril  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo,  since  the  garrison 
of  the  said  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  at  the  time  of  the  resolution  of  this 
Council,  consisted,  according  to  Licentiate  Juan  de  Zarate,  Presbiter,  of 
seventy  Spaniards  only,  because  most  of  them  were  in  the  mountains  and  grass 
regions  as  it  is  the  time  for  harvesting,  and  because  the  enemies  were  trou- 
bling and  reconnoitring  the  territory  as  near  as  the  sites  of  the  new  settle- 
ments of  the  Ypanes  and  Guarambares  Indians,  during  four  months  in  which 
they  did  not  appear  ;  the  army  of  the   enemy  had  now  for  its  headquarters 


—  349  — 

and  deposits  of  arms  the  said  town  of  San  Pedro  de  Tere-Cane,  where  their 
General  is,  determined  to  carry  away  the  natives  and  families  and  vassals  of 
the  tribes  of  the  said  town,  under  the  name  of  negroes  of  the  land.  They 
declare  that  if  this  violence  is  allowed  there  would  be  shedding  of  blood 
with  other  acts  as  impolite  as  temerarious  committed  in  disrespect  and  insult 
to  Spaniards  of  that  town  and  the  arms  of  His  Majesty,  and  it  is  necessary  to 
provide  for  the  reparation  of  what  has  been  done  by  the  enemy  and  to  save 
this  town  from  the  danger  in  which  it  is,  as  well  as  the  towns  of  all  this 
Province,  on  account  of  the  intentions  of  the  said  Portuguese  and  the  attacks 
of  so  many  soldiers  of  their  army  and  as  well  as  of  the  Guaycurus  and  Bayas 
and  other  unfaithful  Indians  of  the  frontier  who  keep  the  vasals  of  this  Pro- 
vince in  great  fear  and  poverty,  as  they  employ  all  their  means,  horses, 
powder  and  ammunition  in  the  bloody  war,  waged  since  the  last  night  of 
the  year  seventy-one,  obliging  us  not  only  to  ask  aid  of  money  for  buying 
horses,  cattle,  cannon  powder  and  ammunition,  but  also  to  demand  soldiers 
and  a  paid  garrison  for  the  conquest  of  the  said  unfaithful  Indians  and  to 
save  us  from  the  perils  in  which  we  have  always  been  from  the  said  Portugue- 
se enemy,  as  has  been  shown  from  repeated  experiences  and  to  put  a  stop  to 
much  hostility  and  robbery  of  the  vassals  of  this  Province  and  of  the  great 
number  of  Christian  Indians  which  they  have  enslaved  and  carry  to  the  said 
States  of  Brazil  and  San  Pablo,  especially  as  this  town  and  frontiers  are  the 
principal  keys  to  the  Spanish  dominion  as  they  are  right  in  front  of  these  numer- 
ous unfaithful  Indians  of  so  many  tribes,  as  well  as  of  the  said  Portuguese  and 
the  nations  of  the  north  which  have  a  road  by  way  of  the  territory  of  San 
Pablo  to  enter  those  of  these  Provinces  and  from  it  to  the  Provinces  of  the 
River  Plate  and  Tucuman  and  all  those  of  Peru  through  the  inhabited 
places  and  cities  and  through  the  lands  of  the  unfaithful  Indians,  thereby 
making  short  cut  to  the  frontier  of  Peru,  and  in  order  that  everything  shall 
have  the  reparation  most  convenient  for  the  service  of  His  Majesty  and 
safety  of  his  Kingdoms  and  the  vassals  of  said  Provinces: 

We  resolve  that  a  Council  of  war  take  place  with  the  atendance  of  all  the 
active  officers,  and  those  on  half  pay  which  have  military  and  political  ex- 
perience or  who  may  have  news  of  the  Portuguese  enemies;  the  most  import- 
ant ones  are  to  be  called  and  appear  before  this  Council  to-morrow  the 
twenty  first  of  this  month  and  year;  this  writ  is  to  be  read  to  them  as  well 
as  the  other  papers  in  the  case  and  they  are  to  be  asked  to  propose  the 
most  efficient  means  for  the  aid  of  the  said  town  and  for  the  defense  and 
reparations  of  the  said  vassals  and  tribes  captured  ;  so  as  to  drive  out  the 
said  Portuguese,  mamelukes  and  Tupis,  and  free  the  lands  vassals  and 
Provinces  of  His  Majesty  so  that  they  may  be  tranquil  and  pacified  without 
any  trouble  and  also  to  consider  what  garrison  is  to  remain  in  this  fortress 
for  its  defense  and  in  the  convenient  places  to  watch  the  intentions  and 
treacheries  of  the  said  Guaycurus  and  Bayas  enemies,  who  now  under  pretext 
of  peace  are  keeping  up  the  present  truces  until  the  aid  arrives  which  has 
been  asked  of  his  Excellency  and  of  the  Royal  Superior  Audiencia  of  La  Plata 
for  their  chastisement  and    conquest  of  the  enemy,  so  that  this  fortress  will 


—  350  — 

not  suffer  any  detriment  while  giving  aid  to  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu 
Santo  and  its  district  nor  in  case  of  failing  to  give  it  in  order  to  attend  to 
guard  of  this  fortrees  against  the  said  Guaycurus  and  Bayas  the  same  harm 
which  will  be  suffered  by  the  said  Villa  can  be  avoided  and  the  said  restitution 
and  liberty  of  the  tribes  mentioned  will  be  accomplished ;  and  what  means,  ends 
and  soldiers  will  be  needed  for  one  and  the  other  object,  how  many  Spaniards 
and  how  many  natives;  we  have  ordered  that  the  writs  be  drawn  in  order  to 
inform  His  Majesty,  His  Viceroy  and  the  said  Royal  Superior  Audiencia  of  La 
Plata  and  to  provide  what  is  most  convenient  for  the  Royal  Service,  and  we 
thus  resolve  it  and  signed  it  before  ourselves  and  two  witnesses  in  the 
absence  of  a  notary  and  in  common  paper,  as  there  is  no  sealed  one. — Rodrigo 
de  Roxas  Aranda. — Alonso  Femajidez  Montiel, — Francisco  Martinez  del 
Monte.  —  Antonio  Gonzalez  Freire — witness,  Pedro  Villasdnte. —  witness, 
Juan  de  Herrera  y  Abreu. 


Decree  of  the  Ck>nncil  of  War. 

In  the  City  of  La  Asumpcion,  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  the  month  of 
February,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-six,  the  Council,  Justice  and 
Board  of  Aldermen  to  wit :  Field  Master  Rodrigo  de  Roxas  Aranda,  Royal 
Ensign  and  Second  Major,  Captain  Francisco  del  Monte,  High  Constable 
Captain  Juan  Cabrera  de  Ovalle,  Captain  Gabriel  Riquelme  de  Guzman, 
Antonio  Gonzalez  Freire.  Aldermen, the  said  Field  Master  Rodrigo  de  Roxas 
Aranda,  presiding  on  account  of  the  absence,  imprisonment  and  impediment 
of  the  Serjeant  Major,  Felipe  Rexe  Corvalan,  Governor  and  Captain  General 
of  this  province  for  His  Majesty,  whom  God  save,  the  whole  Board  of  Al- 
dermen being  present,  with  the  active  officers  and  those  on  half  pay,  who  will 
give  their  opinion  and  who  will  sign  their  names  in  this  Council  of  War,  in 
conformity  to  the  decree  passed  by  this  Council  on  the  twentieth  of  this 
month  and  year;  an  account  of  all  the  documents  of  the  case  was  ordered 
to  be  given  and  what  was  determined  in  regard  to  it  up  to  date,  so  as  to  hear 
and  understand  the  object  and  purpose  of  this  Council  of  War,  the  said  First 
Mayor  suggested,  in  the  name  of  this  Council,  that  the  Serjeant  Major,  Juan 
Diez  de  Andino,  ex-Governor  and  Captain  General  of  this  province,  to  ex- 
press his  opinions,  as  he  has  sufficient  experience  and  knovi'ledge  of  the  mi- 
litia and  the  condition  of  this  fortress  and  frontiers  and  also  because  he  has 
worked  a  great  deal  in  these  matters  and  he  has  been  a  long  time  in  the 
service  of  His  Majesty  in  the  war  with  Catalonia  and  Portugal,  and  His 
Excellency  thereupon  said  and  expressed  his  opinion  as  to  the  points  of  the 
said  decree  before  this  Council  in  the  following  form  :  That  he  does  not  de- 
serve the  great  honor  done  him  by  the  said  Council,  and  that  he  submits  to 
the  better  opinion  of  the  ministers  and  gentlemen  of  this  Council  and  the 
Superior  offices,  his  views  which  are :  that  immediately,  without  losing  any 
time,  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  and  its  districts  be  aided,  not  only 


—  351  — 

because  it  is  our  duty  to  do,  so  as  we  are  vassals  of  the  same  King  and  belong 
to  the  same  province,  but  also  because  the  Portuguese  are  proceeding  in  viola- 
tion of  the  stipulations  agreed  to  in  the  Royal  Letter  of  the  twenty-third  day 
of  February  of  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-eight,  published 
in  this  fortress  and  in  the  said  Villa,  and  because  'they  have  dared  to  tread 
on  our  lands,  with  an  army  and  armed  people  without  the  consent  of  His 
Majesty,  and  without  notice  to  this  Government,  above  all  through  forbidden 
ports  and  places,  carrying  hostilities,  depriving  us  of  the  vassals  conquered 
and  submitted  by  His  Majesty  and  the  Spaniards  at  the  cost  of  so  much 
property,  blood  and  labor,  without  our  ever  going  to  trouble  them  in  their 
lands  nor  doing  any  harm  whatever.  That  in  no  way  the  garrison  of  this 
fortress  should  oppose  the  defense  because,  by  doing  so  they  serve  His  Majesty 
as  they  have  been  entrusted  with  the  care  of  this  district  and  of  the  Villa,  and 
the  forces  should  be  divided  and  life  sacrificed  in  the  Royal  Service.  In  ac- 
cordance to  this,  he  thinks  that  the  said  aid  should  be  at  least  of  five  hundred 
Spaniards,  well-armed,  provided  with  ammunition  and  with  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  horses,  as  cavalry  is  the  best  against  the  said  Portuguese,  as  they  are 
infantry :  and  also  fifteen  hundred  Indians  of  war,  who  can  be  raised  in  the 
tribes  of  the  vicinity,  as  none  can  be  expected  for  this  aid  from  the  Parana, 
this  aid  is  to  be  under  the  command  of  the  chief,  most  steemed  in  this  for- 
tress, our  army  to  be  provided  with  horses  and  cattle  by  the  vassals  of  this 
city  without  excusing  anyone  and  that  the  garrison  and  defense  of  this  for- 
tress against  the  Guaycurus  and  Bayas  enemies,  be  made  with  the  soldiers 
remaining,  merchants  and  foreigners  and  all  the  clergy,  students  and  lay- 
brothers  and  all  the  priests,  without  any' exception  whatever,  and  all  the  slaves 
and  mulattoes  and  freemen,  Indians  and  all  other  persons,  forming  com- 
panies ;  in  this  wise  this  fortress  will  have  a  sufficient  garrison,  for  if  the 
contrary  be  done,  neither  the  fortress  nor  the  said  Villa,  nor  the  province,  will 
be  secure;  and  that  for  further  steps,  they  should  ask  His  Majesty  and  his 
Cour:s,  demanding  aid  of  arms,  powder  and  people,  and  also  to  the  neigbor- 
ing  Governments. 


The  Field  Master,  General  Lazaro  de  Vallejo  Villasanti,  Captain  of 
War  and  General  Superintendent,  who  has  charge  of  the  arms  of  this  fortress, 
in  the  name  of  the  Council,  having  been  requested  to  express  his  opinion  by 
the  said  Mayor,  said  :  that  he  agreed  in  everything  with  the  opinion  of  the 
said  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  as  his  judgment  was  the  most  judicious  as  to  the 
way  in  which  they  should  proceed,  and  there  being  no  other  alternative  but 
to  divide  equally   the  garrison  of  this  city  and  the  fortified  places  of  the  coast. 

The  Field  Master,  General  Pedro  Vallejo  Villasanti,  who  is  at  present 
Commander  of  the  batallion  of  this  fortress,  said  that  he  agreed  with  the 
opinion  of  the  said  Serjeant  Major  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  and  that  he  only 
differed  as  to  the  five  hundred  soldiers  to  be  taken  away,  as  he  thought  that 
number  was  too  large. 


—  352  — 

Capiain  Juan  Patino  de  Haro,  Atorney  General  of  this  city,  said  that  he 
agreed  in  everything  as  to  the  aid  to  be  given  and  that  as  to  the  number  of 
soldiers,  he  was  of  the  opinion  that  four  hundred  were  enough. 

The  Castilian  Francisco  de  Roxas  Aranda  said  that  he  agreed  as  to  the 
aid  to  be  given,  but  that  the  number  of  soldiers  should  be  four  hundred. 

Captain. Diego  de  Yegros,  official  Treasurer  ot  the  Royal  Treasury  of  this 
city,  said  that  he  agreed  as  to  the  aid  to  be  given,  but  that  the  number  of 
Spaniards  be  only  four  hundred. 

The  Field  Master,  Agustin  Corvalan  y  Castilla  said  that  he  agreed  with 
everything  said  by  the  Serjeant  Major  Diez  de  Andino. 

The  Serjeant  Major  Antonio  Caiiete  said  that  he  agreed  with  the  opinion 
of  the  said  Serjeant  Major  Juan  Diez  de  Andino. 

The  Castilian  Juan  de  la  Pena,  now  of  the  castle  of  San  Miguel  de 
Itapua,  said  that  he  agreed  with  the  opinion  of  the  said  Juan  Diez  de  Andino. 

Captain  Pedro  de  Zamora  y  Mendoza,  Captain  of  one  of  the  Companies 
of  Cavalry  of  this  fortress,  said  that  he  agreed  with  the  opinion  of  the  said 
Juan  Diez  de  Andino. 

Captain  Manuel  Flores  y  Bastidas,  Captain  of  one  of  the  Companies  of 
of  Cavalry  of  this  fortress,  said  that  he  agreed  with  the  opinion  of  the  said 
Juan  Diez  de  Andino. 

Captain  Juani  Ortiz  de  Zarate,  Captain  of  one  of  the  Companies  of  Cavalry 
of  this  fortress  said  that  he  also  agreed  in  everything  with  the  opinion  of  the 
said  Juan  Diez  de  Andino, 

And  the  officers  of  the  said  Council,  Justice  and  Board  of  Aldermen, 
gave  their  opinion  in  the  following  manner  and  form: 

The  said  Field  Master  Rodrigo  de  Roxas  Aranda  said  that  he  thought 
the  said  aid  should  be  made  with  four  hundred  Spaniards  and  five  hundred 
Indians. 

The  said  Serjeant  Major  Alonso  Fernandez  Montiel  said :  that  the  aid 
be  immediately  given  with  five  hundred  Spaniards  and  five  hundred  Indians. 

Captain  Francisco  Martinez  del  Monte  said  that  the  aid  be  given  with 
the  said  five  hundred  Spaniards,  and  all  the  more  possible,  and  five  hundred 
Indians. 

Captain  Juan  Cabrera  de  Ovalle  said  the  same  thing  as  the  High  Con- 
stable. 

Captain  Gabriel  Riquelme  de  Guzman  said  that  he  agreed  with  the  High 
Constable. 

Captain  Antonio  Gonzalez  Freire  said  that  he  agreed  with  the  others  Al- 
dermen. 

And  all  were  of  the  opinion,  in  the  Council  of  War,  the  Board,  as  well 
as  the  active  officers  and  those  on  half-pay  that  the  said  aid  should  be  sent 
in  charge  of  the  Serjeant  Major,  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  as  it  is  convenient  for 
the  service  of  His  Majesty,  in  whose  name  he  is  asked  for  a  third  and  last 
time,  to  aid  us  with  his  person,  without  replying  or  excusing  himself,  and  call- 
ing his  attention  to  what  is  ordered  by  the  laws,  ordinances  and  military  regu- 
lations in  similar  cases.     And  the  said  Serjeant  Major  Juan  Diez  de  Andino 


— "  3 ■53  -^^ 

being  present,  he  said  that,  in  order  to  serve,  as  it  is  his  duty,  His  Majesty 
and  this  repubUc,  he  accepts  the  command  of  the  said  aid,  and  that  he  is 
ready  to  keep  and  obey  everything  ordered  to  him,  and  he  promises  to  start 
as  soon  as  possible,  as  soon  as  the  men  of  the  aid  are  delivered  to  him  to- 
gether with  the  necessary  arms,  powder,  ammunition,  horses  and  provisions; 
and  to  do  everything  that  he  can  as  an  obedient  and  loyal  vassal  of  His 
Majesty,  pledging  his  life  and  all  the  labor  and  industry  that  he  can,  without 
omitting  anything  ;  he  thus  expressed  himself,  and  thereupon,  this  Council, 
Justice  and  Board  of  Aldermen,  by  virtue  of  the  Political  and  Military  Juris- 
diction which  they  lawfully  possess  and  exercise,  on  account  of  the  absence, 
imprisonment  and  impediment  of  Phelipe  Rexe  Corvalan,  unanimously  and 
in  conformity,  gave  the  necessary  legal  commission  to  the  said  Juan  Diez  de 
Andino,  with  full  powers  for  the  best  exit  and  carrying  out  of  the  aid,  giving 
him  for  this  and  for  everything  relating  to,  the  most  extensive  and  general 
administration,  with  general  superintendence  over  all  the  superior  and  infe- 
rior officers,  soldiers,  residents  and  neighbors,  Spanish  as  well  as  natives,  of 
said  Villa  and  district  and  of  all  the  territory  and  places  through  which  he 
may  pass,  or  wherever  the  army  will  stop  either  on  going  or  coming, -with 
expressed  authority  and  full  power  to  appoint  officers  for  the  war,  superior 
and  inferior,  to  remove  and  take  from  the  said  Villa  those  who  may  be  con- 
venient, appointing  others  in  place,  the  said  Juan  Diez  de  Andino  to 
have  all  the  authority  invested  in  him  by  the  laws  and  military  ordinances 
and  to  use  the  necessary  military  insignia  of  office  ;  and  he  is  to  give  full 
account  of  everything  to  His  Majesty  and  the  Courts,  so  that  his  services 
will  be  rewarded,  especially  this  one  of  aid  so  important  and  of  so  much  con- 
sequence as  any  that  can  be  done  for  the  Royal  Service  in  these  provinces  ; 
and  thereupon  all  the  active  officers  and  those  on  half-pay  of  this  Council, 
unanimously  and  by  common  consent,  said  :  that  for  their  part  in  this  Coun- 
cil, Justice  and  Board  of  Aldermen,  in  the  name  and  representation  of  the 
militia  of  this  fortress  and  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  and  of  all  the  province, 
they  said  they  gave  in  the  due  form  of  law,  their  vote,  agreeing  with  the  de- 
signation for  the  office,  and  with  what  has  been  decreed  by  this  Council 
of  War  and  by  the  Council  of  Justice  and  Board  of  Aldermen  as  they  deem  it 
to  be  for  the  service  of  His  Majesty  and  the  safety  and  defense  of  this 
province  ;  and  in  order  that  it  shall  be  binding,  it  was  ordered  that  the  papers 
of  the  appointment  be  given,  inserting  therein  the  proceedingsof  this  Council 
of  War. 

He  was  also  empowered  with  full  pohtical  jurisdiction  in  regard  to  the 
said  aid,  and  also  in  the  towns  and  places,  through  which  he  passes,  wher- 
ever he  resides,  as  well  as  in  the  said  Villa  and  in  all  the  towns  of  that  dis- 
trict, with  the  same  supervision  as  in  the  military  branch  of  Government,  and 
all  the  authorities  are  to  be  informed  of  it.  so  that  they  favor  and  aid  him  in 
everyway,  without  replying  or  excusing  themselves,  as  it  is  in  force  by  virtue 
of  the  decree  of  this  Council  who  has  superior  political  and  military  jurisdic- 
tion. And  the  said  active  officers  and  those  on  half  pay,  by  their  expressed 
opinion  and  the  vote  which  they   have  given,   together  with  that  of  the 


—  354  — 

Council,  in  what  refers  to  the  military  Government  as  well  as  political,  agree 
that  he  be  granted  full  powers  in  law  and  without  any  limitation  whatever, 
as  signed  by  the  Council  to  whom  the  execution  of  this  decree  belongs,  and 
the  necessary  arms,  powder,  and  ammunition  be  taken  from  those  that  His 
Majesty  has,  in  charge  of  the  said  Treasurer  and  the  Royal  officers,  in  the 
Royal  treasury  of  this  city,  as  well  as  field  pieces  and  powder  and  ammuni- 
tion, and  that  the  horses  and  cattle  and  tobacco  needed  be  obtained  from 
those  having  them,  pro  rata  ;  they  are  to  be  taken  wherever  found,  the  ex- 
penses to  be  borne  by  the  community  of  this  city,  and  an  account  of  all  to 
be  given  to  His  Majesty  and  his  Courts  with  testimonies  of  these  writs,  and 
that  requisitorial  letters,  in  due  form,  be  sent  to  the  Governors  of  Plata 
and  Tucuman  and  to  the  Justices  of  the  cities,towns  and  places  of  their  districts, 
so  that  these  writs  and  reports  will  pass  from  hand  to  hand  until  they  arrive 
to  the  vessels  in  the  port  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  to  his  Excellency  the  Viceroy 
of  these  Kingdons  and  to  the  Royal  Superior  Audiencia  of  the  Plate,  so  that 
they  will  be  advised,  and  that  Field  Master  Dionisio  Robles,  Knight  of  the  Royal 
Order  of  Santiago,  Governor  of  this  province  of  the  River  Plate,  will  aid  this 
fortress  with  four  hundred  fire-arms,  two  hundred  fire-lock  guns  and  cara- 
bines and  the  other  two  hundred  pistols,  with  two  hundred  cutlasses  and 
short  swords,  and  two  hundred  swords,  with  two  hundred  arrobas  of  powder 
and  the  same  amount  of  lead  or  ammunition  and  providing  the  part  belong- 
ing to  him  of  the  necessary  soldiers  and  men  for  the  garrison  of  the  towns  of 
Uruguay,  for  their  guard  and  security  and  for  those  of  the  provinces  of  Para- 
na ;  those  of  one  and  those  of  the  other  province  together,  would  become 
secure,  with  the  garrison  sent  by  that  fortress,  for  the  principal  aim  of  the 
plansof  the  Portuguese,  mamelukes  andTupis  is  to  imprison  and  enslave  the 
families  and  vassals  of  those  provinces,  whom  they  call  negroes  of  the  land  ; 
and  that  the  said  Portuguese  be  acquainted  with  the  despatch  given  by  this 
Council,  inserted  in  the  Royal  letters  of  the  community,  so  that  in  compli- 
ance with  and  obeying  it,  they  retire  and  leave  our  lands  and  towns,  free  and 
unrestrained,  restoring  all  the  families  which  they  may  have  in  their  power  ; 
it  was  thus  agreed  to,  decreed  and  signed,  before  this  Council,  Justice  and 
Board  of  Aldermen  and  two  witnesses  in  the  absence  of  a  Notary  who  signed 
it  also,  together  with  the  said  active  officers  and  those  on  half  pay  of  this 
meeting  and  Council  of  War,  in  this  common  paper,  because  there  is  no 
sealed  one. — ( Twenty-one  signatures  follow.) 

According  to  which  we  commanded  that  this  despatch  be  given,  ordering 
and  requesting  the  Serjeant  Major  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  that  considering 
what  was  resolved  in  the  Council  of  War  herein  inserted,  to  keep  and  obey 
everything  decreed,  and  to  carry  out  the  instructions  which  will  be  delivered 
to  him  with  this  despatch  ;  he  is  to  take,  under  his  charge,  the  four  hundred 
Spanish  soldiers,  and  six  hundred  and  fifty  Indians  to  aid  the  Villa  Rica- del 
Epiritu  Santo  and  the  towns  and  its  district  against  the  enemy,  Portuguese, 
mamelukes  and  the  Tupis  of  San  Pablo,  and  on  arriving  at  the  said  Villa 
and  its  district,  if  he  finds  the  said  enemy  there,  he  will  compell  them  to  im- 
mediately and  without  any  lost  time,  to  depart  and  leave  our  lands  free,  quiet 


—  355  — 

and  pacific,  and  to  go  to  the  territory  of  San  Pablo,  never  to  dare  to  return 
to  these  places,  making  them  restore  all  the  Indians  and  families  imprisoned, 
not  only  of  the  towns  of  that  vicinity,  but  also  of  the  said  Villa,  negroes, 
mulattoes,  Spaniards  or  other  persons  whatever,  of  any  class,  condition,  race> 
age  or  sex  ;  and  he  will  carry  this  out  by  forcible  means,  fire-arms  and  blood, 
or  by  treaty  and  stipulations  as  he  might  think  best  and  determine  ;  without 
waiting  for  any  move  of  the  enemy,  and  following  everything  ordered  herein, 
he  will  make  war  to  them  as  soon  as  he  sees  them,  as  the  occasion  demands, 
trying  to  bring  together  the  arms  and  Spanish  soldiers  and  natives  of  the 
said  Villa  and  the  towns  of  its  district  with  the  army  which  goes  to  the  aid 
of  the  city,  giving  them  arms,  as  we  understand  they  were  deprived  of  them 
by  the  enemy,  and  in  case  that  the  said  Villa  has  been  captured,  and  that 
the  enemy  alone,  or  with  the  Spaniards,  Indians  and  families  of  those  tribes, 
has  started  and  marched  in  the  direction  of  their  lands,  he  will  follow  them 
until  he  comes  up  to  them,  and  if  he  cannot  do  so  he  will  retreat  from  the 
part  and  place  which  he  may  deem  best,  without  any  differences  among  the 
officers  and  soldiers  of  the  said  army  and  those  of  the  said  Villa,  in  every- 
thing herein  before  stated  and  hereafter  said  ;  but  they  are  to  attend  any 
Council  of  War  to  which  they  are  called  to  be  consulted,  and  they  cannot 
excuse  themselves  ;  they  are  to  obey  the  said  Juan  Diez  de  Andino  in  what 
he  may  order,  absolutely.  And  in  case  that  by  victory  of  our  arms  or  by 
treaty  or  stipulation  or  by  any  proper  means,  any  Indians  enemies,  Tupis  or 
unfaithful  Indians  taken  by  the  said  Portuguese  enemy,  be  captured,  in  small 
or  large  numbers,  he  will  distribute  them  to  the  soldiers  going  to  the  aid  of 
the  said  city,  so  that  their  services  and  the  great  expense  with  which  they 
have  armed  themselves  and  their  excessive  work,  have  some  remuneration, 
and  in  another  occasion  they  will  be  encouraged  by  the  reward,  doing,  as  they 
have  in  this  instance,  their  duty  and  complying  with  the  obligation  of  blood, 
nobility  and  of  descent  from  the  ancient  settlers  and  conquerors  whose  great 
feats  and  enterprises  of  valor  are  recalled  to  them,  so  that  they,  for  their  part, 
will  try  to  advance  and  distinguish  themselves  in  the  Royal  service  and  defense 
of  our  country  and  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  in  which  we  believe  as  CathoHc 
Christians  ;  in  that  way,  on  the  one  hand,  the  public  and  common  cause  of 
this  province  would  be  defended,  and  the  Crown  of  our  Catholic  Monarch, 
King  and  Lord  and  Our  Holy  Mother  Church,  and  on  the  other,  we  would 
destroy  what  has  been  said  that  the  residents  and  neighbours  of  this  Villa  had 
sold  themselves  without  making  any  resistance  or  stipulations  whatever,  sur- 
rendering and  delivering  their  arms  to  the  enemy  ;  but,  as  this  is  so  grave  and 
difficult  to  believe  in  Spaniards,  we  suspend  judgment,  requestmg  the  said 
Serjeant-Major  Juan  Diez  de  Andino  to  inform  as  to  the  truth  and  to  draw  a 
concise  verbal  process  and  send  it  to  this  Council  so  that  an  account  of  it  be 
given  to  His  Majesty  and  Superior  Audiencia,  and  also  cf  the  distribution  made 
of  the  said  enemies  or  any  other  which  in  the  course  of  their  march  or  by  any 
cause  whatever,  may  be  conquered  or  captured  from  the  gentiles  and  woods- 
men of  the  remote  lands  of  these  provinces,  and  which  may  be  apportioned 
according  to  the  rank,  merits  and  services  of  each  officer  and  soldier,  and 


■^356  ~ 

their  feats  and  acts  ;  we  pledge  the  word  of  His  Majesty  that  this  apportion^ 
ment  will  be  respeted,  for  their  part,  assuring  the  soldiers  and  officers  of  this 
army  of  aid  that  the  distribution  will  be  certain  and  true  with  perpetual  bond- 
age, notwithstanding  any  laws  and  ordinances  to  the  contrary,  because  the 
present  ocassion  requires  it  and  the  said  Tupes  enemies  besides  being  slaves 
of  the  said  Portuguese  are  enemies  of  the  Royal  Crown,  and  accustom  to 
cause  damage  and  war  and  rob  the  vassals  of  this  province,  capturing  and 
carrying  them  away  as  slaves,  under  the  name  of  negroes  of  the  land,  and 
the  unfaithful  woodsmen,  since  they  were  already  in  the  power  of  the  enemy 
they  were  under  the  said  slavery  and  it  is  proper  that  they  should  be  dis- 
tributed to  perpetual  bondage,  provided  they  are  not  held  as  slaves,  nor  can 
they  be  sold,  but  they  are  to  be  perpetuated  in  the  house  of  each  soldier  ;  for 
this,  authority  will  be  given  to  Juan  Diez  de  Andino.  The  said  Aridino  will 
also  appoint  the  Field-Master  of  the  army,  the  Serjeant-Major,  Captains  of 
cavalry  and  infantry.  Lieutenants  of  infantry,  Sub-Lieutenants,  Aids,  Ser- 
jeants, or  other  officers  of  war,  and  he  will  give  them  the  necessary  commis- 
sions, reforming  and  removing  those  which  may  seem  proper  and  putting  oth- 
ers in  their  place  whenever  he  wish,  using  all  the  military  and  political  powers 
which  this  Council  could  and  should  use  with  the  men  of  the  said  army  and  in 
the  said  Villa  and  other  towns  and  places,  and  wherever  he  passes,  stops  or  re- 
sides in  going,  stopping,  or  returning  to  this  city,  taking  notice  of  all  the  military 
and  political  questions  according  to  the  laws  of  the  Kingdom  and  the  ordin- 
ances and  military  prerogatives,  punishing  the  disobedients  according  to  law, 
and  finally  to  do,  order,  and  command  everything  which  he  may  think  best  in 
the  circumstances  before  him,  trying  to  inform,  on  all  occasions,  the  Council 
of  the  success  of  his  journey  and  of  the  state  in  which  it  is  and  what  he  may 
need  so  as  to  give  and  send  him  the  needed  assistance,  for  he  has  for  all 
this  and  what  relates  and  refers  to  it,  and  is  incident  and  dependent  thereto, 
for  every  and  all  things,  power  and  also  the  exercise  his  military  authority  as 
Royal  Justice  whenever  he  please,  for  all  this  we  grant  him  power  and  auth- 
ority as  sufficient  as  required  by  law  for  a  Superintendent,  as  he  is,  in  polit- 
ical and  military  matters,  by  the  decree  of  the  said  Council  of  War,  of  the 
said  army  of  aid  ;  and  in  the  necessary  cases  and  for  more  assurance  we 
ratify  the  power  in  the  name  and  stead  of  the  community  of  all  this  province 
by  giving  our  vote  and  delegating  to  him  the  military  and  political  jurisdic- 
tion which  we  lawfully  exercise  in  this  government  on  account  of  the  reasons 
above  expressed.  And  we  command  the  Field  Master,  Serjeant-Major,  Cap- 
tains and  others  military  officers  to  be  appointed  of  the  said  army  and  all  its 
soldiers,  and  all  the  Indians  and  natives  therein  included,  and  the  Lieutenant 
Field  Master,  Serjeant-Major  and  other  officers  of  the  said  Villa,  Council, 
Justice  and  Board  of  Aldermen,  residents  and  neighbours  and  the  towns  of  its 
district  and  of  any  other  place  or  part,  through  which  the  said  Juan  Diez  de 
Andino  passes,  on  going  or  returning,  or  wherever  he  resides,  to  recognize 
him  as  such  Chief  and  General  Superintendent  of  the  army  on  all  military 
and  political  questions  with  all  the  said  authority  and  power,  and  to  obey, 
fulfil,  respect  and  keep  his  political  and  military  orders   and  decrees  under 


—  357  — 

penalty  that  if  they  do  not,  they  will  be  punished  and  they  will  be  in  bad 
predicament  with  the  Royal  Crown,  and  will  suffer  what  is  ordered  by  the 
laws,  pragmatics  and  ordinances,  as  they  are  considered  by  us  to  be  therein 
included  and  condemned  whenever  their  disobedience  is  proved  ;  and  under 
the  same  penalties  his  privileges  and  inmunities,  honors  and  prerogatives  are 
to  be  respected  with  great  honor  and  consideration,  because  of  his  office  and 
because  he  has  been  our  Governor  and  Captain  General,  considering  him  as 
if  he  were  so  at  present ;  and  let  this  despatch  serve  as  instruction,  as  there 
has  been  no  time  to  give  them  apart,  and  let  this  aid  be  published  by  Ser- 
jeant-Major Alonso  Fernandez  Montiel,  Mayor  of  this  city  in  the  public  square 
of  arms  (plaza  de  armas.) 

Given  in  La  Asumpcion  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  the  month  of  Feb- 
ruary of  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-six,  before  me  and  two  witnes- 
ses in  the  absence  of  a  Notary  and  in  this  common  paper  for  want  of  sealed 
one.^Rodrigo  de  Roxas  Aranda,  Alonso  Montiel,  etc.,  etc., 


In  the  Paso  del  Arroyo  de  Yaguy,  in  the  road  to  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu 
Santo  where  the  army  going  to  its  aid,  encamped,  in  charge  of  Serjeant-Ma- 
jor Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  Ex-Governor  and  Captain  General  of  these  provin- 
ces of  Paraguay  by  appointment  of  His  Majesty  (  whom  God  save  )  on  the  sec- 
ond day  of  March,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-six,  before  me,  Ser- 
jeant-Major Alonso  Fernandez  Montiel,  resident  and  Mayor  of  the  city  of  La 
Asumpcion,  and  before  the  witnesses  of  the  above  writ,  obeying  the  order 
and  commission  given  me,  I  order  the  despatches  and  powers  given  to  the 
said  Governor  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  by  the  Council,  Justices  and  Board  of 
Aldermen  of  the  said  city  of  La  Asumpcion  to  be  read,  notified  and  acknowl- 
edged to  all  the  Spanish  soldiers  and  other  persons  of  the  said  army  for  the 
compliance  of  everything  contained  in  those  despatches  ;  this  was  well  and 
fully  done,  all  the  Spanish  soldiers  and  those  on  half  pay  being  present,  in 
high  and  intelligible  language  as  contained  in  the  preceeding  sheets,  etc. — 
Alonso  Montiel.     As  witnesses  y?^a«  de  Herreray  Abreu,  etc.,  etc. 


1676 


Report  of  Diez  de  Andino  regarding  his  expedition  to  drive  the 
Portuguese  from  the  dominions  of  Spain.     ( * ) 

In  the  village  of  Nuestra  Senora  de  la  Candelaria,  on  the  fourth  day  of 
the  month  of  April  of  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy  six  :  I  the  Ser- 
jeant Major  Don  Juan  Diez  de  Andino,  Governor  and  Captain  General  that 
was  of  this  Province  of  Paraguay,  by  His  Majesty  whom  God  may  guard,  by 
virtue  of  the  charge  and  commission  given  to  me,  ordering  the  relief  of  Villa 
Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  and  its  district,  in  the  pursuit  of  the  enemies,  the 
Portuguese  Mamelukes  and  Tupis  of  the  States  of  Brazil  and  Villa  de  San 
Pablo,  by  the  Council,  Justice  and  Municipality  of  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion, 
the  head  of  this  Province,  by  voice  and  in  the  name  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
her  residents,  I  say,  that  having  been  called  to  a  meeting  and  Council  of  war 
by  the  said  Council  on  the  twenty-first  of  February  of  this  current  year,  and 
the  commission  of  the  said  relief  and  charge  being  decreed,  I  accepted  it  to 
serve  His  Majesty  and  took  leave  of  the  Lordships  of  the  said  Council  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  the  said  month,  asking  for  the  commission  and  all  the  men 
and  sundries  that  were  needed,  starting  to  that  effect  to  the  garrison  of  the 
spot  of  Pirayu  which  had  been  selected  for  the  muster  and  inspection  of  the 
men  and  arms,  and  I  attended  to  the  same,  made  by  the  Serjeant  Major 
Alonso  Fernandez  Montiel,  Common  Justice  of  the  said  city  of  La  Asump- 
cion, and  the  Captain  Don  Gabriel  Riquelme  de  Guzman  and  Antonio  Gon- 
zalez Freire,  Aldermen  and  Deputies  appointed  for  the  purpose,  by  the  said 
Council,  on  the  twenty-sixth,  twenty-seventh  and  twenty-eighth,  until  ori  the 
twenty-ninth,  I  marched  with  the  said   Common  Justice  and  the  mustered 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  National  Archive  of 
Paraguay  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  La  Asumpcion, 
forms  part  of  group  B.,  No.  3  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  360  — 

men  to  the  ranch  of  Sebastian  de  Luces.  And  the  said  Aldermen  returned 
to  the  city  to  drive  the  men  that  were  wanting,  and  on  the  first  of  the  month 
of  March,  I  marched  from  Pirayu  man  de  Yaguy,  twenty  leagues  distant  from 
the  said  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  where  we  met  the  Serjeant  Major  Salvador 
Marecos  and  many  soldiers.  On  the  following  day, the  second,  the  soldiers  that 
arrived  at  the  said  place  of  Yaguy  joined  us,  and  four  hundred  and  fourteen 
Spanish  soldiers  and  the  Indians  that  arrived  delivered  their  commissions  and 
despatches  to  the  Lordships  of  the  said  Council,  through  the  said  Common 
Justice,  some  of  the  mustered  remaining  behind  on  account  of  sickness  and 
with  orders  for  the  Indians  that  were  wanting  to  follow  me,  and  I  appointed 
officers  by  order  of  the  same  day,  forming  companies.  I  marched  from  the 
said  place  of  Yaguaron  towards  the  two  creeks  and  on  the  following  day,  the 
third  of  March,  I  continued  to  the  ranch  called  of  Bogado,  where  I  halted 
and  despatched  the  Lieutenant  General  Fieldmaster,  Don  Francisco  de  Aven- 
dano,  with  some  soldiers  to  the  road  of  Yaguy  and  to  that  of  Tuty  and  Caa- 
zapa,  the  Adjutant  Miguel  Passon  with  other  soldiers  to  hurry  on  the  arrival 
of  the  Indians  that  were  wanting,  and  as  scouts  and  pioneers  Don  Santos  de 
Toledo  and  the  Captain  Francisco  Fernandez  Gante  with  three  Indians  of 
the  lower  Provinces  ;  and  the  said  Indians  having  arrived  in  the  said  place 
of  Bogado  on  the  fourth  day,  in  the  evening,  I  marched  with  the  number  of 
three  hundred  and  fourteen  Spaniards  and  seven  hundred  Indians,  more  or 
less,  on  the  said  day,  the  fifth,  to  Teyupa-guazu,  and  on  the  sixth  to  the  edge 
of  Monte-grande,  and  on  the  seventh  to  the  place  of  luquire,  and  continuing 
on  the  eighth  towards  the  village  of  Guarambare,  I  learned  on  the  way  of  the 
retreat  of  the  enemy,  from  various  persons  who  received  letters  from  the  Li- 
centiate Don  Juan  Mongelos  Garces  who  came  in  the  army  of  the  enemy,  and 
gave  me  an  account  of  the  said  retreat,  and  of  how  the  enemy  took  with  him 
the  families  and  Indians  of  the  tribes  of  the  said  village ;  and  having 
arrived  this  day,  the  eighth,  in  the  said  village  of  Guarambare;  I  left  in  it 
nearly  three  hundred  tired  horses  and  Spaniards  and  Indians  to  guard  it  ; 
and  on  the  following  day,  the  ninth,  I  passed  the  Empalado,  and  on  the 
tenth,  Boycha,  meeting  on  the  road  many  families  that  came  fleeing  on  foot 
and  many  others  that  were  inside  the  woods,  saying  that  the  enemy  was  try- 
ing to  return  to  San  Pedro  de  Terecaiie  to  behead  them  ;  and  after  command- 
ing them  severely  to  follow  me  and  to  return  to  the  said  village,  whenever  I 
met  any,  I  went  along  and  gave  a  verbal  commission  to  Fernando  del  Villar, 
Justice  of  the  Court  of  the  said  village,  and  to  the  Serjeant  Major  Salvador 
Marecos  and  other  persons,  to  hold  those  families  and  turn  them  into  their 
neighborhood,  and  to  spread  this  order,  and  arriving  in  the  said  Boycha  I 
wrote  the  said  Council  about  my  march,  the  retreat  of  the  enemy,  the  state 
of  the  pursuit,  and  other  happenings ;  and  halting  at  eleven  with  my  men, 
the  said  Licentiate  Don  Juan  Mangelos  Garces  came  towards  me  and  told 
me  that  he  was  a  navarre  married  in  San  Pablo,  and  the  object  of  his  start 
from  his  neighborhood  ;  and  learning  from  him  the  particulars  regarding  the 
intentions  of  the  enemy  and  its  forces,  I  resolved  to  take  him  in  my  company 
leaving  in  reserve  in  the  said  village  two  sons  he  has,  two  slaves,   and  two 


—  361  — 

Tupis  Indians  that  were  left  to  him,  as  the  others  which  he  possessed  had  run 
away,  and  especially  two  that  had  followed  him  as  far  as  the  said  village, 
returning  to  join  the  enemy;  and  he  gave  me  extensive  news  of  the  informa- 
tion received  by  the  enemy  on  the  third  of  the  said  month  of  March  in  the 
said  village  of  San  Pedro  de  Terecafie,  of  my  departure  with  the  army  that  I 
conducted  for  the  relief  of  the  said  village  and  villages  of  its  district,  through 
a  mulatto  deserter  called  Rafael,  a  slave  of  Juan  de  Barcelona,  a  neighbor  of 
the  said  city  of  La  Asumpcfon,  who  arrived  with  the  said  information  at  the 
said  village  while  the  Licentiate  Don  Juan  de  Mongelos  was  there,  who  him- 
self saw,  marching  towards  their  canoes  with  great  glee  and  pleasure  on 
Wednesday  the  fourth,  the  Indians  and  captive  famihes  with  some  Tupis  and 
Portuguese  as  guides,  because  the  attachment  and  love  that  the  Indians  had 
for  the  enemy  prompted  their  precaution  and  excess  of  watchfulness,  because 
they  themselves  surrendered  and  were  received  with  flute  music  in  each 
village,  and  others  joined  them  and  followed  them  on  the  road  and  halted  on 
that  day.  The  other  Portuguese  of  their  army  were  in  the  said  village  of  San 
Pedro  de  Terecaiie  to  await  the  Indians  of  Maracayu,  and  some  thirteen 
Portuguese  who  went  to  bring  them  determined  to  go  back  to  their  canoes  at 
a  rapid  gait,  forcing  marches,  the  following  day  Thursday,  out  of  fear  caused 
by  the  information  of  the  said  mulatto,  which  they  did  in  effect.  And  the 
said  Licentiate  Don  Juan  de  Mongelos  took  leave  of  the  said  enemy  on  the 
said  Wednesday,  for  the  said  village  whence  he  wrote  me  the  said  letter,  and 
jointly  they  came  to  the  creek  of  Tandiy  where  I  halted  with  the  Fieldmaster 
Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo,  Lieutenant  of  the  said  village,  the  Ensign  Bartolome  de 
Escobar,  and  Anastasio  Cristaldo,  Common  Justices,  and  the  Fieldmaster 
Manuel  Cristaldo,  Royal  Ensign,  and  the  Captain  Francisco  Fernandez  de 
Mora,  Alderman,  and  gave  me  the  news  of  the  retreat  of  the  enemy  taking 
the  families  and  Indians  of  the  villages  of  San  Pedro  de  Terecane,  San  Fran- 
cisco de  Ybira-pariga,  San  Andres  de  Mbaracayu  and  of  this  one  of  Nuestra 
Seiiora  de  la  Candelaria,  restoring  to  the  neighbors  of  the  said  village  the 
firearms  that  were  taken  from  them,  leaving  the  native  Indians  in  liberty  as 
had  been  agreed  upon  with  the  said  enemy,  and  making  the  charge  to  the 
said  Lieutenant  Justice  and  principals  of  their  having  surrendered  arms  and 
consented  to  the  plunder  of  the  families  and  natives  of  the  said  villages 
whereby  the  former  and  the  latter  have  to  leave  these  frontiers  and  the  rest 
be  abandoned  by  the  residents,  to  the  great  discredit  of  the  Spanish  reputa- 
tion ;  they  answered  that  it  was  because  the  said  enemy  had  taken  possession 
of  the  villages  referred  to,  without  being  felt,  gaining  beforehand  the  good 
will  of  the  families  and  natives  of  the  same,  pretending  at  the  same  time  with 
their  missions  and  courtesies  much  Christianity  and  submission,  assuring 
them  that  they  were  not  enemies,  nor  pretended  to  hurt  them,  and  because 
of  their  wish  to  comply  with  the  capitulations  of  peace  made  in  the  war  of 
Portugal  and  Castile  ;  and  that  protestations  having  been  made  to  them  that 
there  would  be  no  bloodshed  or  movement  of  arms  on  either  side  between 
Christians,  they  reciprocated  with  the  same  protests  and  courtesies  ;  and  also 
because  the  majority  of  the  residents  of  the  said  village  were  in  the  grass 


—  362  — 

lands  occupied  in  the  cultivation  of  the  same,  and  others  were  out  in  their 
haciendas,  as  it  was  seen  by  the  few  people  that  responded  to  the  call  of 
arms,  and  which,  even  had  they  all  been  together  and  lacking  the  principal, 
which  was  powder  and  ammunition  to  repulse  them,  could  have  not  suc- 
ceeded although  they  attempted  it  ;  and  that  these  causes  had  prompted 
them  to  surrender  the  firearms  to  the  enemy  on  account  of  their  promise  to 
restore  them  and  to  leave  in  liberty  the  said  native  Indians  ;  and  that  the 
families  and  residents  of  the  said  village,  annoyed  and  frightened  at  having 
sent  word  to  the  enemy  that  you  would  return  from  San  Pedro  de  Tere-caiie 
to  behead  them  and  take  away  the  natives,  took  to  flight  abandoning  their 
houses  and  farms  ;  the  said  Lieutenant  Justice  and  principals  being  unable  to 
remedy  this,  either  by  pleadings,  protests  or  edicts  which  were  promulgated 
to  quiet  them  and  which  they  did  not  heed,  and  there  being  no  means  of 
stopping  them  and  bringing  them  back  to  the  neighborhood.  Wherewith, 
pointing  to  them  the  gravity  of  the  delinquency  and  the  remedy  demanded 
by  the  case  and,  as  with  the  means  in  my  charge  to  repulse  the  enemy  and 
to  defend  the  said  village,  they  were  safe  and  saw  they  could  notstop  my 
bringing  back  their  families  to  their  neighborhood  and  houses,  I  commanded 
them  to  return  and  restore  them  to  the  said  village.  And  on  the  following 
day,  the  twelfth,  marching  my  men  without  delay  to  the  village  of  San  Fran- 
cisco de  Ibira-pariga,  I  entered  the  said  village  with  some  officers  and  soldiers 
and  published  an  edict  ordering  that  all  the  neighbors  and  dwellers  of  the 
same  should  follow  me,  in  order  that  our  army  should  be  provided  with  people 
famihar  with  the  lands  within  reach,  which  we  were  following,  using  this 
pretext  so  that  with  the  pressure  of  the  penalties  of  the  said  edict  they  could 
not  excuse  themselves  for  again  leaving  the  neighborhood,  and  I  wrote  to  the 
Lordships  of  the  Council  of  the  said  city  of  La  Asumpcion  giving  an  account 
of  all  that  had  been  accomplished  up  to  that  day,  in  the  handwriting  of  the 
Licentiate  Sebastian  de  Vargas  Machuca,  Curate  of  the  village  of  San  Benito 
de  los  Tois  y  Atera,  Chaplain  Vicar  and  Purveyor  of  the  said  our  army,  and 
I  delivered  it  sealed  to  the  said  Lieutenant  Fieldmaster  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo, 
that  he  might  despatch  it  to  the  said  city  of  La  Asumpcion  with  the  two  sons 
of  the  said  Licentiate  Don  Juan  Mongelos  Garces,  his  two  negroes,  and  two 
Tupis  Indians,  in  charge  of  Hernando  Gonzalez,  in  the  presence  of  the  said 
Chaplain  and  of  General  Don  Francisco  de  Ledesma  Valderrama,  the  Field- 
master,  Francisco  de  Avalos  y  Mendoza,  and  other  persons  in  the  Convent 
of  San  Francisco  of  the  said  village,  after  which  I  took  leave  and  left  the 
said  village  of  Ybira-pariga,  whence  on  that  night,  finding  no  residents  in  the 
said  village,  I  wrote  a  paper  to  the  said  Lieutenant  charging  him  with  the 
commission,  recommending  the  importance  of  the  enterprise  and  ordering  that 
he  should  arrange  that  all  the  ruas  of  the  said  village  that  could,  should 
follow  me,  and  on  the  following  day,  the  thirteenth,  the  Fieldmaster  Alonso 
de  Villalba  and  ten  residents  of  the  said  village  arrived  at  the  said  village  of 
Ybira-pariga,  and  I  marched  with  them  and  my  men  to  the  village  of  San 
Pedro  de  Tere-cafie,  where  we  took  rest  leaving  most  of  our  clothing,  pro- 
visions and  supplies  and  more  than  three  hundred  tired  horses  and  three 


—  363  — 

hundred  head  of  cattle,  remaining  in  care  with  some  soldiers  and  Indians,  the 
Captain  Don  Luis  de  Cespedes,  and  arriving  at  the  said  village,  a  Tupi  Indian, 
called  Ignacio,  he  gave  an  account  how  he  escaped  from  the  army  of  the  enemy 
from  the  river  Ygatimi,  and  that  they  were  marching  at  a  quick  gait,  day  and 
night,  forcing  marches,  and  that  on  the  way  he  met  the  two  negro  slaves  that 
were  kept  in  the  said  village  for  the  said  Don  Juan  Mongelos.  Then  upon  the  fo- 
llowing day,  the  fourteenth, we  marched  to  the  creek  of  Itarra,  where  we  found 
two  dead  bodies;  and  on  the  fifteenth  we  passed  Aua  Siririca,  and  thence  I  des- 
patched the  Lieutenant  Gabriel  Delgado  de  Irala  with  twenty  soldiers  and  six 
Indians  as  scouts  up  the  river  Igatimi;  and  on  the  sixteenth  we  journeyed  to 
the  other  shore  of  the  first  tributary  of  the  river  Igatimi, where  we  found  a  Tupi 
Indian  called  Sebastian,  who  gave  us  the  news  that  the  enemy  had  left  the  said 
spot  five  days  before;  and  on  the  seventeenth  I  marched  to  the  second  trib- 
utary of  the  said  river  Igatimi;  and  on  the  eighteenth  I  passed  the  third  trib- 
utary and  encamped  on  the  other  margin  of  the  fourth  tributary  of  the  said 
river,  whence,  on  the  same  day,  I  sent  as  scouts  Juan  de  Areco  and  Juan  de 
Ojeda  and  five  Indians ;  and  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  the  Lord  St.  Joseph, 
at  dawn,  I  received  advice  from  the  said  Juan  de  Areco  that  the  enemy  had 
encamped  that  night  about  two  leagues  and  a  half  distant  from  our  camp. 
With  this  we  hurried  on,  and  as  there  were  a  great  many  pools,  which  took 
a  great  deal  of  our  time  to  cross,  and  having  had  many  false  alarms  from  the 
scouts,  who  said  here  is  the  enemy,  and  there,  obliging  us  to  halt  several 
times  and  get  in  order  to  attack  wherever  we  might  reach  them,  we  marched 
seven  leagues,  until  at  a  distance  of  half  a  league,  we  saw  their  smokes  and 
camp  between  three  and  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  more  or  less,  and 
pressing  the  march  a  great  deal  more,  on  passing  a  creek  we  saw  three  Tupis, 
and  as  they  intended  to  run  away  we  caught  them,  and  when  questioned 
they  answered,  showing  the  smokes  and  the  camp  of  the  enemy:  «  There  are 
the  Portuguese  waiting  for  you,  they  are  a  great  many  and  valerous.  »  And 
they  told  that  the  Indians  of  Ybiraparigra,  Mbaracayu,  and  a  greater  part 
from  this  village  of  La  Candelaria,  were  in  their  canoes  at  the  Port  of  Amam- 
bay,  and  that  there  were  only  people  of  the  village  of  San  Pedro  de  Tere- 
cane  and  a  part  from  this  of  La  Candelaria  in  the  camp  of  the  enemy. 
Wherefore  I  consulted  and  counseled  with  my  soldiers  and  officers,  and  thus 
having  had  no  success  in  overtaking  them,  marching  or  encamped,  as  it 
was  late  and  the  enemy  had  gained  the  mountain  and  an  eminent  spot  which 
leads  to  their  canoes,  and  my  people  were  exhausted  and  tired  of  having 
been  in  pursuit,  with  long  journeys  beginning  at  the  ranch  de  Bogado,  where 
marching  was  begun  on  the  fifth  of  March  until  the  nineteenth,  and  they  went 
nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  leagues  in  fifteen  days,  beating  through  rough 
mountains  and  wading  creeks  and  pools  of  unknown  countries  by  means  of 
fascines,  and  extended  waters  and  abundant  rivers,  opening  the  passes  which 
the  enemy  left  closed  in  all  the  woods  and  places  that  offered  a  chance,  and 
lastly,  owing  to  our  being  in  a  very  low  land  with  a  marshy  river  running 
through  it,  which  served  as  pit  for  the  enemy,  which  reasons  demanded  at- 
tention; and  on  the  other  hand,  the  evidence  presented  by  the  enemy  having 


—  364  — 

discovered  us,  they  might  leave  that  night  for  their  canoes  without  our  being 
able  to  give  them  battle,  for  if  they  got  to  their  canoes  that  night  it  would 
not*  be  possible  to  take  them  on  the  following  day,  as  they  had  the  said  woods 
to  cover  them  without  showing  the  locaHty.  The  difficulty  and  extension  of 
the  said  mountain,  full  of  marshes  and  other  difficulties  which  they  held,  and 
especially  in  view  of  the  knowledge  they  had  of  the  passes,  without  any  dan- 
ger for  them  and  evident  risk  for  us,  in  such  a  manner  that  they  could  pro- 
tect the  captive  families  and  the  rest  of  their  men  meeting  us  from  ambush 
with  very  few  soldiers,  and  also  having  a  deep  and  marshy  creek  at  the  edge 
of  the  woods  near  the  port  of  their  canoes,  the  wading  of  which  was  not  pos- 
sible to  accomplish  without  much  loss  of  men  and  a  great  deal  of  time  and 
difficulty,  in  which  interval  the  enemy  had  ample  time  to  embark  and  navi- 
gate down  the  river  and  into  the  Parana  before  we  could  have  found  the  said 
pass  and  egressed  from  the  woods,  as  was  told  by  the  said  Tupi  Indians  and 
the  report  of  the  said  Don  Juan  Mongelos  Garces,  whose  faithfulness  had 
been  tested  by  the  truth  of  the  facts  up  to  date;  and  in  view  of  this  it  was 
resolved  to  give  battle  at  once  so  as  not  to  be  idle,  judging  it  infallible  that 
if  the  battle  was  given  the  families  and  Indians  of  the  village  of  Tere-cafie 
and  a  portion  of  this  of  La  Candelaria,  which  were  in  the  camp  of  the  ene- 
my, would  come  over  to  us,  and  with  this  understanding  we  put  the  men  in 
order  and  passed  the  said  river  and  pool,  falling  one  over  another,  and 
marching  up-hill  with  our  cavalry  and  infantry -we  attacked  him  with  all  gal- 
lantry and  firmness.  The  enemy  received  us  with  their  arquebuses  with 
great  valor,  and  as  I  went  to  the  relief  of  the  left  flank  in  my  command, 
where  the  men  were  in  a  whirl,  my  horse  was  killed  by  a  shot,  throwing  me 
down  with  the  said  horse;  another  I  received  on  the  shoulder,  but  did  not 
wound  me  owing  to  the  protection  of  my  armor.  And  although  we  took 
their  camp  and  barracks  when  the  enemy  fled  to  the  mountains,  as  in  the 
fall  of  my  horse  and  my  accident,  the  Indians  and  some  soldiers  were  busy 
in  pillaging  clothing,  tools,  chains  and  iron  collars,  and  some  powder  and 
bullets.  The  enemy  sought  shelter  on  the  stumps  and  trees  of  the  said 
mountain  and  attacked  us  strongly,  killing  us,  some  Spaniards  and  many  In- 
dians, in  which  we  persevered  until  we  knew  our  losses,  when  we  withdrew 
two  hundred  paces  in  order  that  the  enemy  might  come  out  of  the  woods,  as 
in  effect  they  came  out  to  their  camp  to  attack  us,  and  when  we  charged, 
they  again  gained  the  woods  and  w^e  took  their  post  for  the  second  time,  and 
they,  behind  the  stumps,  assailed  us  as  before;  and  in  this  state  night  came 
upon  us,  and  we  improved  our  encampment  on  this  border  of  the  river  and 
pool,  taking  from  the  enemy  forty  souls  of  this  village  of  La  Candelaria  and 
taking  prisoners  eleven  Tupis,  besides  the  other  three  we  caught  the  same 
afternoon  in  the  creek  referred  to.  And  that  night,  at  about  ten,  more  or 
less,  the  enemy  began  to  fire  upon  us  several  times  from  their  encampment  in 
the  mountain  without  inflicting  any  damage,  and  the  wounded  were  attended 
to  by  the  said  Don  Juan  de  Mongelos  Garces,  of  which  afterwards  three  In- 
dians died  from  chills.  And  on  the  twentieth  day,  at  dawn,  improved  in 
position,  the  wounded  and  the  horses  taken  care  of,  we  brought  back  to  our 


—  365  — 

camp  those  that  had  dispersed  on  the  occasion  of  the  battle,  to  continue  the 
march  to  the  port  of  the  canoes  and  see  whether  we  could  cross  their  path 
somewhere.  The  Fieldmaster,  Francisco  Avalos  y  Mendoza,  who  was  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river  with  some  soldiers,  discovered  the  enemy  leaving 
the  mountain  in  full  speed  after  him  and  his  soldiers;  we  signaled  with  a 
handkerchief,  returning  to  our  camp  in  full  career  of  our  horses,  took  weap- 
ons and  formed  line  of  battle,  and  discovered  a  greater  number  of  enemies 
than  the  preceding  day,  who,  coming  down  the  said  river  with  great  noise 
and  war  whoops,  charged  upon  us  forthwith  at  noon,  more  or  less;  with  the 
river  between  us  we  received  them  with  many  others,  and  repulsed  them, 
and  they,  taking  possession  of  the  woods,  did  not  stop  firing,  coming  out  at 
times  with  great  speed  and  running  close  to  the  river  to  fire  upon  us,  whence 
we  put  them  to  flight  several  times  in  the  continuous  battle  that  lasted  all  the 
afternoon,  in  which,  whenever  they  came  near,  we  wounded  and  killed  many 
men  without  having  on  our  side  more  than  one  wounded,  and  although  beat- 
ing up  and  down  the  river,  and  by  means  of  the  passes  effected  with  fascines 
and  sticks,  we  attempted  marching  to  the  other  side  of  the  river  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  battle,  we  found  it  would  not  do,  as  the  enemy,  under  cover 
of  the  mountain,  only  pretended  to  deceive  us  to  destroy  us  without  risk  and 
without  themselves  receiving  any  injury,  because,  besides  the  river  being 
within  musket  shot  of  the  said  woods,  on  the  other  side  we  always  remained 
uncovered  in  low  lands,  without  any  protection  and  with  danger  of  retreat 
behind  us,  and  in  front  of  us  the  enemy  covered  by  the  stumps  and  trees 
whence  the  day  before  they  had  inflicted  so  much  damage  upon  our  people; 
thus  with  the  coming  of  night  the  battle  ceased,  and  we  were  not  sorry  then, 
nor  on  the  following  day,  the  twenty-first,  when,  although  we  were  in  want  of 
powder  and  ammunition  to  the  extent  that  had  we  not  retrieved  from  one 
and  the  other  during  the  plunder  of  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  it  might  be  pos- 
sible that  we  would  be  short  of  them  at  any  moment;  we  waited  that  day  to 
see  if  the  captive  Indians,  and  especially  those  that  took  part  in  the  said  bat- 
tles, would  come  out  to  seek  us,  which,  if  they  had  wanted,  they  could  have 
done  then  and  at  the  same  time  of  the  encounter,  as  was  done  by  the  forty 
souls  which  came  over  from  the  camp  of  the  enemy  on  the  nineteenth,  but  as 
they  had  their  own  will  in  following  the  enffmy,  they  did  not  come,  where- 
fore on  the  arrival  of  forty  neighbors  from  the  said  village  with  the  Field- 
master  Juan  de  Leiva  on  the  twenty-second,  we  called  a  Council  of  War  in 
the  barrack  of  the  wounded,  and  it  was  accorded  that  it  was  not  advantage- 
ous to  continue  marching  to  the  canoes  of  the  enemy.  In  view  of  all  the 
causes  referred  to,  it  being  evident  that  there  was  risk  in  the  pursuit,  and 
danger  of  losing  our  reputation  and  men  fruitlessly,  as  the  enemy  had  reached 
their  canoes  and  the  farms  they  possess  on  the  other  border  of  the  river 
Amambay,  the  navigation  of  which  was  sure  and  quick  downstream  into  the 
Parana  and  principal  port  of  the  camp  of  their  retreat  and  the  farms  they 
have  on  the  other  side  of  the  said  Parana  and  the  lands  adjoining  those  of 
Brazil,  about  which  the  said  Don  Juan  Mongelos  Garces  and  the  said  sixteen 
Tupis  were  in  accord,  it  being,  too,  held  for  certain  in   the  said   Council  of 


—  366  — 

War  that  such  was  the  custom  of  the  enemy  and  the  knowledge  and  judg- 
ment of  the  oldest  soldiers,  we  being  short  of  canoes,  cattle,  horses,  powder 
and  provisions,  and  having  lost  the  hope  that  the  families  that  so  willingly 
went  to  Brazil  with  the  enemy  would  come  over  to  us  in  spite  of  our  best  en- 
deavors to  return  them  to  our  lands  and  their  surroundings  and  villages,  we 
resolved  to  retreat,  taking  with  our  army  the  fourteen  Tupis  prisoners  and 
the  other  two,  Ignacio  and  Sebastian,  and  the  forty'people  of  the  families  of 
this  village  of  La»  Candelaria,  in  which  retreat  we  suffered  great  calamities 
from  marching  on  foot,  most  of  the  men  and  horses  exhausted,  and  with  ter- 
rible hunger  as  far  as  the  said  village  of  Tere-cafie,  where  we  provided  our- 
selves from  the  cattle  that  we  left  in  order  to  facilitate  the  said  pursuit,  and 
we  went  in  a  straight  line  to  this  village,  as  the  said  village  was  abandoned, 
for  we  learned  that  its  families  had  left  for  La  Asumpcion  and  the  abandoned 
villages  of  Ipane  and  Guarambare,  and  the  forty  soldiers  of  the  said  village 
went  from  Tere-cane  and  Iribira-Pariaga,  and  on  the  road  went  to  collect 
their  people,  women  aud  children;  and  those  of  our  army  of  La  Asumpcion 
kept  on  marching,  and  I  remained  in  the  rear  to  continue  without  delay,  as 
there  was  no  human  power  to  provide  us  with  supplies  at  so  great  a  distance 
of  eighty  leagues  from  the  said  city  of  La  Asumpcion;  wherefore  I  am  una- 
ble to  participate  in  any  of  those  judicial  acts,  the  said  Council  is  preparing 
in  regard  to  the  surrender  of  firearms  to  the  enemy  and  the  plunder  of  the 
said  villages  and  their  families;  and  towards  establishing  the  ground  on 
which  the  said  Don  Juan  Mongelos  Garces  passed  to  this  province,  and  the 
strength,  men  and  designs  shown  by  the  said  enemy,  I  command  that  he  be 
examined  at  the  foot  of  this  writ,  attaching  to  the  said  commission  the  mus- 
ter and  inspection  and  the  delivery  that  was  made  to  me  of  the  men  of  said 
army,  with  a  letter  of  the  said  Don  Juan  Mongelos  Garces  and  the  edict  I 
published  in  the  said  village;  and  dating  the  same,  to  report  with  authentic 
copies  of  all  to  His  Majesty,  whom  God  may  guard,  and  his  Courts;  and  thus 
I  provided  and  signed  before  me,  with  two  witnesses,  for  want  of  Notary,  on 
this  common  paper,  there  being  none  with  the  seal. — Juan  Diez  de  Andino. 
Witnesses — Jumi  Mexias,  Francisco  de  Abalos  y  Mendoza. 


1704-  1734 


Documents  concernig-  the  invasion  of  the  Spanish  territory  by 
the  Portuguese    (*) 

In  the  City  of  La  Asumpcion  del  Paraguay,  on  the  20th  day  of  Septem- 
ber of  the  year  1704,  the  Sarjeant  Major,  at  present  of  this  province,  Pedro 
Caballero  Villasanti,  feudatory  resident  and  Mayor,  who  has  charge  of  the 
political  and  military  Government  of  it,  on  account  of  the  absence,  in  cam- 
paing  of  the  Lieutenant  General,  approved  the  preceding  decree,  and  in  order 
to  proceed  to  the  investigation  desired,  Captains  Bernardino  Isfran  and  Lieu- 
tenant Fernando  Rolon,  were  named  interpreters,  who  accepted  and  who 
each  one  received  the  oath  in  the  name  of  God,  Our  Lord,  and  a  sign  of  the 
Cross  which  both  made,  according  to  the  form  of  law,  and  they  promised  to 
faithfully  and  legally  and  to  their  best  knowledge  fulfil  it,  after  which  I  called 
before  me  an  Indian  name  Joseph  who  lives  with  the  unfaithful  Indians  of 
Payaguas,  who,  now,  of  his  own  and  expontaneous  will  has  abandoned  them 
and  retired  to  the  Sacred  Convent  of  Saint  Francis,  as  he  says  he  is  a  Chris- 
tian, and  that  he  wants  to  return  to  the  Christian  fold,  after  having  been 
examined  as  to  the  doctrines  and  the  importance  of  the  oath,  in  the  Guarani 
language,  in  which  he  is  proficient,  by  the  said  interpreters  and  being  found 
incapable,  and  for  that  reason  no  oath  being  given  him,  he  was  asked  by  the 
said  interpreters,  at  what  age  the  said  unbelievers  had  captured  him,  and  of 
what  tribe  or  city  he  was;  who  weie  his  owners,  their  names  and  if  there  were 
priests  or  Churches  where  he  came  from :  and  he  answers  that  when  he  was 
captured  he  was  hardly  able  to  reason,  that  he  is  from  the  city  of  San  Pablo 


^*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  documents  existing  in  the  National  Archive  of 
Paraguay  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul,  at  La  Asumpcion, 
form  part  of  group  B,  No.  4  of  manuscripts  documents  of  the   "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  368  — 

of  the  Kingdom  of  Portugal.  He  was  asked  where  they  captured  him,  if 
within  the  city  itself;  he  answered  that  they  captured  him  while  going  to  the 
gold  mines,  in  this  upper  part  of  the  river,  and  that  his  owners  escaped,  and 
all  but  two  companions,  also  Tupis  Indians,  the  same  as  the  deponent,  who 
were  also  captured  with  him.  He  was  asked  if  he  had  lived  with  the  Paya- 
guas  Indians  who  inhabit  these  places  near  the  city  C)f  the  Sarigues  who  live 
up  the  river  and  what  motives  he  had  for  coming  now  to  this  Christian  set- 
tlement; and  he  answered  that  he  has  always  lived,  since  he  was  captured 
with  the  Sarigues  Indians,  and  that  for  fear  of  the  Indians  he  did  not  come 
before,  and  now  becomes  because  the  said  Indians  are  now  defeated  and 
pushed  by  the  Portuguese  of  San  Paulo,  and  their  families  have  been  taken 
from  them,  and  he  has  had  the  opportunity  of  coming:  he  was  asked  if  the 
said  Portuguese  had  come  as  an  army  in  the  said  advance,  if  by  river  or  by 
land,  if  the  number  is  large;  if  the  event  occurred  in  this  jurisdiction  of  Pa- 
raguay, if  near  or  far  from  this  city.  And  he  answered  that  they  came  by  the 
river  in  a  large  number  of  canoes  and  vessels,  with  artillery,  and  that  one 
morning  they  suddenly  made  the  atack;  and  that  going  from  this  city  in  a 
light  canoe,  the  place  where  the  event  occurred  is  reached  in  nine  days;  that 
he  does  not  know  whether  it  is  in  this  jurisdiction  or  not.  He  was  asked 
whether  he  knew  or  had  informed  himself  if  the  said  Portuguese  continue 
their  march  to  this  city  or  if  they  intend  to  come,  and  he  answers  that  he 
does  not  know,  but  that  it  will  be  known  soon,  because  the  Payaguas  In- 
dians of  this  territory  have  put  on  spies  to  see  if  they  are  coming,  that  up  to 
the  present  they  are  not  coming;  and  that  the  deponent  in  the  engagement 
which  occur  in  the  attack,  escaped,  flying  with  others,  and  for  that  reason 
could  not  know  the  future  intention  of  the  said  Portuguese.  He  was  asked 
if  the  gold  mines  where  the  Portuguese  work  are  up  the  river,  if  they  are  far 
or  if  they  are  in  this  land  of  Paraguay,  Crown  of  the  King  of  Spain.  And  he 
answers  that  going  from  here,  in  a  light  canoe,  they  are  reached  in  two  months, 
and  that  he  knows  nothing  else.  He  was  asked  if  the  Payaguas  have  given 
the  Portuguese  cause  to  come  now  to  persue  and  attack  them;  and  he  an- 
swers that  because  the  said  Portuguese  who  work  the  mines  pass  through  the 
territory  of  the  Indians,  the  latter  captured  and  kill  them;  and  the  Portu- 
guese in  revenge  of  these  deaths,  without  doubt,  have  come  against  the  In- 
dians and  that  what  he  has  said  and  declared  and  explained  is  the  truth.  And 
after  this  declaration  was  again  read  and  explained  to  him  by  the  interpreter, 
in  the  Guarani  language,  he  said  that  it  was  as  he  had  declared  it ;  and  he 
affirmed  and  ratified  it;  he  seems  by  his  appearance  to  be  twenty-four  years 
old,  and  I  signed  it  with  the  said  interpreters  and  \vitnesses,  and  in  this  pa- 
per, because  there  is  no  sealed  one. — Caballero  Vil/dsanti. — Hernandez  Ro- 
lon. — Bernardino  Is/ran. — Witnesses.-  Juan  Mendes. — Luis  de  Vertis. 


Second  interrogatory. — In  the  City  of  La  Asumpcion  on  the  21st  day  of 
the  month  of  September  of  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  ;  I  ordered    Felipe   Soza  de  Celar,  a  native  of  the  city  of   San  Paulo  of 


—  369  —  • 

the  Kingdom  of  Portugal,  resident  in  this  city  to  appear  before  me;  after  hav- 
ing been  duly  sworn  in  the  name  of  God  Our  Lord,  and  a  sign  of  the  Cross, 
according  to  law,  he  projnised  to  say  the  truth  of  what  he  knows,  and  what 
he  be  asked;  the  following  was  the  order  of  proceeding: 

He  was  asked  whether  he  knew  or  had  any  information  of  arms  being 
collected  by  Paulist  country-men  with  the  object  of  passing  to  this  province 
of  Paraguay  or  its  district,  by  land  or  by  river  or  by  the  North. 

And  he  answered  that  he  knew  for  certain  that  this  determination  of 
arming  and  invading  was  to  be  put  in  practice  by  order  of  their  King,  for 
the  punishment  of  the  unfaithful  Payaguas  Indians,  on  account  of  the  insults 
which  those  coming  from  the  mines  suffer  from  them;  the  Indians  are  to  be 
pursuing  through  the  rivers  until  their  expulsion  or  retirement  and,  that  since 
they  will  be  very  near  to  this  city,  he  supposes  they  will  arrive  to  it.  And  that 
he  knows  nothing  else,  but  that  the  said  arming  and  invasion  is  for  the  pu- 
nisment  of  the  Payaguas  and  also  for  the  Indians  of  the  land  which  they  call 
Guaicurus;  because  the  said  Payaguas  have  repeatedly  attacked,  treacher- 
ously, the  said  Portuguese  and  their  families,  killing  and  taking  away  from 
them  the  negro  slaves  and  gold  which  they  had  mined,  as  well  as  arms,  jewels 
and  other  things;  capturing  white  men  and  women.  He  was  asked  whether 
he  knew  or  had  any  information  as  to  any  fleet  that  was  coming  by  the  river 
Paraguay,  in  the  district  and  jurisdiction  of  the  King  of  Castile,  and  he  an- 
swered yes,  that  he  knows  it  because  it  was  said  so  by  the  Payaguas  Indians 
who  have  changed  their  tepees  near  this  city  and  haved  moved  down  the 
river  because  the  said  Portuguese  were  fighting  in  large  number  the  Indians 
who  were  up  the  river.  He  was  asked  about  what  is  the  distance  to  the  gold 
mines  where  his  countrymen  work  and  how  and  in /what  manner  did  the  de- 
ponent come  to  this  city,  and  he  answers  that  as  he  never  arrived  to  the  said 
mines  he  cannot  say  at  what  distance  they  are,  because  coming  from  his 
country  with  a  small  number  of  men  which  followed  another  large  body  going 
ahead,  after  they  entered  the  upper  part  of  this  river,  while  navigating  and 
going  to  other  rivers  which  lead  to  the  said  mines,  they  were  attacked  by  the 
said  Payaguas,  some  killed  and  the  others  captured  and  brought  to  their  te- 
pees, in  their  canoes,  and  this  took  twenty  days  and  nights,  and  at  the  end 
of  a  month  and  some  days  they  were  brought  by  the  said  Payaguas  to  this 
city  in  (;;anoes,  in  this  navigation  they  were  nine  days  until  they  arrived  here 
and  were  ransomed,  and  that  this  is  the  truth  of  what  he  knows  as  he  has 
sworn  to.  This  was  read  to  him  and  he  said  it  was  well  written  and  as  he 
had  declared  it,  and  he  affirmed  it  and  ratified  it;  he  declares  that  he  is  about 
nineteen  years  of  age,  he  signed  it  with  me  and  the  witnesses. — Pedro  Caba- 
llero  de  Villasanti. — Felipe  Soza  Celar. — Luis  de  Vertis. 


Third  interrogatory. — I,  immediately  order  Juan  Cuello  de  Fonseca,  re- 
sident of  this  city  to  appear  before  me ;  he  took  the  oath  in  the  name  of  God 
Our  Lord,  and  with  the  sign  of  the  Cross,  according  to  law,  and  he  promised 
to  tell  the  truth  of  what  he  knows  and  would  be  asked;  and  then  the  proce- 


—  37°  — 

edings  were  as  follows :  He  was  asked  from  where  he  was,  and  he  answered 
that  he  is  a  resident  of  the  city  of  San  Paulo,  of  the  Kingdom  of  Portugal. 
Being  asked  by  where,  when  and  how  he  came  to  this  city,  he  answered  that 
it  is  six  years  since  he  was  in  the  gold  mine,  where  some  military  expedition 
was  inaugurated  and  they  started  for  Maranon,  and  on  their  return,  being  very 
near  the  said  mines  they  were  captured  by  the  unfaithful  barbarians  Paya- 
guas,  in  the  river  called  Cuyaba,  which  is  the  one  of  the  mines :  and  they 
were  taken  to  their  tepees,  and  that  it  is  about  six  months  since  they  have 
been  in  the  said  tepees,  and  two  months  since  they  are  in  this  city,  where 
they  were  brought  by  the  said  Payaguas.  He  was  asked  whether  he  knew 
or  had  any  information  that  in  the  said  city  of  San  Paulo,  or  in  the  gold  mi- 
nes, an  invasion  of  armed  men  was  planned,  by  land  or  river,  and  for  what 
purpose  and  destination.  And  he  answered  that  he  knows,  by  the  newstras- 
mitted  to  the  Governor  of  San  Paulo,  and  by  the  said  Governor  to  his  King, 
of  the  death  and  hostilities  caused  by  said  Payaguas  Indians,  among  the 
workingmen  of  the  gold  mines,  while  the  metal  was  transported  and  sent 
away;  and  that  they  determined  to  send  bodies  of  armed  men  or  fleets,  to 
pursue,  punish  and  destroy  them.  He  was  asked  if  hh  knows  or  has  any  in- 
formation as  to  whether  the  invasion  will  be  by  river  or  by  land,  and  the  ob- 
ject of  the  fleet  passing  the  limits  of  this  province  of  Paraguay;  he  answered 
that  by  the  movements  of  the  Payaguas,  of  the  tepees  nearest  to  this  city, 
and  by  what  was  said  by  an  Indian  called  Joseph  (whose  name  was  Aromi)  in 
the  city  of  San  Paulo,  who  was  captured  by  the  Payaguas  and  who  came  to 
this  city  in  these  days,  he  knows  with  what  object  the  said  armed  Portu- 
guese are  up  this  river  Paraguay,  they  have  attacked  the  Payaguas  of  up  the 
river,  and  according  to  the  stories  told  by  the  said  Indian  Joseph  in  the  con- 
versation he  had  with  Ignacio  Cardozo,  a  country-man  of  the  deponent,  who 
told  it  to  him,  and  the  conversation  which  the  deponent  had  with  another 
Payagua  Indian  called  Guatimini,  to-day  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
corroborating  the  harm  that  the  said  bodies  of  armed  men  had  done  to  the 
said  Payaguas;  and  that  the  intention  which  they  also  had  of  pursuing  the 
Indians  Abaras  and  Guaicuriis  and  for  some  to  come  to  this  city  and  pro- 
vince in  search  of  food  and  provissions,  and  the  prisoners;  and  that  this  is 
the  truth  ot  what  he  knows,  which  he  says,  by  the  oath  taken ;  and  being 
asked  at  what  distance  is  the  city  from  the  gold  mines, he  answered  that  from 
the  place  where  they  were  attacked  by  the  Payaguas,  up  the  river,  in  canoes, 
to  arrive  to  the  tepees  of  the  Payaguas,  down  the  river,  and  from  the  said 
tepees  to  this  city,  eight  days,  from  which  the  distance  they  had  navigated, 
down  the  river  in  canoe,  from  the  said  place  of  attack,  could  be  calculated, 
although  there  is  some  distance  yet,  from  it,  to  arrive  to  the  said  mines,  and 
going  up  the  river  in  a  canoe  in  about  sixteen  days  the  said  mines  are  reached 
on  account  of  the  many  turns  of  the  Cuyaba  river;  all  this  he  affirms  and  ra- 
tifies; and  that  he  is  about  twenty  five  years  old,  and  he  signed  it  with  me 
and  witnesses  in  the  absence  of  a  Notary  and  in  this  paper  because  there  ,is 
no  sealed  one. — Pedro  Caballero  Villasanti. — JuanCoello  de  Fonseca. — Wit- 
ness.— Miguel  Barrios. 


—  2>7^  — 

Fourth  interrogatory. — In  the  City  of  La  Asumpcion,  on  the  twenty-third 
day  of  the  said  month  and  year,  I,  the  said  Major,  for  this  information,  or- 
dered Antonio  Pintos,  a  resident,  to  appear  before  me  and  after  taking  the 
oath  in  the  name  of  God,  Our  Lord,  and  a  sign  of  the  Cross,  according  to 
law,  he  promised  to  tell  the  truth  of  what  he  knows  and  of  what  he  be  asked.- 
He  was  asked  of  what  place  of  the  Kingdom  of  Portugal  he  was  a  native,  and 
how  and  in  what  manner  did  he  passed  to  this  province  of  Paraguay.  And 
he  answered  that  he  was  born  in  the  city  of  Lisbon,  capital  of  the  said 
Kingdom,  and  that  he  went  for  business  to  the  city  of  San  Paulo,  where  he 
was  incorporated  in  the  number  of  a  party  of  people  who  went  to  the  gold 
mines  discovered,  which  were  worked  by  his  countrymen,  to  go  and  punish 
the  unfaithful  Payaguas  Indians  and  other  barbarian  nations  who  invaded 
the  said  workingmeo;  and  that  while  going  to  the  said  mines,  being  already 
in  the  river  called  Cuyaba,  which  has  its  source  at  the  mines,  and 
flows  to  this  river  Paraguay,  they  were  attacked  and  captured  by  the 
said  Payaguas,  and  twelve  canoes  of  Portuguese  taken,  some  being 
killed,  and  others  were  taken  to  their  tepees;  the  navigation  lasted  from  six 
to  seven  days,  from  the  said  place  of  the  attack  to  the  said  tepees ;  here  they 
were  kept  four  months  and  some  days ;  from  there  they  were  brought  to  this 
city  where  they  arrived  after  nine  days  of  navigation.  He  was  asked  whe- 
ther he  knew  or  had  any  information  that  on  account  of  these  raids  of  the 
Payaguas,  an  invasion  was  attempted,  by  land  or  by  the  river,  to  pursue  them 
in  that  part,  and  whether  he  knows  if  the  said  pursuit  is  being  carried  on  al- 
ready by  armed  people  or  by  a  body  of  soldiers,  on  this  side  of  the  Paraguay 
river;  and  he  answered:  that  he  knows  of  the  said  army  being  collected  for 
the  said  end;  and  by  the  Payaguas  who  had  become  restless  and  disturbed 
by  the  news  which  they  say  they  have  obtained  from  their  spies  who  inform 
that  the  Portuguese  fleet  follows  and  pursues  them  in  this  river  Paraguay ;  all 
which  is  true  as  he  swears  and  affirms  and  ratifies  it;  and  he  signed  it  with 
me  and  witnesses  in  this  paper  because  there  is  no  sealed  one. — Pedro  Caba- 
llero  Villasanti.  —  Antonio  Pintos. — Witnesses:  Miguel  de  Barrios. — Juan 
Ortiz. 


Note. — In  the  City  of  La  Asumpcion  of  Paraguay,  on  the  twentieth  day 
of  the  month  of  September  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty  four. 
I,  the  present  Serjeant  Major  of  this  province,  Pedro  Caballero  Villasanti, 
feudal  resident  and  Mayor  of  it  for  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save)  having  charge 
of  the  military  and  political  jurisdiction,  in  the  absence,  at  a  great  distance 
of  the  Lieutenant  General  and  Field  Marshall.  After  considering  the  official 
information  received,  from  which  it  appears  that  in  the  district  of  this  pro- 
vince and  its  principal  river  of  its  commerce  called  the  Paraguay,  bodies  of 
Paulist  Portuguese  have  entered,  who  are  foreigners,  to  the  Royal  Crown ; 
and  since  the  said  entry,  for  whatever  time,  is,  according  to  the  orders  and 
decrees  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save)  given  to  his  Governors,  Captains, 
and  Generals  of  this  province  not  permitted  in  the  Dominions  or  places  belong- 


—  372  — 

ing  to  this  Royal  Crown  and  it  is  ordered  that  they  shall  be  expelled  there- 
from ;  and  from  everything  resulting  from  the  above  writ,  and  since  it  is  one 
of  the  gravest  cases  which  have  at  present  occurred ;  I  command,  that  this 
notice  be  sent  by  letter  to  the  Lieutenant  General  of  this  province  so  that 
with  all  brevity,  your  Excellency  come  to  this  city,  and  the  most  proper  mea- 
sures be  taken  which  will  be  convenient  to  the  Royal  servdce  and  for  the  de- 
fense of  the  province  and  Royal  Flag  which  its  vassals  have  upheld  at  their 
expense;  and  until  your  Excellency  arrive  to  this  city,  and  in  the  absence 
of  the  Field  Marshal,  I  send  orders  to  the  two  coasts  and  fortified  places  of 
these  frontiers  and  principal  military  officers,  advising  them  of  these  news,  so 
that  they  will  be  vigilant,  until  a  second  order  if  necessary,  or  for  any  one 
to  be  given  by  the  said  Lieutenant  General;  especially  the  Castle  of  San 
Agustin  de  Arequitacua,  and  its  garrison,  as  it  is  the  first  fortified  place  met 
by  those  coming  from  up  the  river  and  where  they  must  arrive  if  the  said 
Portuguese  are  continuing  the  march  to  this  city,  the  despatch  of  these  orders 
being  entrusted  to  the  Quarter-Master  of  Cavalry,  Juan  de  Gadea.  I  thus 
determined  and  ordered  it,  signing  with  witnesses  in  the  absence  of  a  Notary, 
in  this  paper  for  want  of  sealed  one. — Pedro  Caballero  V'dlasanti.-^MigJtel 
de  Barrios. — Juan  Ortiz. 


Received  the  given  orders  in  the  above  writs,  to  despatch  them  to  the 
fortified  places  of  both  coasts,  to-day  the  twenty  fourth  of  September  1734.^ — 
Juan  de  Gadea. 


Letter. — Villeta.  Lieutenant  General :  On  account  of  the  great  outcry 
and  uneasiness  of  the  Payaguas  Indians,  and  their  families,  and  their  rushing 
down  the  river,  I  proceed  to  draw  the  verbal  process,  from  which  it  appears 
that  this  is  caused  by  Portuguese  Paulists,  who  in  large  number  and  with 
soldiers  are  pursuing  them,  their  vessels  are  already  in  this  river,  near  this 
city,  and  this  being  a  matter  of  so  much  importance,  I  have  given  provisio- 
nal orders  until  the  coming  of  your  Excellency ;  I  communicate  these  news 
to  you  so  that  3'ou  will  try,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  come  to  this  city  and  com- 
mand what  be  must  convenient  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  orders  and  instruc- 
tions which  His  Majesty  has  given  in  regard  to  the  Portuguese  nation,  and 
which  are  obeyed  in  this  province.  Let  God  keep  you  in  good  health  for 
many  years.  Asumpcion,  September  twenty-fourth  of  the  year  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  thirty-four.  I  have  the  honor  to  be  of  your  Excellency, 
the  most  humble  servant. — Pedro  Caballero. — To  the  Lieutenant  General  Pe- 
dro Dominguez  de  Obelar, 


Received  the  said  letter,  spoken  in  the  previous  writ  to  despatch  it  to  the 
Lieutenant  General  in  campaign,  in  the  same  day,  month  and  year  of  this* 
note. — Jose  Duarte. 


—  373  — 

La  Asumpcion,  September  24th  1734. 

On  account  of  the  outcry  of  the  Payaguas  Indians  of  the  tepees  of  the  vici- 
nity, in  order  to  become  acquainted  with  the  reasons  therefore,  I  proceeded  to 
formal  investigation  from  which  it  results  that  their  retreat  and  uneasiness 
are  due  to  the  Portuguese  Paulists  who  pursue  them  with  armed  forces  by  this 
river  Paraguay  and  that  they  were  already  within  the  boundaries  of  this  ju- 
risdiction; and  since  they  are  foreign  to  the  Royal  Crown  of  our  King,  and 
natural  Lord  (whom  God  save)  who,  by  His  Royal  Ordinances,  command  no 
one  to  tread  or  enter  the  territories  and  places  of  Xeres,and  since  the  vassals 
have  attended  to  this  expulsion  with  faithfulness  and  loyalty;  and  as  this 
matter  is  of  the  gravest  that  can  occur,  I  have  determined  to  inform  the  Lieu- 
tenant General,  of  the  case,  so  that  he  come  at  once  to  this  city  to  determine 
what  be  most  convenient ;  in  the  meanwhile  I  give  notice  of  the  same  to  the 
principal  military  officers  of  the  fortified  places  of  both  coasts  and  frontiers 
of  the  province,  so  that  they  keep  watch  so  that  if  in  case  any  accident 
happen,  they  obey  a  second  order  and  go  to  the  place  to  which  they  will  be 
sent,  as  faithful  and  loyal  vassals,  with  their  arms,  horses  and  everything, 
until  new  orders  of  the  Lieutenant  General,  and  this  order  is  to  pass  to  each 
fortified  place  of  the  coast  down  the,  river,  by  the  hand  and  direction  of 
the  General-Quartermaster  of  Cavalry  Juan  de  Gadea,  till  it  reaches  the  for- 
tress of  Paso  of  the  river  Tebicuari,  whose  superior  officer,  there  appearing 
that  it  has  been  seen  by  all,  will  return  it  to  be  placed  in  the  documents  re- 
lating to  this  matter. — Pedro  Caballero  de  Villasanti. 

L — This  fortress  of  San  Geronimo  has  seen  this  order,  and  all  its  gar- 
rison is  ready,  as  loyal  vassals  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save),  to  obey  it. 
— ^Juan  Morales. 

H. — This  fortress  of  Rosario  has  seen  this  order  and  all  its  garrison  in 
this  province  of  loyal  Paraguay  is  ready  as  vassals  of  His  Majesty,  to  obey  it. 
— Gregorio  Chamorro. 

HI, — In  this  new  settlement  of  San  Felipe  the  order  was  seen  and  all  its 
garrison  is  ready,  as  loyal  vassals  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save),  to  obey 
it. — Ignacio  Riquel. 

IV. — In  this  fortress  of  San  Antonio  this  order  has  been  seen,  and  all  its 
garrison  is  ready,  as  loyal  vassals  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save),  to  obey 
it. — Pascual  de  Medinas. 

v.— In  this  fortress  of  Santa  Rosa  this  order  has  been  seen,  and  its  gar- 
rison is  ready,  as  loyal  vassals  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save),  to  obey  it. 
— ^Joseph  de  la  Pena. 

VI. — In  this  fortress  of  Santa  Barbara,  this  order  has  been  seen,  and  all 
its  garrison  is  ready,  as  loyal  vassals  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save),  to 
obey  it. — Miguel  de  Barrios. 

VII. — In  this  fortress  of  San  Luis,  this  order  has  been  seen,  and  all  its 
garrison  is  ready,  as  loyal  vassals  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save),  to  obey  it. 
— Pedro  Cardoso. 


—  374  — 

VIII. — In  this  fortress  of  San  Miguel,  this  order  has  been  seen,  and  all 
its  garrison  is  ready,  as  loyal  vassals  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save)  to  obey 
it. — Domingo  de  Fretes. 

IX. — In  this  fortress  of  San  Sebastian,  this  order  has  been  seen,  and  all 
its  garrison  is  ready,  as  loyal  vassals  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save),  to 
obey  it. — Diego  Quintana. 

X. — In  this  fortress  of  San  Ildefonso,  this  order  has  been  seen,  and  all 
its  garrison  is  ready  as  loyal  vassals  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save),  to 
obey  it. — Miguel  de  Martinez. 

XI. — In  this  fortress  of  San  Roque,  and  before  the  soldiers,  this  ordef 
was  read,  and  they  all  promised  to  obey  it,  as  loyal  vassals  of  His  Majesty 
(whom  God  save). — Francisco  de  Prado  e  Iraola. 

XII. — In  this  fortress  of  San  Joseph  del  Penon,  this  order  was  seen,  and 
its  garrison  was  ready. 

XIII. — The  Chaplain,  Ignacio  de  Argiiello,  having  seen  the  above  order, 
and  complying  with  it,  notified  its  contents  in  the  fortified  place  of  San  Agus- 
tin  de  Arequitacua,  to  the  soldiers  of  its  garrison,  and  they  all  being  together 
and  assembled,  as  loyal  vassals  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save),  promised  to 
obey  it. — Ignacio  de  Argiiello. — Ignacio  Gimenez. 

The  Serjeant  Major,  Jacinto  de  Rodas,  having  seen  the  above  order, 
and  complying  with  it,  I  notify  its  contents  to  the  fordfied  place  of  the  Limpia 
Concepcion  de  Tobati,  to  its  garrison  which  defends  this  province,  and  to  the 
soldiers,  and  we  say  that  as  faithful  and  loyal  vassals  of  the  King  our  Lord 
(whom  God  save),  we  are  ready  to  obey  it. — Jacinto  de  Rodas. — Antonio  de 
Ribas  Rasquin. 

In  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion  of  Paraguay,  on  the  third  day  of  the  month 
of  October  of  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-four,  the  Field 
Master  General  X.  Dominguez  de  Obelar,  feudal  resident  and  Lieutenant 
General  Governor,  High  Justice  and  Captain  of  the  said  province  for  His 
Majesty  (  whom  God  save  )  in  charge  of  its  Government  on  account  of  the  ab- 
sence of  the  said  Governor  and  Captain  General :  Considering  the  informa- 
tion presented  to  me  to-day,  by  the  present  Serjeant-Major  of  this  province 
and  Mayor  of  this  city,  Pedro  Caballero  de  Villasanti  and  what  is  deduced 
from  the  news  therein  contained,  of  the  invasion  in  the  territory  of  the  juris- 
diction of  this  Government,  and  by  the  river  with  fleet,  of  bodies  of  Portu- 
guese Paulists  with  offensive  arms,  and  as  they  are  foreigners  to  our  Crown, 
according  to  the  orders  of  His  Majesty,  ( whom  God  save  )  executed  by  the 
vassals  of  this  said  province  not  permitting  them  within  its  boundaries,  and 
considering  that  this  case  is  of  the  utmost  gravity  as  can  be  deduced  from 
the  said  bodies  of  large  number  of  armed  men  and  the  fact  that  they  have 
already  invaded  the  Payaguas  Indians,  and  because  although  they  have  suf- 
fered from  the  invasions  of  the  said  Indians,  this  is  no  reason  why  they  should 
come  into  a  foreign  jurisdiction,  as  the  one  of  the  province  of  the  domin- 
ions of  His  Majesty,  as  can  be  seen  from  the  information  and  their  being 
near  to  this  capital  of  the  province,   without  our  having  from  them,  the 


—  '375  — 

formal  knowledge  of  the  reason  and  license  for  such  an  entry  ;  and  we  should 
mistrust  their  march,  or  at  leat  cautiously  prepare  ourselves  against  foreign- 
ers, of  whom  there  are  recollections  and  instances  of  having  invaded  and  des- 
troyed Spanish  settlements  as  well  as  of  Indians  in  the  places  and  territories 
of  Xeres  and  its  district  ;  on  account  of  these  news  His  Majesty  (  whom  God 
save  )  ordered  his  Governors  and  Captain  Generals  of  this  province  to  send 
to  reconnoitre  and  expell  them,  as  was  done,  as  it  appears  in  docu- 
ments and  especially  in  those  executed  by  the  Field  Master  Manuel  de  Robles, 
at  the  time.  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  this  province,  who  proceeded 
upon  mere  indications  that  bodies  of  armed  men  were  in  those  districts  as  he 
feared  they  would  pass  to  the  Spanish  and  Indian  settlements  by  land  or  by 
river,  to  defraud  and  invade  them  ;  it  appears  now  from  the  present  infor- 
mation and  not  from  mere  indications,  but  from  acts  against  the  said  unfaith- 
ful Payaguas,  which  if  followed,  or  for  other  reasons,  might  lead  them  to  con- 
tinue their  trip,  after  taking  possession  of  the  river,  and  arriving  with  great 
demonstrations,  to  the  first  settlements  of  the  coasts  down  the  river,  will 
try  to  pass  to  this  city  or  penetrate  also  by  land  or  by  river  to  the  Villa  de 
San  Isidro  Salvador  de  Curuguati  and  to  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo, 
and  that  if  they  find  them  unprepared,  as  well  as  the  fortified  place  of  the 
castle  of  San  Agustin  de  Arequitacua  which  is  the  last  on  the  frontiers  of 
down  the  river,  and  the  first  port  in  which  they  can  establish  themselves, 
due  to  the  weakness  of  the  frontiers,  after  conquering  these  fortified  places, 
they  propose  to  pass  to  the  others  until  they  reach  this  capital ;  all  which  is 
to  be  feared  and  proper  measures  of  prudence  should  be  taken,  founded 
upon  the  past  instances,  for  which  reason  the  vassals  of  this  province,  not 
only  because  of  their  faithfulness  and  loyalty,  but  also  because  of  the  full 
homage  and  oath,  under  which  they  are,  to  His  Majesty,  our  King  and  na- 
tural Lord,  Philip. V,  to  defend  his  dominions  from  the  foreign  Kings  and 
potentates,  as  the  natives  of  this  province  have  done,  at  their  own  expense, 
since  the  time  of  the  conquest  to  the  present  day  without  weakening  ;  and 
they  should  be  and  are  obliged  generally  to  follow  the  same  condition  and 
character  of  loyal  vassals  ;  and  I  therefore  order  that  this  proclamatioji  be 
published,  informing  the  news  of  the  said  case  so  that  they  will  all  have  notice 
of  it,  and  so  that  the  prompt  and  due  measures  be  taken,  I  call  a  meeting  of 
consultation,  of  the  illustrious  Council,  Justice  and  Board  of  Aldermen  of 
this  city  and  of  all  persons  of  rank  and  experience  in  the  wars  and  militia  of 
this  province,  who  will  be  named  in  a  list,  so  that  they  will  be  duly  cited, 
stating  the  hour  and  other  particulars  of  the  meeting,  so  that  they  will  be 
present  in  the  said  act,  in  which  the  writ  of  consultation  will  be  read  to  them  ; 
the  said  writ  will  treat  of  all  the  cases  and  proper  particulars  ;  in  the  mean- 
while, other  orders  requiring  promptness  will  be  given.  He  thus  determined, 
ordered  and  signed.it. — Dominguez  de  Obelar. 


In  the  city  of  La  Asurnpcion  of  Paraguay,  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  month 
of  October,    one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-four,  I,  Christobal  Do- 


—  376  — 

minguez  de  Obelar,  feudal  resident,  Lieutenant  Governor,  High  Justice  and 
Captain  General  of  the  said  provinces,  for  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save),  act- 
ing Governor  of  it,  in  the  absence  of  the  Governor  and  Captain  General,  say  : 
That  being  in  the  past  days  in  campaign,  in  Government  business,  he  re- 
ceived a  letter  of  the  present  Serjeant-Major  of  this  province.  Mayor  of  this 
city,  Pedro  Caballero  de  Villasanti,  on  account  of  the  uneasiness  and  move- 
ment of  the  unfaithful  Payaguas  Indians  with  their  families  of  the  tepees,  who 
are  allowed  and  supported  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city,  and  who  live  in  peace 
with  the  Spaniards  and  their  families  and  with  this  province,  by  virtue  of  the 
said  letters  granted  by  His  Majesty  ;  said  uneasiness  being  caused  by  the  in- 
vasions which  their  countrymen  have  suffered  from  the  Portuguese  Paulists, 
capturing  and  ill-treating  them  ;  for  these  reasons  I  came  to  this  city  and  the 
said  Villasanti  exhibited  and  delivered  to  me  the  reports  and  other  writs, 
from  which  it  appears  that  it  is  a  fact  that  they  have  been  ruined,  and  have 
come  into  the  territory,  with  arms  and  bodies  of  men,  in  vessels,  and  have  at- 
tacked the  said  unfaithful  Indians  and  their  families  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
this  Government  ;  and  as  they  are  foreigners  to  the  Royal  Crown,  and  of  a 
different  Kingdom,  provided  with  arms ;  and  since  it  is  ordered  by  His 
Majesty  ( whom  God  save )  to  his  Governors  and  Captain  Generals  of  this 
province  not  to  allow  their  entrance  in  the  districts  and  places  of  Xeres,  nor 
their  stay  and  residence  therein,  bodies  of  armed  men  have  been  sent  to  expell 
them  from  those  places  and  other  districts  of  this  jurisdiction  and  Royal 
dominions,  on  acconnt  of  the  frauds  to  which  they  are  accustomed,  and  be- 
caused  of  the  invasions  and  ruin  which  they  caused  in  the  past  in  the  ci^ties, 
towns  and  Spanish  settlements  of  this  district,  all  which  they  destroyed  ;  and 
as  these  despatches  are  now  being  sent  by  the  said  Governors,  in  fulfilment 
of  the  said  Royal  ordinances,  notwithstanding  the  invasion  of  the  said  un- 
faithful Payaguas  of  the  tepees  of  up  the  river,  where  they  inhabit  at  a  great 
distance  from  this  city,  raiding,  destroying,  killing  and  carrying  on  hostilities 
against  the  said  Portuguese  and  their  famihes  who  come  down  from  the  city 
of  San  Pablo  by  land,  navigating  the  different  rivers  until  they  arrive  to  this 
one, -and  they  ascend  it  until  they  reach  the  gold  mines  which  they  have  dis- 
covered and  which  they  work,  as  proven  by  the  specimens  brought  by  the 
said  Payaguas  Indians,  seen  in  the  spoils  taken  from  the  captive  men  and 
women,  white  and  black,  and  which  they  have  brought  for  sale  to  this  city  ; 
for  those  reasons  the 'Portuguese  have  resolved — according  to  what  appears 
from  the  said  reports-  to  come  with  the  said  arms  and  large  bodies  of  men, 
to  take  their  revenge  and  to  pursue  them  ;  it  also  appears,  from  the  declara- 
tions of  the  ransomned  prisoners,  that  these  troops  may  follow  their  naviga- 
tion and  voyage  until  they  arrive  to  this  capital,  being  lead  to  thus  believe  it, 
because  they  are  supposed  to  be  encamped  up  the  river,  at  no  great  distance 
from  it,  and  as  they  are  known  to  be,  in  fact,  within  this  jurisdiction,  with 
arms,  and  since  this  is  one  of  the  gravest  cases  that  can  occur  in  this  province  ; 
considering  all  those  reports  I  ordered  writs  to  be  drawn  on  the  third  instant, 
in  which  I  duly  considered  them  and  declared  that  measures  of  prudence  and 
defense  should  be  taken,  against  these  people,  foreigners  to  this  Monarchy  of 


—  377  — 

our  King  and  Lord,  natives  and  vassals  of  other  dominions,  so  that  in  case 
they  attempt  other  things  or  are  brought  here  by  other  designs  against  the 
vassalage,  that  this  province  and  its  natives  profess  to  His  Catholic  Ma- 
jesty, and  the  homage  and  oath  taken  to  be  faithful  to  and  defend  him, 
as  they  have  thus  observed  since  the  conquest  and  pacification  to  the  present 
time,  at  their  own  expense,  without  ever  weakening,  which  they  should  con- 
tinue to  do,  on  this  occasion,  in  the  same  character  and  manner,  as  loyal  vas- 
sals ;  for  which  reason,  besides  the  especial  information  which  as  a  provi- 
sional measure  and  order  was  given,  of  the  case,  by  the  Serjeant-Major  and 
common  Mayor,  t6  the  officers  of  war,  of  the  castles  and  fortresses  and  to  the 
garrisons  of  both  coasts,  let  him  order  a  proclamation  to  be  issued,  so  that 
the  said  orders  be  obeyed  generally,  and  they  be  advised  and  ready,  with 
their  arms,  horses,  and  resources,  which  they  may  be  able  to  procure,  so  that 
on  my  further  orders  and  dispositions,  they  will  repair  to  the  convenient 
parts  and  places,  without  delay,  for  what  may  be  best  for  the  defense  ;  des- 
patching copies  of  the  proclamation  to  the  country  and  valleys  and  to  this 
district  so  that  they  will  be  of  notorious  and  universal  knowledge,  and  that 
they  will  be,  therefore,  advised  and  forwarned  ;  also  to  command  to  the  Villa 
Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo  and  its  Captain  of  war,  to  complete  the  number  of  the 
guard  and  garrison  which  it  contributes  to  the  castle  of  San  Agustin  de  Are- 
quitacua,  the  furthest  fortified  place  of  up  the  river,  which  is  on  its  borders, 
and  the  first  in  which  they  will  establish  themselves,  be  seen  or  felt,  if  they 
come  by  the  river,  and  to  have  one  hundred  men  enlisted  of  the  said  Villa 
Rica,  for  the  call  and  demand  which  may  occur,  and  also  to  inform  all  the 
other  residents  thereof,  so  that  they  will  be  ready  for  the  said  vigilance,  and 
above  all,  to  the  inhabitants  and  residents  of  San  Isidro  Salvador  de  Curu- 
guati  so  that  they  have  great  vigilance  and  care  as  they  are  the  nearest  to  the 
danger  on  account  of  the  Curuguati  and  Jejuy  and  other  rivers  which  are 
navigable  in  its  vicinity,  and  have  their  mouths  in  this  River  Paraguay,  and 
also  on  land,  by  sending  out  their  runners  and  keeping  a  watch  on  all  sides, 
and  discovering  traces  and  giving  prompt  information  thereof ;  they  should 
also  put  themselves  and  families  in  safety  so  that  they  will  not  suffer  inva- 
sions or  other  damages,  on  account  of  suprises,  or  by  reason  of  other  accidents 
and  contingencies  for  want  of  defense ;  and  to  order  the  Spanish  Magistrates 
of  the  Indian  tribes  who  are  in  this  district,  together  with  the  Chiefs  and 
other  subjects,  to  be  with  the  same  vigilance  and  care  until  further  orders, 
and  to  those  of  Yuti  and  Caasapato  send  their  runners  by  land,  who  as 
natives  of  those  grass  regions  are  well  acquainted  with  the  territory,  so  that 
they  might  find  the  enemy,  in  case  they  come  by  land,  without  the  latter  be- 
coming aware  of  it,  which  are  the  measures  given  by  me  up  to  the  present,  it 
being  ordered,  in  the  same  writ,  that  for  other  things  a  meeting  be  called,  for 
a  consultation  of  war,  of  the  Illustrious  Council,  Justice  and  Board  of  Alder- 
men of  this  city  and  of  all  the  other  persons  of  rank  and  experience  in  war 
of  this  province  ;  for  this  defense  and  Council  I  have  ordered  a  list  and  mi- 
nutes for  the  citations  to  be  issued,  designating,  therein,  Saturday  the  ninth 
instant  for  them  to  meet  in  the  public  square  and  in  the  porches  of  the  guards, 


-  378  - 

where  the  act  of  the  said  consultation  is  to  take  place  ;  and  according  to  this 
I  ordered  that,  in  the  said  consultation,  this  writ  be  read  and  published,  as 
well  as  all  the  other  measures  taken  already,  and  all  other  necessary  to  be  put 
in  practice  promptly  for  what  may  occur,  especially  if  the  said  Portuguese 
arrive  or  are  coming  to  the  said  castle  of  San  Agustin  de  Arequitacua,  the 
first  fortified  place  and  port  where  they  must  of  necessity  arrive  or  be  felt. 

II. — Also,  before  their  approaching  any  nearer  to  the  territory  of  the 
said  castle  of  Arequitacua,  what  measures  should  be  taken  by  land  or  by 
rivers,  or  both  ways,  getting  ahead  of  them,  so  as  to  discover  them  and  order 
them  to  restrain  themselves  and  not  to  go  ahead  in  their  navigation  and  voy- 
age from  the  place  where  they  be  on  the  road  to  the  said  castle  or  coming  to 
this  city,  or  if  by  land  to  prevent  their  entrance. 

III. — They  also  propose  to  have  a  body  of  soldiers  of  their  fleet,  totally 
or  part  of  them,  stop  in  this  capital  or  arrive  to  the  said  castle  or  establish 
themselves  in  their  vicinity ;  and  whether  in  case  they  intend  to  pass  to  this 
capital,  their  propositions  are  to  be  admitted,  or  if  they  can  only  be  allowed 
to  encamp  in  some  distant  place,  to  the  said  castle,  for  a  short  time,  from 
where,  by  means  of  representatives,  or  messengers  of  persons  of  the  greatest 
respect,  whatever  matters  occurring  between  one  party  and  the  other,  are  to 
be  treated  and  discussed,  peacefully  and  politely,  and,  according  to  the  pro- 
positions, to  draw  the  proper  documents,  above  all  if  they  arrive  and  make 
their  insinuations  in  good  terms,  as  it  could  be  done. 

IV. — Also,  if  they  come  and  propose  that  it  is  their  intention  to  follow 
the  pursuit  and  punishment  of  the  unfaithful  Payaguas  Indians,  in  revenge  of 
the  invasions  which  they  have  suffered  from  them  ;  and  because  many  of 
those  of  up  the  river  have  sought  refuge  in  our  district,  who  have  been  their 
assailants,  and  have  mixed  with  those  of  the  tepees  which  are  in  this  vicinity, 
communicating  and  dealing  wth  the  residents  and  families  of  this  city,  and 
were  admitted  in  times  of  peace,  before  the  said  invasions  ;  if  the  said  Portu- 
guese are  to  be  allowed  to  go  against  them  and  carry  on  their  ofensive  war, 
or  if  efforts  are  to  be  made  to  stop  the  ones  and  the  others  so  as  to  avoid 
causes  which  may  lead  to  greater  troubles  and  inconveniences. 

V. — And  also,  if  in  case  the  said  Portuguese  appear,  by  land  or  river, 
demanding  this  city  to  be  delivered  up  to  them,  in  what  place  could  the  peo- 
ple of  the  province  meet  so  as  to  constitute  a  body  and  unite  their  forces  and 
go  promptly  to  the  place  in  which  they  would  be  required  with  urgency. 

VI. — Also,  whether  it  will  be  convenient  to  call  and  assemble  imme- 
diately all  the  men-at-arms  of  the  province  so  that  they  be  together,  in  this 
city,  or  in  the  place  designated,  in  case  some  sudden  event  occur,  and  if  the 
said  Portuguese  precipitately  harass  with  arms,  using  them,  and  trying  to 
enter  the  city,  what  can  be  done  in  such  a  severe  case,  with  the  women  and 
families  of  this  city  and  vicinity  for  their  safety  and  keeping,  as  well  as  to 
prevent  mobs  and  excitement  which  may  spoil,  make  difficult  and  prevent 
the  defense  and  repair  of  the  said  attack,  which  may  be  done  freely  and  with- 
out any  trouble, 

VII. — And  as  this  city  and  province  are  defenceless,  especially  on  ac- 


—  379  — 

count  of  the  want  of  arms,  powder  and  ammunitions,  provisions  and  other 
things,  because  the  war  department  has  none  on  hand,  nor  in  the  Royal 
Treasury  there  are  any  devoted  for  these  aids  and  assistances,  nor  there  are 
arms,  ammunitions  and  other  necessary  things  and  on  account  of  the  general 
poverty  of  the  vassals  who  are  fighting,  at  their  own  expense,  the  barbarian 
nations  of  unfaithful  enemies  on  the  frontier,  and  also  because  in  the  present 
circumstances  there  is  no  time  to  look  for  and  demand  the  said  necessary 
things,  and  because  there  is  hardly  strength  to  sustain  the  said  defensive  war, 
it  being  necessary  and  indispensable  that  the  defense  of  the  dominions  of  His 
Majesty  be  continued,  as  well  as  the  fidelity  and  loyalty  which  the  said  vas- 
sals have  shown  and  practised,  imitating  our  ancestors  who  sacrificed  their 
lives  and  property  in  these  militias ;  it  is  also  necessary  to  discuss  and  de- 
termine the  means  for  maintaining  the  garrison,  bodies  of  men,  and  what  des- 
patches and  documents  are  to  be  given,  as  well  as  money,  in  the  present 
circumstances  in  order  that  our  arms  be  not  left  insulted  and  abandoned,  and 
His  Majesty  (whom  God  save)  harmed  and  offended  in  His  Royal  dominions 
by  any  foreign  King  or  Potentate  whatever  ;  and  as  to  this  point  they  will 
also  discuss,  treat  and  resolved  what  they,  in  their  own  judgment,  think  best 
for  the  service  of  His  Majesty  and  this  defence. 

Vin. — Also,  if  the  said  Portuguese  propose  that  the  white  and  negroes 
and  other  persons  that  were  captured  and  enslaved  by  the  said  Payaguas  be 
delivered  to  them,  the  said  persons  having  been  bought  or  ransomned  in  this 
city  for  merchandise  or  money,  especially  those  negroes  who  were  bought  for 
slavery  and  who  are  held  in  bondage,  what  is  to  be  done  in  that  case. 

IX. — Also,  besides  the  usual  garrison  of  soldiers  which  the  castle  of  San 
Agustin  de  Arequitacua  has,  and  the  order  sent  to  the  military  Captain  of 
Villa  Rica,  requesting  him  to  complete  the  twenty  men  of  this  assistance,  if  it 
is  convenient  to  increase  and  strengthen  the  said  fortified  place  with  more 
soldiers  and  to  maintain  a  sufificient  number  of  men  at  arms  there,  until  the 
result  is  seen  and  the  Portuguese  have  retired  from  these  territories  ;  and 
what  means  there  are  for  the  support  of  the  said  garrison. 

Each  of  them  will  give  their  votes  and  opinions,  in  writing,  as  to  all  and 
each  of  the  above  chapters,  freely  and  frankly  within  four  hours  of  assembling, 
or  each  one  separately  as  they  may  best  think,  on  account  of  the  urgency 
and  short  time  which  the  case  permitted,  since  it  cannot  be  postponed  any 
more  ;  and  I  signed  it  with  the  witnesses  in  the  absence  of  a  Notary,  and  in 
this  paper,  because  there  is  no  sealed  one. — Cristobal  Dominguez  de  Obe- 
LAR.     Witnesses,  Bias  de  Noceda,  Simon  Linares. 


Resolutions. — In  the  City  of  La  Asumpcion  of  Paraguay,  on  the  ninth 
day  of  the  month  of  October  of  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
thirty-four  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  the  public  square  and  por- 
ches of  the  house  of  the  Council,  there  was  a  meeting  of  the  members  of 
the  Illustrious  Council,  Justices  and  Board  of  Aldermen,  the  Field  Master 
Martin  de  Barua,  who    has  been    Governor    and  Captain  General    of  this 


—  38o  — 

Province,  the  present  Field  Master  General  and  Serjeant  Major  of  it;  the 
Quarter  Master  General  of  the  Cavalry;  the  Treasurer  and  other  Royal 
Officers  of  this  said  city,  and  other  persons  of  rank  who  were  cited  by 
orders  to  this  meeting  of  this  day  ;  the  Lieutenant  General  Governor, 
High  Justice  and  Military  Captain  of  this  Province  presiding  the  writ  of  con- 
sultation, dated  the  6th  instant  was  presented  and  read  entirely  as  it  is,  and  in 
order  to  better  become  acquainted  with  the  points  and  cases  consulted,  each 
one  was  repeatedely  treated  and  discussed  for  a  long  while,  until  about  eleven 
o'clock,  and  they  resolved  and  answered  unanimously  in  the  following  manner 
and  form  :  In  regard  to  the  first  point  as  to  the  measures  and  orders  given 
by  His  Majesty  up  to  the  present,  they  answered  that  they  are  wisely 
determined,  for  it  is  well  that  the  vassals  of  this  Province  know  of  the  case 
and  be  vigilant,  forewarned  and  ready,  for  what  mayloccur,  in  order  to  prove 
their  vassalage  and  to  uphold  the  respect  and  honor  and  reputation  of  the 
Spanish  arms,  with  respect  to  men  of  foreign  Kingdoms  in  case  they  appear  in 
any  place  of  this  vicinity. 

In  regard  to  the  second  point,  as  to  the  said  unfaithful  Payaguas  Indians 
who  have  been  offended  and  insulted  and  who  have  their  sentmels  and  look- 
outs, up  the  river  and  who  are  going  and  coming  since  the  attack  referred  to, 
and  who  are  to  inform  if  the,  said  Portuguese  follow  their  march  for  this 
vicinity,  and  who  in  case  we  anticipate  on  our  part  any  show  or  movement 
by  the  river,  where  said  Portuguese  are,  we  would  be  suspected  of  aiding 
their  enemies  against  them,  and  on  account  of  this,  greater  troubles  might 
occurr,  as  at  present  the  two  Crowns  of  Castile  and  Portugal  are  in  peace 
and  in  good  friendship  and  that  if  they  come  it  is  not  for  evil  but,  if  they 
approach  this  vicinity  it  will  be  in  polite  and  friendly  terms,  and  they  will  not 
arrive  in  any  improper  way  nor  will  occasion  any  offence  and  if  they  were 
in  the  past,  suspicious  and  committed  frauds  and  injuries,  it  was  because 
they  were  bankrupt  and  were  formal  enemies,  giving  rise  to  the  ordinances 
of  His  Majesty,  but  that  at  present  they  are  making  war  against  their  as- 
sailants, which  is  a  natural  right  having  just  reasons  for  it,as  it  is  notorious,  and 
that  this  war  was  of  great  benefit  and  utility  to  this  province  and  its  inhabi- 
tants, inasmuch  as  the  said  unfaithful  Payaguas,  pirates  of  this  river,  are  most 
bitter,  treacherous  and  obstinate  enemies  since  the  conquest  and  pacification 
of  this  province  ;  and  that  it  might  happen  that  they  will  also  obtain  the  des- 
truction or  repress  the  uniaithful  Indians  of  the  Miaras,  nation  of  cavalry,  who 
have  been  the  most  powerful  who  have  harassed  this  province  with  their  raids, 
and  as  to  which  there  is  the  presumption  that  they  are  on  this  side  of  the  said 
river  established  on  our  part  and  this  is  so  believed  on  account  of  the  facihty 
with  which  they  have  come  and  made  their  invasions  and  attacks  during  the 
past  year,  all  which  they  continue  to  do  to  the  present,  at  all  periods  of  the 
year,  in  large  number,  mounted  in  robust  horses  ;  and  for  other  political 
reasons  it  is  deemed  convenient  that,  at  present,  no  measures  of  show  or  move- 
ment on  our  part  be  made  by  the  river,  although  by  land,  in  the  form  of  the 
usual  raids,  and  after  the  traces  of  the  said  unfaithful  Indians  until  the  furthest 
that  can  be  reached,  may  be  followed,  and  some  bodies  of  men  can  be  sent  by 


-  381   - 

the  said  river  to  wait  for  any  ambassadors  or  representatives  of  the  said  Por- 
tuguese who  might  come,  as  it  is  thought  they  will  precisely  do,  when  they 
recognize  that  they  are  so  near,  and  by  the  said  Payaguas  sentinels  the  way 
by  which  they  come  and  their  march  may  be  discovered. 

As  to  the  third  point,  that  in  the  castle  of  San  Agustin  de  Arequitacua,  or 
at  any  convenient  place  of  its  vicinity,  by  the  river,  the  communications  of  their 
envoys  may  be  admitted  and  the  reason  and  cause  of  their  entrance  in  these 
territories  and  Royal  jurisdiction  of  His  Majesty  (whom  God  save)  be  dis- 
cussed ;  and  in  the  present  case  to  do  what  be  most  convenient  for  the  Royal 
service  by  prudent,  friendly  and  moderate  terms,  insisting  on  the  principal 
point  that  as  foreigners  to  the  Royal  Crown,  they  are  to  be  required  to  leave 
the  territory  of  this  jurisdiction  since  there  are  ordinances  of  our  King  and 
natural  Lord  which  do  not  permit  them  to  remain.  As  to  the  fourth  point  that 
in  regard  to  what  the  Royal  laws  say  in  favor  and  defence  of  the  Indians  and 
as  to  the  special  Royal  letter  which  treats  of  the  Indians,  and  to  the  special 
one  which  treats  of  the  Payaguas  Indians  in  which  it  is  provided  that  when- 
ever they  come  peacefully,  they  shall  be  admitted,  notwitstanding  that  they 
are  enemies  as  declared,  taking  precautions  as  such,  and  that  for  this  reason 
some  tepees  and  families,  upon  the  Royal  word,  should  be  admitted  to  the 
shelter  and  defence  of  their  province,  and  that  it  will  not  be  in  any  manner 
pleasant  to  the  King,  or  Christianity,  to  abandon  and  deliver  them  to  have  their 
throats  cut,  but  only  those  who  are  known  to  have  been  assailants  in  the  said 
invasions,  deserve  the  punishment  which  His  Majesty  orders  in  his  severest 
laws  and  letters,  and  as  this  identification  is  very  difficult  and  many  innocent 
ones  would  be  endangered  who  have  not  done,  nor  their  families,  anything 
against  justice,  it  is  proper  that  if  this  point  be  discussed,  the  said  Portuguese 
are  to  be  informed  of  the  said  ordinances  of  His  Majesty,  in  their  favor  and 
protection,  especially  in  what  refers  to  those  who  live  peacefully,  persuading 
the  said  Portuguese  not  to  offend  them,  that  this  province  will  apply  to  them 
the  best  remedy  retiring  or  taking  them  away  from  all  occasions  of  offence. 

As  to  the  fifth  point,  that  when  the  time  arrives  of  resolving  the  case  and 
the  necessity  be  of  urgent  action,  after  the  precautions  taken  by  His  Majesty 
and  the  notice  given  to  the  province,  the  meeting  may  be  held  in  the  Cam- 
po  Grande  and  its  district  which  is  the  best  site  and  place  from  which  to  go 
promptly  to  the  aid  of  any  place. 

As  to  the  sixth  point,  that  although  the  general  and  great  poverty  of  the 
province  is  evident  and  the  other  accidents  and  calamities  which  it  suffers  and 
even  the  want  of  arms  and  Indians,  and  the  detention  of  the  vessels  in  the 
southern  provinces,  many  of  which  have  gone  from  here,  for  commerce,  with- 
out returning  for  a  long  trfme,  and  therefore  they  cannot  send  for  arms  and 
ammunition,  exposing  themselves  to  lose  the  ones  remaining  ;  and  since  all 
provisions  and  materials  are  almost  exhausted  even  for  the  usual  defence 
from  the  invasions  of  the  enemies  of  the  frontiers,  the  unfaithful  Indians  ; 
and  that  only  the  great  fidelity,  loyalty  and  obedience  to  the  King  our  Lord, 
(whom  God  save)  sustain  them  without  receiving  any  aid  as  other  provinces, 
and  that  if  any  have  been  sent,  it  has  been  suppressed,  and  that  it  is  owing  to 


—  382  — 

this  that  the  greater  part  of  the  miseries  and  calamities  have  occurred  ;  and  ne- 
vertheless they  are  constant  and  effective  defenders,  at  their  own  expense,  with- 
out being  able  to  produce  or  raise  the  means  for  the  cost  and  expenses  of  the 
mihtary  operations  which  might  arise  in  this  case,  and  in  the  present  circum- 
stance sand  in  the  future,  nevertheless,  if  it  be  necessary,|arbitrary  measures  may 
be  resorted  to  obtain  some  means,  and  if  they  are  not  sufficient,  they  may 
recur  to  the  Royal  Treasury,  for  it  is  for  their  defence  and  that  of  the  Royal 
jurisdiction  and  the  Dominions  of  His  Majesty  ;  and  in  such  urgent  and  per- 
emptory cases,  there  should  be  nothing  reserved. 

As  to  the  eighth  point,  that  the  white  men  enslaved  can  be  returned  to 
them,  as  they  are  free  vassals  of  that  Kingdom,  except  the  slaves  who  have 
lost  their  rights. 

As  to  the  ninth  point,  that  when  definite  information  is  had  from  the 
Payaguas  sentinels  that  the  said  Portguese  have  retired.  His  Majesty  will  de- 
termine the  increase  of  soldiers  in  the  garrison  of  the  castle  of  San  Agustin 
de  Arequitacua,  and,  for  this  purpose,  the  due  measures  to  soHci  tthe  means, 
have  been  determined. 

And  all  agreeing,  they  give  their  opinion  and  answer,  unanimously,  to 
the  points  of  the  said  writ  of  consultation,  respecting  the  better  opinion  and 
decision  of  the  said  Lieutenant  General  as  to  the  best  interests  of  the  Royal 
Service,  and  we  signed  it. — Cristobal  Doviinguez  de  Obelar. — Martin  de 
Barua,  etc. —  (Sixteen  signatures  follow.) 

In  this  place  of  Capiata  and  chapel  of  Candelaria,  Jurisdiction  of  the 
city  of  La  Asumpcion  of  Paraguay,  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  the  month  of  Oc- 
tober, one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-four,  the  Castilian  Serjeant 
Major  and  other  persons  of  rank  and  experience  and  practice  in  the  wars  of 
these  provinces  met,  I,  the  present  General  Field  Master  of  this  province 
presiding  the  said  act,  and  all  being  thus  together  and  assembled,  I  read  the 
consultation,  writ  and  opinion  of  the  Illustrious  Council,  Justices  and  Board 
of  Aldermen  and  of  the  other  persons  of  rank  who  asisted  to  the  said  act, 
and  after  hearing,  and  understanding  it,  they  unanimously  answered  that 
they  agree  with  it  in  everything,  with  the  said  opinion,  because  it  was  wisely 
resolved  and  because  it  was  for  the  defense  of  the  Royal  Dominions  of  His 
Majesty  and  of  this  Province,  and  they  signed  it  with  me. — Bernardo  Fer- 
nandez de  Mora. — Miguel  Masi. — (Fourteen  signatures  follows.) 


1750 


LETTER 

From  the  G-overnor  Don  Jos6  de  Andonaegui,  dated  IVovem- 

ber  19th,  1750,  accompanying  a  report  of  the   IVIis- 

iones    of  Indians,   held    by  the  Jesuits  in   the 

Bishoprics   of  Paraguay  and    of 

Buenos  Ayres.   {*) 

Sir: — In  compliance  with  the  command  of  Your  Majesty,  by  Rowal  Or- 
der of  the  nineteenth  of  June,  seven  hundred  and  forty-seven,  in  regard  to 
Law  1st,  Title  I4rh,  Book  ist  of  the  Recopilated  Laws  of  these  Kingdoms; 
as  soon  as  I  received  the  said  despatch,  I  wrote  a  letter  to  Father  Manuel 
Querini,  the  present  provincial  of  the  Order  of  Jesuits  in  these  provinces, 
about  the  part  that  concerns  him  in  this  exact  report,  in  the  form  prescribed 
by  the  Royal  Order  and,  in  compliance  therewith, Jhe  addressed  to  me  the 
documents,  copies  of  which  I  submit  to  the  Royal  notice  of  Your  Majesty. — 
Sir. — /ose  de  Andoftaegui. — On  the  margin  of  the  document  there  is  a  decree 
reading,  «  Council  of  September  the  sixteenth,  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty- 
three.     Seen. » 


Documents  enclosed. 

Copy, — To  the  Governor  and  Captain-General:    To  yours  of  the  eleventh 
ultimo,  which  I  duly  appreciate,  not  only  because  it  comes  from  you,  but  for 


( *■ ) .  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archives 
of  Indies,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  Consul  of  the  United  States  of  America  at 
Sevile,  forms  part  of  group  B,  No.  5,  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine 
Evidence. » 


-  384  — 

the  good  feeling  and  disposition  therein  contained.  I  reply  with  the  enclosed 
exact  report  which  you  desire,  to  send  it  to  His  Majesty  on  the  return  of  the 
ship,  now  in  your  port,  about  to  sail  for  Spain;  and  for  that  reason,  and 
because  the  greater  part  of  the  doctrines,  missions,  and  conversions  which  in 
these  provinces  are  in  charge  of  the  company,  belong,  politically,  to  that 
Government,  though  ecclesiastically  many  of  them  belong  to  that  of  Paraguay, 
I  send  you  a  statement  of  all,  even  those  which  belong  to  other  Governments, 
political  and  ecclesiastical;  I  shall  be  happy  to  have  served  you  to  your 
satisfaction.  God  grant  that  you  may  live  as  many  years  as  I  desire.  Cordoba 
August  the  fifteenth  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  —  Your  most 
affectionate  servant,  Manuel  Qiiermi — To  the  Governor  and  Captain  General 
Don  Jose  de  Andonaegui. — This  is  a  copy  which  corresponds  with  its  original. 


Misiones  of  Indians  at  present  in  the  province  of  Paraguay  held  by  the 
Jesuits  in  the  Bishopric  of  Paraguay. 

1st.  Mision. — Called  San  Ignacio-Guazu  ;  is  situated  on  its  native  soil, 
fifty  leagues  beyond  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion,  capital  of  the  Government  of 
Paraguay:  in  latitude  26°  52'',  longitude ^21°  2'  ;  it  has  485  famihes,  about 
2451  souls,  and  was  founded  in  161  o. 

2nA..^-Nuestf  a  Sefiora  de  Loreto,  was  founded  in  the  province  of  Guaira, 
in  the  year  1610,  and  because  this  province  was  deserted  on  account  of 
the  invasion  of  the  Mamelukes  and  Portuguese  of  Brazil,  it  was  removed  in  1632 
to  the  place  upon  which  it  now  stands,  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  large  river 
Parana  (which  is  the  same  River  Plate)  in  latitude  27°  17'',  and  longitude 
322  °  40'',  with  798  families  composed  of  3276  souls. 

ycd^.  —  Sati  Igtiacio-Mini,  founded  in  16 10,  in  the  same  province  of 
Guaira,  and  removed  for  the  same  cause  in  1632,  to  the  place  where  it  now 
stands,  on  the  same  eastern  border  of  the  Parana  river,  two  leagues  north  of 
Loreto,  with  571  families,  composed  of  2520  souls,  in  latitude  27°  xi' ,  and 
322°  40''  longitude. 

4th. — liapua,  or  Nuestra  Senora  de  la  Encarnacioti,  on  its  native  site,  on 
the  western  of  bank  the  great  river  Parana,  in  27°  17'  latitude,  and  322°  \i' 
longitude,  with  814  families,  or  3354  souls  ;  it  was  founded  in  the  year  161 5. 

5th. — Corpus  Christi,  It  was  founded  on  the  western  border  of  the  Parana, 
upon  another  river  called  Yafia,  in  the  year  1622,  from  where  it  was  removed 
to  the  eastern  border  of  the  Parana  river  upon  the  brook  Muney  in  the  year 
1647,  and  on  account  of  its  sickly  condition,  it  was  removed  at  some  dis- 
tance, on  the  twelfth  of  May  1701,  and  there  it  stands  with  876  families, 
making  3976  souls  ;  in  latitude  27°  7',  and  longitude  322°  46'. 

6th. —  Candelaria,  founded  in  the  year  1627,  on  the  eastern  side  of  Uru- 
guay, from  where  it  was  removed  in  1637  on  account  of  the  invasion  of  the 
Mamelukes  of  Brazil,  to  the  eastern  border  of  the  Parana  river,  where  it  is 
now  situated,  in  latitude  27°  26'',  and  322°  longitude,  with  529  families,  or 
2031  souls. 

7th. — Santa  Ana,  founded  in  the  year  1633,  on  the  mountain  of  Tape, 
province  of  Uruguay,  from  where,  flying  from  the  Brazilian  invasions  above. 


-  385  - 

named,  they  emigrated  to  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Parana  river  in  the  year 
1638,  and  there  they  still  exist  with  1094  families,  or  1778  souls,  in  latitude 
27°  21'',  and  longitude  322°  35''. 

8th. — Sati  Cosme  and  San  Dami'an,  founded  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  Ja- 
nuary, 1634,  on  the  mountain  Tape.  It  was  retnoved  to  the  province  of 
Parana  on  account  of  other  invasions,  in  the  year  1638;  it  was  united  to  the 
town  of  La  Candelaria,  and  separated  from  it  in  the  year  17 18,  and  was 
placed  at  one  league  further  north,  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Parana  river, 
from  where  it  was  removed  in  1 740  to  the  western  side  of  the  sawe  rivef , 
near  river  Aguapey,  where  it  now  stands,  with  407  families,  compose^  of 
1449  souls,  in  latitude  27°  6^,  and  321°  25^  longitude. 

9th. — Nuestra  Sefiora  de  Fe,  founded  in  the  year  1651,  in  the  province 
of  Los  Itatines,  200  leagues  north  of  the  capital  of  Paraguay,  from  where  the 
invasion  of  the  Mamelukes  forced  them  in  1669  to  emigrate  to  the  place 
which  they  now  occupy,  about  50  leagues  south  of  the  said  capital,  and  12 
leagues  from  the  river  Tebicuari,  in  latitude  26°  47'',  and  longitude  321°  and 
6',  with  959  families,  making  4296  souls. 

loth. — Santiago  el  Mayor,  founded  in  the  same  province  of  the  Itatines 
in  the  year  1657,  from  where,  for  the  same  cause  it  was  removed  in  1669  to 
the  place  where  it  now  exists,  10  leagues  from  the  above,  in  latitude  27° 
10^,  and  longitude  321°  12'',  with  835  famiUes  composed  of  3968  souls. 

nth. — Santa  Rosa  de  Santa  Maria,  founded  where  it  now  stands,  3 
leagues  from  Nuestra  Sefiora  de  Fe,  in  latitude  26°  50',  and  321°  14'' 
longitude,  with  537  tamihes,  making  2524  souls.  It  was  founded  in  the  year 
1698. 

1 2th. — Jesus,  founded  in  the  year  1685,  on  the  river  Monday,  which 
flows  into  the  river  Parana,  through  which  came  the  infidels  converted,  and 
were  afterwards  removed  where  they  now  stand  in  latitude  27°  a'',  and 
longitude  322°  27'',  with  455  famihes,  composed  of  18 19  souls. 

13th. — La  Santisima  Trinidad,  founded  in  the  year  1706,  in  the  district 
of  the  river  Uruguay,  and  on  account  of  the  bad  condition  of  the  land  wfcere 
it  was  located,  it  was  necessary  to  remove  it  in  17 12  where  it  now  exists,  5 
leagues  from  the  town  Jesus,  to  the  south,  and  3  from  Parana,  to  the  west, 
with  608  families,  or  2629  souls,  in  latitude   27°  9',  and  longitude  322°  29' 

14th. — San  Joaquin,  is  a  new  mission  started  in  the  year  i746amongth9 
Tobatines,  at  a  distance  of  about  100  leagues  from  the  said  Misiones  of  the 
site  of  Taruma,  with  about  1 1 7  families,  most  of  them  christians,  which  makes 
669  souls. 

The  Jesuits  missionaries  who  have  in  charge  the  education  of  the  Indians 
of  the  said  14  Misiones,  acting  as  persons  with  canonical  collation  from  the 
Bishop  of  Paraguay,  to  whom  they  are  presented  by  the  government,  and 
their  companions,  are  the  following,  the  first  one  named  in  each  town  being 
the  parson,  and  the  others  his  companions  : 

ist. — San  Ignacio-Guazu :  Father  Francisco  Tharia  Rasponi,  Father 
Jaime  Mascaro. 

2nd. — Loreto :    Father  Esteban  Pina,  Father  Antonio  de  Navas. 


—  386  — 

3rd. — San  Ignacio-Mini  :  Father  Joseph  Guerra,  Father  Francisco  Xa- 
vier  de  Uzedo,  and  Brother  Pedro  Komiaer,  physician. 

4th. — Itapua  :  Father  Pedro  Sauna,  Father  Juan  Francisco  Carrie,  and 
Father  Geronimo  Sadarias. 

5th. — Corpus  Chtisti :  Father  PheHpe  Arias  and  Father  Thobias  Petola. 

6th. — Candeluria  :  Father  Theodoro  Balenchana,  Father  Pablo  Danezi, 
Brother  Francisco  Leoni,  who  takes  charge  and  furnishes  the  prisoners  with 
clothing,  and  Brother  Ruperto  Talamer,  physician. 

7th. — Santa  Ana  :  Father  Antonio  Gutierrez,  Father  Bias  Riechinger, 
and  Father  Joseph  Gomez. 

8th. — San  Cosme  and  San  Damian  :  Father  Andres  Fernandez  and 
Father  Juan  Gilge. 

9th — Nuestra  Seflora  de  Fe  :  Father  Jose  Lazaro  Garcia,  Father  Santia- 
go Decis,  Father  Teliz  de  Villa  Garcia. 

loth. — Santiago  el  Menor  :  Father  Miguel  de  Morales,  Father  Domingo 
Terren,  and  Father  Joseph  Rivarola. 

nth. — Santa  Rosa  de  Saftta  Maria:  Father  Thoijias  Arnau,  and 
Father  Joseph  Unger. 

1 2th. — Jesus  :  Father  Juan  Antonio  Rivera,  and  Father  Juan  de  Quesada. 

13th. — Lm.  Santtsima  Trinidad:  Father  Juan  Francisco  Valdivieso,  and 
Father  Hermenegildo  de  Aguirre. 

14th. — San  Joaquin  :    Father  Joseph  Alas,  and  Sebastian  de  Tegros. 


In   the   Bishopric   of  Buenos   Ayres. 

1st. — La  Concepcion,  founded  upon  the  great  river  Uruguay  and  on  its 
western  borders,  in  the  year  1619,  it  stands  on  native  soil  in  latitude  27°  57'' 
and  longitude  322°  37'',  with  521  families,  composed  of  2337  souls. 

2nd. — Santa  Alaria  la  Mayor,  founded  in  the  year  1626,  in  the  river 
Ig^azu,  which  flows  into  the  great  Parana  on  the  eastern  part,  but  owing  to 
the  invasion  of  the  Mamelukes  of  Brazil  it  was  removed  in  1633  to  the 
province  of  Uruguay,  where  it  now  stands,  in  latitude  27°  52'',  longitude  322° 
52',  with  529  families,  composed  of  2060  souls. 

3rd. — El  Yapsuri  or  Nuestra  Sefiora  de  los  Reyes,  founded  in  the  year 
1626,  in  the  eastern  side  of  Uruguay,  still  existing  on  native  ground,  in 
latitude  29°  31',  and  longitude  321°  2\  with  1587  families,  or  6400  souls. 

4th. — San  Nicolas  Bati,  founded  in  the  year  1626,  in  the  eastern  side  of 
Uruguay,  it  has  undergone  several  emigrations  owing  to  the  ferocity  of  the 
Mamelukes  until  1687,  when  they  returned  to  their  primitive  land,  where  they 
now  exist  in  latitude  28°  13'',  and  longitude  322°  57^  with  986  families,  or 
3913  souls. 

5th. — San  Francisco  Xavier,  founded  in  the  year  1629,  on  the  brook 
Sabitery,  which  flows  into  the  river  Uruguay,  and  exists  on  its  native  ground, 
in  latitude  27°  47^  and  longitude  323°  8^,  with  518  families,  composed  of 
1496  souls. 


-  z^i  — 

6th. — La  Cruz,  founded  in  the  year  1631  in  the  river  Acaragua,  which 
flows  into  the  Uruguay  on  the  western  side  from  whence  it  emigrated  to  the 
river  Mborone,  which  flows  into  the  same  river,  where  Brazilian  invaders 
forced  them  to  descend  from  that  part  of  Uruguay  to  the  lowest  part  thereof, 
on  Cinas  Marrenes,  where  it  exists,  at  8  leagues  from  Yapeyu,  in  latitude  29" 
13'',  and  longitude  sai**  59',  with  612  families,  making  a  total  of  21 10  souls. 

7th. — San  Carlos,  founded  in  Caapi,  province  of  Uruguay,  in  the  year 
1631 :  it  was  disbanded  owing  to  the  hostilities  of  the  Mamelukes  from 
Brazil,  and  from  its  remains  and  of  others  which  had  been  broken  up  before 
by  the  said  Mamelukes,  it  was  refounded  near  the  fountain  of  river  Aguapey, 
flowing  into  the  Uruguay,  in  the  year  1639,  where  they  now  are  in  latitude 
27°  48^  and  longitude   322°    14'',  with  408  famihes,   composed  of  1628  souls. 

8th. — San  Miguel,  founded  in  the  year  1632,  in  the  Hills  of  Tape, 
province  of  Uruguay  ;  it  emigrated  in  1677  to  the  locality  where  it  now 
stands,  in  the  eastern  side  of  Uruguay,  with  1353  families,  or  6695  souls,  in 
latitude  28°  26^,  and  longitude  323°  28''. 

9th. — Santos  Apostoles,  founded  on  the  Ararica,  province  of  Uruguay,  in 
the  year  1633,  from  where  they  emigrated  to  the  western  side  of  the  said 
river,  where  they  are  since  1638,  in  latitude  27°  55'',  and  longitude  322° 
27'',  with  432  families  or  2650  souls. 

loth. — San  Joseph,  founded  in  the  year  1633  on  Itaguatia,  near  the 
mountains  of  Tape  ;  flying  from  the  Mamelukes  and  Portuguese  from  Brazil, 
it  emigrated  in  1638  upon  the  eastern  border  of  Parana,  and  thence  to  the 
interior  in  1660,  to  the  ground  it  now  occupies,  8  leagues  from  Candelaria, 
with  435  families,  or  1886  souls,  in  latitude  27°  16'',  and  longitude 
322°  21^. 

nth. — Santos  Maftires  del  Japan,  founded  in  the  brow  of  a  hill  in  1638, 
and  removed  to  the  said  hill  in  1734,  where  it  now  exists,  in  latitude  27° 
46'',  and  longitude  322°  i\' ,  with  737  famihes,  composed  of  3750  persons. 

1 2th. — San  Thome,  founded  in  the  year  1632  on  the  river  Tebicuari, 
whence,  flying  from  the  Brazilians,  in  March  1639,  they  came  over  to  Uru- 
guay, on  the  western  border  thereof,  in  longitude  28°  42'',  with  622  families, 
or  2793  souls. 

13th. — Sa7t  Luis  Gonzaga,  founded  in  the  year  1667  on  the  Caapamiri, 
from  where  it  was  removed,  a  few  years  later,  to  the  site  it  now  occupies,  in 
latitude  28°  20'',  and  longitude  323°  \']',  with  812  families,  or  3354  souls. 

14th. — San  Francisco  de  Borxa,  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  river  Uru- 
guay, in  the  middle  of  San  Thome,  was  founded  in  the  year  1690  in  latitude 
28°  48^,  and  longitude  322°  \6' ,  with  650  families,  or  3541  souls. 

15th. — San  Lorenzo,  founded  in  the  year  1692,  on  the  ground  where  it 
now  exists,  with  486  families  composed  of  1642  souls,  in  latitude  28°  22' 
and  longitude  323°  33''. 

i6th. — San  Juan  Bautista,  founded  in  1698  in  the  place  where  it  now 
stands,  near  river  Jivy,  which  flows  into  the  Uruguay,  with  803  families,  or 
2371  souls,  in  latitude  28°  2\\  323°  46''  longitude. 

17th. — Angel  de  la  Guarda,  founded  on  the  lyuimini  and  the  lyuyguazii 


—  388  - 

in  the  year  1707,  removed  afterwards  to  the  other  side  of  the  lyuyguazu, 
where  it  now  exists  with  1 122  families,  composed  of  1858  souls,  in  latitude 
28°  17',  and  longitude  323°  58'. 

The  Jesuits  missionaries  who  are  in  charge  of  these  17  Misiones  or 
villages,  in  the  same  form  in  which  were  specified  those  of  the  14  of  the 
Bishopric  of  Paraguay,  are  as  follows  : 

I  St. — La  Concepcion  :  Father  Segismundo  Apergt,  Father  Gregorio 
Hate,  Father  Antonio  Ligoti. 

2d. — Santa  Maria  la  mayor :  Father  Ramon  de  Toledo,  Father  Ventura 
Suarez. 

3d. — El  Yepeyu  or  Maria  Santisima  de  los  Reyes  Stella  :  Father  Manuel 
Perez,  Father  Carlos  Perez  Serna,  and  Brother  Juan  Antonio  del  Pino. 

4th. — San  Nicolas  de  Bari :  Father  Carlos  Tux,  Father  Ignacio  Rerhain, 
Brother  Joseph  Yenig. 

5th. — San  Francisco  Xavier :  Father  Teliz  de  Urvina  and  Father  Joseph 
Martin  Mantilla. 

6th. — La  Cruz  :   Father  Juan  Delgado  and  Father  Conrado  Harder. 

7th. — San  Carlos :    Father  Salvador  Quintana  and  Father  Joseph  Guinet. 

8th. — San  Miguel :  Father  Diego  Palacios,  Father  Juan  Thomas  and 
Father  Pedro  de  Biedma. 

9th. — Santos  Apostoles  :  Father  Francisco  Bautista  Marquedeti,  Father 
Joseph  Plehischavez,  and  Father  Francisco  de  Himor. 

loth. — San  Joseph :  Father  Manuel  de  Hinedo,  Father  Roque  Ba- 
llester. 

1  ith, — Santos  Martires  del  Japon  :  Father  Jph.  Goevaquer,  and  Father 
Juan  Manuel  Gutierrez. 

1 2th. — San  Thome  :    Father  Juan  Molina,  and  Father  Felipe  Terder. 

13th. — San  Luis  Gonzaga :  Father  Inocencio  Horber,  Father  Thadeo 
Cenes,  and  Brother  Joseph  Griman. 

14th. — San  Francisco  de  Borxa  :  Father  Miguel  Marimon,  and  Father 
Joseph  Xavier  Martin. 

15th. — San  Lorenzo  :  Father  Francisco  Xavier  Limo,  and  Father  Juan 
Jumsell. 

1 6th. — San  Juan  Bautista  :  Father  Luis  Chaulet,  and  Father  Francisco 
Sardahall. 

17th. — Santo  Angel  de  la  Guarda :  Father  Bartolom6  Pisaa,  Father 
Antonio  Planes,  and  Brother  Salvador  Conde. 

These  17  Misiones  of  the  Bishopric  of  Buenos  Ayres,  and  the  other  14 
of  the  Bishopric  of  Paraguay,  are  of  one  nation,  Guarani,  and  closely  gov- 
erned by  a  Superior,  at  present  Father  Bernardo  Husdorfer,  whose  residence 
is  at  the  Reduction  de  la  Candelaria,  from  whence  he  starts  in  a  general  visit 
once  a  year  ;  not  counting  the  visits  made  by  the  Provincials  in  the  per- 
formance of  their  duty  ;  and  though,  spiritually,  the  first  14  Misiones  belong 
in  the  Bishopric  of  Paraguay,  and  the  latter  1 7  to  the  Bishopric  of  River 
Plate,  or  Buenos  Ayres,  and  are  under  its  government,  by  Royal  Decree  of 
His  Majesty  Don  Felipe  V.,  dated  in  the  EsGorial,  November  6  of  1726. 


1771 


The  Oovernor  of  Buenos  Ayres  sends  copies  of  letters  flrom  the 
G-overnor  of  Paraguay,  indicating  the  advances  of  the  Por- 
tuguese towards  Gatimi,  their  ambitious  ideas  and  exces- 
ses to  penetrate  in  the  dominions  of  His  llffajesty.  ( * ) 

Your  Excellency : — The  enclosed  copies  of  letters  from  the  Governor  of 
Paraguay,  Don  Carlos  Morphy,  will  inform  your  Excellency  of  the  establish- 
ments and  advances  of  the  Portuguese  on  the  shores  of  the.  river  Gatimi, 
upon  which  subject  I  have  given  your  Excellency  an  account  in  my  previous 
letters,  bringing  to  his  notice  these  abuses  and  others  which  demonstrate 
their  desire  to  establish  themselves  in  the  dominions  of  His  Majesty  ;  and  I 
await  the  orders  of  your  Excellency,  to  proceed  accordingly.  God  save  many 
years  the  life  of  your  Excellency.  Buenos  Ayres,  July  twenty-fourth. — Your 
most  obedient  servant  JUAN  JOSE  DE  VERTIZ.— To  His  Excellency 
Frei  Don  Julian  de  Arriaga.  ( To  this  document  the  following  copies 
are  annexed.) 

Dear  Sir  : — the  enclosed  statement  about  the  establishment  of  the  Por- 
tuguese on  the  shores  of  the  River  Gatimi,  jurisdiction  of  this  province,  and 
the  copies  of  letters  which  accompanied  the  said  statement,  will  show  you  the 
previous  and  present  state  of  things  in  connenction  with  their  clandestine  in- 
trusion in  the  dominions  of  the  King,  as  well  as  the  steps  taken  in  the  matter 
by  this  Government. 

They  are  now  regularly  fortified  with  stone  walls,  crowned  with  twenty- 
four  pieces  of  artillery.     Its  garrison  is  composed  of  fifteen  hundred  armed 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archives  of 
Indies  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms 
part  of  group  B,  No,  6  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence.  » 


—  39°  — 

men,  and  five  hundred  settlers.  The  colony,'  which  they  christened  with 
the  name  of  San  Francisco  de  Paula,  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  leagues 
distant  from  this  capital,  and  thirty  leagues  from  the  town  of  Curuguati. 

The  greatest  obstacle  to  be  met  with  to  drive  them  back  is,  in  addition  to 
the  roughness  of  the  ground,  their  union  and.  coalition  with  the  residents  of 
Curuguati,  so  that  any  movement  on  our  part  is  quickly  known  by  the  Por- 
tuguese who  will  prepare  themselves  advantageously  for  the  defense,  by  the 
facility  of  uniting  their  troops  to  those  of  San  Pablo  by  the  Parana,  on  the 
borders  of  which  they  have  three  populous  cities  and  several  other  establish- 
ments. 

If  the  Court  does  not  put  a  remedy  to  check  their  ambitious  projects, 
they  will  take  possession  of  all  the  grounds  of  the  boundary  line  which  was 
marked  out  in  consequence  of  the  last  treaty  on  boundaries,  which  has  been 
cancelled  ;  and  finally  they  will  try  to  be  the  sole  owneis  of  the  trade  by 
illegal  treaties,  as  is  their  custom.  And  the  worse  of  it  is,  that  this  province 
and  that  of  the  Guaranis  remain  exposed  to  their  total  ruin  and  devastation 
at  the  simplest  misunderstanding  between  the  tw(*  Crowns. 

There  are  no  forces  to  resist  them  in  these  regions,  as  it  is  impossible, 
with  the  Indians  of  Chaco,  who  use  no  other  arms  but  lances  and  arrows,  to 
face  drilled  men  who  have  the  practice  of  fire-arms.  It  is  true  that  the  Pau- 
lists  are  nothing  but  mere  braggards,  nevertheless,  in  the  last  ceutury  they 
entered  these  provinces  by  fire  and  sword,  and  destroyed  Ciudad  Real  del 
Guaira  and  carried  away  twenty-thousand  Indians  and  made  them  slaves  in 
Brazil.  The  recollection  of  these  deeds  infused  panic  into  the  minds  of  the 
greater  part  of  these  inhabitants. 

This  is  the  present  state  of  things,  in  consequence  of  which  you  may 
command  me,  with  the  assurance  of  my  prompt  obedience. — La  Asumpcion, 
February  twenty-fourth,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-one. — 
Your  obedient  servant,  CARLOS  MORPHY. — To  His  Excellency,  Senor 
Don  Juan  Jose  de  Vertiz.  ( This  is  a  copy  of  the  original,  on  file  with  the 
Secretary  of  the  Captaincy  General  of  this  province  of  Buenos  Ayres,  July 
twenty-four,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-one.) — Jph  de  Albizu- 
ri.     His  mark. 


Report  of  the  events  and  the  present  situation  of  the  Colony  founded  by  the 

Portuguese  Paulists  in  the  year  1767,  on  the  borders  of  the  River  Gatimi, 

sent  by  the  Governor  of  Paragtiay  to  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres. 

In  consequence  of  the  insurrection  occurred  in  the  year  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  sixty-six,  in  the  city  of  Curuguati,  all  its  residents  being 
complicated  in  the  terrible  crime  of  drowning  in  the  River  Gatimi  the  Lieut- 
enant Governor  and  two  Aldermen  of  the  said  city,  they  sent  their  agents  to 
the  city  of  San  Pablo,  in  Brazil,  with  credentials  for  the  Captain  General, 
imploring  his  patronage  and  protection,  and  were  well  received.  They  were 
followed  by  five  hundred  armed  Paulists  who  came  down  to  take  possession 


—  391   — 

of  the  borders  of  the  river  aforesaid,  and  landed  on  the  first  day  of  August,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-seven,  and  founded  their  colony  under  the 
protection  of  the  Curuguateiios. 

About  the  month  of  June  of  the  year  above-named,  I  paid  a  visit  to  the 
city,  in  compliance  with  orders  received  from  His  Majesty.  During  my  stay 
there,  the  news  of  the  coming  of  the  Paulists  did  not  transpire,  but  its  resi- 
dents knew  of  their  approach,  by  secret  information :  they  concealed  this 
news  from  me,  and  I  returned  to  this  city  unconscious  of  the  treason. 

As  soon  as  the  Paulists  reached  the  borders,  they  sent  three  hundred 
men  to  excavate  a  pit  which  they  opened  in  the  form  of  a  semi-circle,  its  ex- 
tremes pointing  to  the  river,  the  border  of  which  forms  a  perpendicular,  inac- 
cessible ravine  in  the  front ;  the  depth  and  width  of  the  pit  is  about  two 
fathoms,  whereupon  they  fortified  themselves  with  walls,  made  out  of  fas- 
cines and  earth, 

Since  the  time  of  their  landing,  to  the  month  of  Decem^ber  following,  I 
did  not  know  of  their  establishment,  which  was  discovered  by  a  letter  ad- 
dressed to  me  by  Lieutenant  General  Don  Francisco  de  Bucareli,  Governor 
of  Buenos  Ayres,  apprising  me  of  the  transgression  committed  by  the  Portu- 
guese troops,  on  the  northern  part  of  Rio  Grande  ;  inducing  me,  in  view  of 
such  a  fool-hardy  infraction,  to  take  the  most  appropriate  steps  in  order  td 
call  the  attention  of  the  Paulists  toward  these  frontiers,  while  he  would 
harass  them  in  the  Rio  Grande. 

I,  therefore,  sent  the  proper  orders  to  my  Lieutenant  at  Curuguati  to 
start  with  a  detachment  on  a  reconnoitring  expedition  of  those  frontiers,  and 
see  if  there  was  any  movement  on  the  part  of  the  Portuguese.  He  started  at 
once  in  the  expectation  that  he  would  meet  them,  as  he  really  did,  and  he 
sent  me  a  message  at  once,  informing  me  of  the  fictitious  accidental  en- 
counter, for  the  said  Lieutenant,  as  a  resident  of  the  city,  knew  very  well  that 
they  had  been  previously  warned. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  I  issued  circular  orders  to  all  the  military  Chiefs 
of  the  province  to  get  ready  a  sufficient  number  of  men,  and  start  at  once  to 
Gatimi  and  make  the  crowd  of  Paulists  decamp.  While  preparations  were 
being  made  to  march,  news  was  received  that  the  colonists  were  fortified  on 
the  borders  of  the  river.  In  view  of  this  fact,  which  was  confirmed  a  few  days 
after  by  declaration  which  I  ordered  to  be  taken  from  some  deserters  who 
came  over  to  this  side  ;  I  convened  a  Court  Martial  of  all  the  military  Chiefs 
and  members  of  this  Council,  to  whom  I  explained  the  situation,  according  to 
reports  and  declarations,  and  they  unanimously  resolved  that  it  was  morally 
impossible  for  the  province  to  undertake  the  expedition,  and  sustain  by  itself 
its  whole  weight,  without  the  aid  of  the  regular  troops,  equipment  and  am- 
munitions, in  view  of  the  unskillfulness  and  insufficiency  of  its  military  men 
to  engage  themselves  in  such  attacks. 

I  immediately  informed  the  King,  the  Viceroy,  and  the  Governor  of 
Buenos  Ayres,  accompanying  the  documents  in  justification  of  all  that  this 
Government  had  done  in  this  matter.  I  also  sent  to  the  Court  the  originals 
of  the  controversy  between  this  and  the  Governor  of  San  Pablo,  about  the 


—  392  — 

respective  boundaries  of  both  Crowns:  The  last  two  letters,  copies  of  which 
are  enclosed,  which  we  addressed  to  each  other,  embrace  an  epitome  of  what 
has  been  discussed  on  either  side,  to  the  present  day. 

The  Minister  of  the  navy  and  of  the  Indies,  in  his  letters  dated  Madrid, 
January  the  fourth,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-nine,  orders  me, 
in  the  name  of  the  King,  to  inform  the  Viceroy  and  the  Governor  of  Buenos 
Ayres  of  everything  that  may  occur  about  these  matters,  and  to  obey  them  in 
all  that  they  may  command,  calling  upon  them  for  the  aid  that  I  may  need. 
His  Excellency  the  Viceroy  orders  me  in  his  letter  dated  April  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  the  said  year,  to  call  upon  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres  for  all  the. 
help  I  may  need,  but  without  telling  me,  in  neither  case,  what  I  have  to  do. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  establishment  of  the  Portuguese  in  Gatimi,  I 
sent  information  to  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres  of  ev^erything,  placing  my- 
self, at  the  same  time,  at  his  command  with  respectful  submission  ;  and  he, 
instead  of  attending  and  looking  after  the  affairs  which  are  so  important  to 
the  Crown,  and  to  the  State,  poured  down  upon  me  his  excitable  humor  in 
copious  superfluities  without  touching,  essentially,  a  point  useful  and  conve- 
nient to  the  Royal  service. 

He  sent,  at  my  request,  twenty  quintals  of  gun  powder,  as  a  precaution, 
but  with  order  to  have  them  deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  Lieutenant  of  the 
Royal  officers  of  thi^  treasury,  who  afterwards  received  another  order  from 
the  Judges  of  the  Exchequer  not  to  give  me  one  single  ounce  of  the  said  gun 
powder  without  a  new  order  from  the  Governor,  as  is  proved  by  a  testimony 
of  the  said  Judges,  in  my  possession. 

In  view  of  the  humihation  to  which  I  was  reduced  by  the  excess  of  his 
distrust,  and  seeing  that  my  estimation  was  tarnished  and  overthrown  before 
the  consideration  of  all  my  subjects  by  such  deplorable  and  unheard  of 
means,  I  decided  to  conceal  my  feelings  and  have  recourse  to  His  Excellency 
the  Viceroy,  expressing  my  shame  at  the  chimerical  resolutions  of  Sefior  de 
Bucareli  and  the  littl'e  fruit  that  could  be  expected  from  the  discord  which 
he  was  spreading,  to  the  injury  and  disgrace  of  the  civil  and  military  order, 
in  the  absence  of  the  mutual  tendencies  which  must  exist  between  the  Chiefs 
and  the  subjects  for  the  success  of  our  operations.  To  this  last  recourse  I 
have  had  no  answer  yet. 

Things  have  remained  in  this  state  until  the  present  time  when  the  Pau- 
lists,  taking  advantage  of  our  inaction,  become  stronger  every  day,  to  such 
an  extent,  that  it  would  be  very  difficult  to-day  to  drive  them  away. — La 
Asumpcion  de  Paraguay,  February  twenty-fourth,  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  seventy  one. — MURPHY.  (This  is  a  copy  of  the  original  on  file 
at  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Captaincy  General,  July  twenty-fourth,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-one.) — Jose  Albisuri  (with  his  mark.) 


Two  letters  from  Luis  Antonio  de  Sousa  are  herein  inserted  in  the  origi- 
nal, the  answer  to  which,  by  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres  is  as  follows  : 


—  393  — 

Dear  Sir  : — Your  two  letters  received  on  the  thirtieth  ultimo,  refer  to  the 
following  general  points. 

First,  that  by  virtue  of  the  demarcation  of  the  boundary  line  made  on 
the  River  Gatimi  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-two,  the 
right  of  the  King  of  Portugal  to  the  borders  of  the  same  river  was  established. 

Second,  that  notwithstanding  the  cancellation  of  the  treaty  of  bound- 
aries, its  failure  is  not  to  be  construed  as  referring  to  those  places  and 
grounds  occupied  by  both  Crowns  before  the  treaty,  which  places  and 
grounds  remain  in  the  same  form  and  manner  in  which  they  were  before  the 
agreement  was  made,  as  for  instance,  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento,  and  the 
seven  pueblos  of  Uruguay. 

Third,  that  in  consequence  of  this  stability  of  possession  in  its  previous 
form  and  manner,  the  River  Gatimi  remained,  as  the  Colonia  of  Sacramen- 
to, attached  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal,  just  as  it  had  been  before. 

Fourth,  that  to  prove  that  Gatimi  belongs  to  Portugal,  you  make  the 
statement  that  it  is  of  public  notoriety  in  that  province,  as  well  as  in  this  one, 
that  the  Paulists  have  maintained  a  free  navigation  on  the  said  river,  trading 
with  the  residents  of  the  city  of  Curuguati,  and  that  by  means  of  the  fre- 
quent and  continuous  navigation  there  is  a  great  number  of  Portuguese  who 
gained  access  into  this  province  through  the  same  river. 

Fifth,  that  by  virtue  of  its  free  navigation  the  PauHsts  remained  in  its 
old  possession,  which  they  now  dispute  ;  and  that  through  the  same  river 
they  discovered  a  shorter  passage  to  their  mines  of  Cuyaba. 

Sixth,  that  the  landmark  that  was  placed  on  it  by  mutual  consent  of 
both  Crowns,  corroborated  the  old  peaceful  and  modern  possession  which 
they  now  enjoy. 

Seventh,  last  and  conclusive  :  That  the  reason  alleged  by  you,  to  en- 
force the  right  of  the  Crown  of  Portugal  to  the  said  river  and  its  northern 
borders,  is  the  famous  encounter  between  the  detachment  sent  by  me  in  the 
latter  part  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty  seven,  of  the  militia  of 
Curuguati,  to  explore  the  fields  of  Gatimi,  with  the  adventurer,  alias 
« Standard  bearer,»  Juan  Martinez  Barros,  also  chief  and  leader  of  this 
modern  expedition  and  possession. 

You  said  that  the  said  leader,  in  order  to  justify  his  conduct  before  you 
for  the  transgression  committed  in  disobeying  your  commands,  sent  you  a 
declaration  testifying  the  public  confession  made  in  that  encounter  by  the 
soldiers  of  Curuguati,  in  the  presence  of  the  multitude  or  arrabal  of  the  Pau- 
lists, saying  :  jLong  live  the  King  of  Portugal ;  we  are  upon  his  lands  ! 
These  are  the  preliminaries  that  you  adduce  in  your  two  said  letters  to  plead 
the  right  to  the  river  Gatumi  in  favor  of-your  Crown  ;  to  which  preliminaries, 
and  to  the  methaphysics  accompanying  the  language  with  which  they  are 
adorned,  I  propose  to  reply  with  the  firmness  they  deserve,  in  order  to  offer 
you  something  that  may  please  your  palate.  In  my  letter  of  the  twelfth  of 
July,  of  last  year,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty  nine,  I  gave  you  to 
understand  that  with  the  abolition  of  the  treaty  on  limits  everything  remained 
in  its  primitive  state,  without  any  alteration  whatever,  in  the  mutual  posses- 


—  394  — 

sions  enjoyed  by  our  Sovereigns,  peacefully  and  quietly,  before  its  celebra- 
tion ;  and  with  that  understanding,  the  King,  my  master,  being  fearful  of  the 
future  ambitious  ideas  which  are  now  realized  in  your  midst,  that  the  Court 
of  Portugal  might  have  with  regard  to  the  boundary  line,  which  was  marked 
out  in  consequence  of  the  agreement,  he  issued  an  order  to  tear  down  the 
land  marks  that  were  placed  on  the  extension  of  these,  his  old  estates  and 
dominions,  so  that  no  vestige  nor  memory  of  such  an  undertaking  should 
remain,  as  it  was  done,  in  fact,  and  I  was  one  of  the  officers  appointed  for 
its  execution  in  the  territories  of  La  Plata,  to  the  entrance  of  the  pueblos  of 
Uruguay. 

The  same  order  was  communicated  to  my  predecessor  in  this  govern- 
ment for  all  concerning  the  district  under  his  command,  and  he,  in  conse- 
quence, sent  it  to  the  city  of  Curuguati  ordering  its  residents  to  remove  the 
land  mark  that  had  been  placed  in  Gatimi,  and  if  these  unfaithful  subjects 
did  not  execute  his  orders,  what  fault  or  what  reason  is  there  to  induce  you 
to  legitimate  his  shores  on  account  of  the  land  marks  ? 

Knowing  the  force  of  this  incontrovertible  reason,  you  found  no  other 
way  to  avoid  its  conclusion  but  the  apparent  one  of  agreeing  with  its  tenor 
by  opposed  means,  as  though  you  were  availing  yourself  of  the  same,  in 
order  to  reargue,  with  sagacity,  that  which  it  means.  You  say  that  for  these 
same  reasons  the  seven  pueblos  of  Uruguay  and  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento 
remained  again  in  possession  of  the  respective  sovereigns,  which  is  a  known 
truth.  But  as  the  Colonia  and  the  seven  pueblos  were  the  visible  objects  of 
the  charge,  under  the  treaty  ( I  do  not  mention  the  pueblos  of  Santa  Rosa 
and  San  Cristobal  in  the  other  regions)  no  landmarks  were  placed  in  them, 
nor  any  sign  indicating  a  boundary  line,  they  remained  in  their  primitive 
state  after  the  cancellation  of  the  treaty. 

But  such  was  not  the  case  with  the  boundary  line  which  was  marked  out 
in  the  dominions  of  the  King,  my  master,  through  whose  very  old  posses- 
sions it  was  extended,  transferring  to  Portugal,  by  virtue  of  the  change,  all 
the  lands  north  of  the  said  line.  This  mark  disappeared  from  memory  and 
under  the  stones  of  the  surface,  and  if  there  has  been  some  vestige  thereof 
upon  the  shores  of  the  river  Gatimi,  through  unfaithfulness,  relaxation  or 
indolence  of  the  inhabitants  of  Curuguati,  they  do  not,  for  such  a  reason, 
argue  to-day  any  right  in  favor  of  the  Crown  of  Portugal  ;  but  they  signify 
the  advance  of  the  boundary  line  on  the  well-known  territories  of  Spain,  by 
virtue  of  the  cession  made  by  the  latter  to  Portugal,  according  to  the  treaty 
of  barter  against  the  Colonia  of  Sacramento  ;  Portugal  made  gains  on  all  the 
dominions  of  Spain,  from  Punta  de  Castillos  to  the  region  of  Orinoco  or  river 
Amazonas,  and  Spain  alienated  herself  from  her  old  dominions  to  fulfill  and 
improve  the  treaty  on  limits  between  both  Crowns,  in  conformity  with  its 
stipulations. 

Your  present  idea  imparting  such  a  right  upon  the  Gatimi,  owing  to  the 
landmark  which  was  then  placed  upon  its  source,  may  expand  in  your  great 
imagination  to  the  extent  of  embracing  and  comprising  all  the  measures  of 
longitude  and  latitude  from  the  Monte  de  los  Castillos  to  the  mountains  of 


—  395  — 

Santa  Tecla,  and  leaving  the  grounds  of  the  seven  pueblos  in  its  primitive 
state,  to  follow  your  course  by  the  mouth  of  the  Ibicui,  waters  of  the  Uru- 
guay, Pequiri,  Curitiba  or  Iguazu,  enter  by  the  Parana  into  the  Igurei  which 
the  surveyors  mistook  for  Gatimi,  and  adjudge  by  similar  presumptive  rules, 
the  waters  and  thfe  borders  with  all  the  lands  which  run  from  the  boundary 
line  towards  the  north  and  western  parts,  thus  leaving  the  demarcation  made 
in  its  cosmographical  extent,  in  favor  of  your  Crown. 

But  guarding  against  the  exceptions  that  would  surely  be  taken  to .  this 
idea,  you  tried  to  make  it  singular  in  behalf  of  the  project  to  keep  Gatimi, 
under  pretext  that  this  river  ought  to  be  counted  among  the  old  possessions 
of  the  Crown  of  Portugal  on  the  ground  that  the  Paulists  have  preserved  the 
free  navigation  of  the  said  river,  with  old,  peaceful  and  modern  possession 
of  its  borders ;  which  assertion,  coming  from  you,  is  noteworthy.  This 
assertion,  though  referring  to  information  received,  is  notoriously  untrue,  and 
engendered  within  the  bosom  of  machiavellism,  and  wasped  in  the  weft  of  the 
unjust  craving  ambition  of  your  informers,  as  you  will  see  by  the  following 
practical  cases. 

In  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  two, 'the  Commissio- 
ners of  both  Crowns,  Don  Manuel  Flores  and  Don  Joseph  Custodio,  left  this 
city,  in  the  direction  of  Gatimi,  by  land,  to  join  the  Committee  which  they 
expected  from  San  Pablo,  to  undertake  the  work  of  demarcation.  The  said 
Commissioners,  seeing  that  their  following  was  belated,  after  having  stopped 
some  time  on  its  borders,  decided  to  build  up  on  the  mouth  of  the  river  a 
few  straw  huts,  as  a  sign  for  those  to  follow,  so  that  they  could  be  no  mis- 
take in  their  navigation,  to  which  end  they  had  letters  left  in  the  said 
shanties  for  the  government  and  guidance  of  the  navigators  advising  them 
that  that  was  the  river  Gatimi,  and  to  advance  along  its  course  until  they 
found  them.  The  said  following  after  rambling  on  the  river  Ambay  for  a 
number  of  days  without  finding  any  tidings  of  the  Commissioners,  returned 
to  the  Parana  by  the  coast  until  they  made  the  mouth  of  the  Gatimi  where 
they  found  the  signs  already  mentioned,  and  complied  with  the  orders  of 
the  Commissioners. 

This  entry  of  the  Paulists  through  the  river  Gatimi  in  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  two,  was  the  first  ever  made  after  the  discovery  and 
conquest  of  these  Americas  :  the  Portuguese  never  had  the  slightest  notice 
of  its  waters,  nor  of  its  names,  for  if  they  had  had  some  notion  of  its  course 
before  the  treaty,  they  would  have  mentioned  it  in  the  articles  of  Division  ; 
but,  as  I  said  before,  they  mistook  the  Gatimi  for  the  Igurei,  which  is  the 
one  designated  in  the  agreement. 

The  above-mentioned  time  of  the  Paulists'  entry  in  Gatimi  is  thus 
contemporary  of  the  young  age  of  the  treaty,  and  not  of  the  simulated  ante- 
diluvian possessions  of  the  Paulists,  which  you  now  pretend  by  virtue  of  the 
steady  navigations.  I  hope  that  you  will  not  find  strange  the  comparison  I 
have  just  made  in  similitude  of  the  assertion  of  the  sixth  paragraph  of  your 
letter  of  the  month  of  March,  availing  myself  of  the  most  remote  antiquity  of 
the  world  to  match  it.     I  suppose  that  you  will  not  get  so  easily  informed  of 


—  396  — 

the  truth  that   the   said    Francia   and   Cardoso  are   at   present  in   Gatimi. 

During  that  interval,  in  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  seven 
arrived  also  the  celebrated  discoverer  of  the  fields  of  Xeres,  who  aided  by 
the  treason  of  the  Curuguatenos  who  escorted  him  into  Camapoa,  where  he 
is  now  established  upon  the  solid  foundation  of  farms  and 'cattle,  which  he 
gathered  up  from  the  dispersion  resulting  from  the  defeat  of  the  Spaniards 
who  abandoned  those  grounds  of  the  primitive  conquest. 

.AH  the  historians  and  cosmographers  of  those  times  who  wrote  about 
the  conquest  of  these  Americas  unanimously  agree  in  the  right  of  Spain  to 
the  country  of  Xeres  and  territories  of  the  city  of  Guaira  which  the  Mamelu- 
kes Paulists  destroyed  in  their  inroads  of  the  last  century  ;  I  do  not  know 
the  antiquity  you  may  now  be  willing  to  assign  to  the  possession  presently 
enjoyed  by  the  said  Alvarez  in  his  Camapoa,  jurisdiction  of  Xeres :  I  am 
sure  you  will  not  strive  to  parallel  the  same  with  those  oldest  times  of  navi- 
gation. 

The  last  clandestine  entry  was  that  of  the  «  Standard  bearer  »  Barros,  in 
the  early  part,  or  in  the  middle  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty 
seven,  who  afterwards  fortified  himself  on  the  western  border,  whose  defense 
he  made  with  open  pit,  and  walls  of  fascine  and  earth,  even  before  this  gov- 
ernment knew  of  his  coming,  on  account  of  his  friendships  with  the  Curu- 
guatis. 

By  the  accurate  statement  I  make  in  the  computation  of  the  navigation 
and  entries  of  the  Paulists  in  Gatimi  you  will  see  by  the  course  of  time  that 
they  all,  put  together,  do  not  amount  to  the  number  Auris :  so  you  are  vainly 
going  into  anachronisms  to  prove  antiquity  of  possession  on  the  face  of  a 
lapse  of  fifteen  years  since  the  demarcation  of  the  Gatimi  down  to  the  esta- 
blishment of  Barros  in  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty  seven.  Let 
us  now  examine  his  fraudulent  intrusion  and  the  mysteries  of  his  expedition, 
but  before  starting  up  discussion  on  the  merits  of  cases,  I  will  talk  with  you 
about  the  arbitrary  retortion  you  have  seen  fit  to  make  of  the  true  and  liberal 
meaning  of  that  portion  in  my  letter,  of  July  twelfth,  in  which  I  refer  to  the 
flight  of  Mauricio  de  Villalba  and  his  associate  scoundrels  who  retire  to  San 
Pablo,  wondering  over  tlie  coming  to  Gatimi  of  these  traitors  homicides  in 
company  with  Barros,  and  where  they  committed  the  most  horrid  deed  that 
the  world  ever  knew  of,  that  of  drowning  their  Lieutenant  Governor  and  the 
Aldermen  of  the  city  of  Curuguati. 

The  exposition  contained  in  said  portion  of  my  letter  was  not  intended 
to  determine  whether  or  not  it  was  incumbent  upon  you  to  pass  upon  their 
cases  and  crimes,  or  whether  you  ought  to  help  them  or  not;  for  it  would  be 
the  height  of  presumption  on  my  part  to  raise  such  a  stupid  question,  since  it 
is  not  unknown  to  me  that  all  nations  use  to  harbour  refugees,  no  matter  how 
criminal  ;  but  to  point  out  to  you  the  malignity  implied  in  their  coming  with 
Barros  under  pretext  of  farming.  Please  to  go,  once  more,  over  the  con- 
text of  the  said  little  paragraph,  and  you  will  find  that  your  method  of  reargu- 
ing me  is  simply  ideal  and  reversing,  and  very  much  at  variance  with  the 
rules  of  civil  contention  about  facts. 


—  -397  — 

The  entry  of  Barros  in  Gatimi  is  by  all  meatus  blamable,  and  for  having 
trespassed  upon  the  boundaries  and  violated  the  laws  of  the  peace  and  har- 
mony existing  between  our  Most  August  Sovereigns,  sneaking,  with  armed 
people,  into  the  dominions  of  my  King,  without  any  other  form  of  prqceed- 
ure  or  ceremony,  but  those  he  had  preconcerted  for  his  expedition.  The 
false  and  shameful  pretext  which  he  alleges,  to  palliate  his  daring  undertak- 
ing, pleading  that  he  entered  compelled  by  necessity,  in  order  to  aid  his  peo- 
ple with  the  product  of  his  farming,  is  sustained  by  your  sincere  considera- 
tion, accepting  such  fiction,  as  if  there  were  no  other  grounds  for  such  labor 
on  the  vast  fields  and  districts,  from  San  Pablo  to  Gatimi. 

This  enterprise  was  planned  under  your  protection,  consequent  upon  the 
wicked  promises  and  treacherous  entreaties  of  Mauricio  who  got  engulfed 
from  abyss  into  abyss  and  fell  flat  upon  the  mire  of  treason,  but  your  Govern- 
ment being  pleased  with  the  detestable  project,  sent  up  Barros  and  his  sold- 
iery to  keep  the  ends  of  the  expedition,  and  not  to  explore  the  wilderness  of 
the  Ubay,  as  you  say  in  your  discoursive  defense  of  the  transgression  of  the 
said  leader. 

When  Mauricio  took  refuge  in  San  Pablo,  he  brought  credential  letters 
from  his  associates  in  the  uprising,  giving  your  Government  the  assurance  of 
free  access  to  Gatimi  and  a  peaceful  possession  of  the  same,  and  that  in  case 
of  need  they  would  surrender  themselves  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal. 

This  deed,  so  damnable  and  reproachable  among  civilized  nations,  was 
welcomed  and  endorsed  by  your  Government,  which  ignoring  the  respectful- 
ness and  consideration  due  the  Spanish  Monarchy,  broke  the  sacred  ties  of 
peace  and  harmony  now  existing,  and  favored,  under  the  frivoluos  pretenses 
of  farming,  the  rebels  of  this  nation,  to  secure  safe  possession  of  the  river 
Gatimi. 

The  criminal  fugitives  of  all  nations  are  mutually  admitted,  for  the  safety 
of  their  lives,  but  not  to  be  made  use  of  (particularly  in  time  of  peace)  as 
tools  against  their  own  Prince  and  country,  as  you  have  done  upon  this  oc- 
casion, helping  and  favoring  these  offenders  of  leze  Majesty,  to  invade  his 
country  soil,  and  seize  the  spoils  resulting  from  their  continuous  treason. 

This  maxim,  which  is  condemned  in  times  of  peace,  among  all  Christian 
princes,  is  only  learnt  in  the  plans  of  Machiavellism,  or  in  the  mosques  of 
the  Turkish  consistory  where  the  Muftis  inculcate  to  the  renegades  of  our  re- 
ligion the  foolish  resolution  of  revolting  against  their  origin,  whenever  their 
is  a  favorable  occasion  to  annoy  Christianity.  If  you  had  harbored  Mauricio 
and  his  followers  in  your  own  Government,  without  acquiescing  in  his  dia- 
bolical ideas,  you  would  have  to  day  th^  reknown  of  pious,  and  the  laurel  of  hav- 
ing discountenanced  foolish  undertakings;  but  having  been  dragged  by  them 
into  the  abyss  of  their  conspiracies,  I  do  not  really  know  what  epithet  or  at- 
tribute would  be  most  becoming  to  you;  and  therefore,  leave  it  to  your  con- 
science and  to  the  reflective  consideration  of  your  Monarch,  to  decide. 

I  believe,  without  effort,  that  your  candor  was  imposed  upon  by  the 
illusive  insinuations  of  the  aforesaid  Mauricio;  but  this  is  not  sufficient  to  re- 
deem the  damages  and  injuries  resulting  from  such  ductility  against  the  peace 


-  398  — 

and  quiet  of  this  Province.  Your  protests,  justifiying  Barros'  conduct,  about 
his  occasional  entry  in  Gatimi,  are  implicative  and  weak,  as  they  lack  the 
connection  and  solidity  which  renders  appreciative  the  productions  of  the 
mind,  all  the  more  so  in  matters  of  so  much  weight  and  seriousness  as  the 
present  one.  The  fact  of  your  having  granted  (as  you  say)  to  this  Barros 
permission  to  run  over  the  wilderness  of  the  Ubay,  with  prohibition  to  get 
near  the  dominions  of  Castile;  and  of  his  having  disregarded  this  clause  of 
your  leave,  with  no  other  excuse  but  the  one  alleged  of  his  pretended  neces- 
sity; and  your  approval,  in  spite  of  such  disregard  of  his  conduct,  lead  to 
the  conclusion  that  you  were  afflicted  with  allienation  of  mind,  to  founder  in 
so  much  contradiction.  You  say  that  you  would  have  had  him  retire  if  you 
had  not  touched  upon  the  question  of  limits,  by  virtue  of  the  cancellation 
of  the  treaty. 

The  question  which  I  touched  upon,  was  that  of  asking  you  to  peremp- 
torily command  Barros  to  decamp  from  those  places  and  return  to  his  cen- 
tre, and  when  in  answer  to  my  intimation  to  leave  the  grounds,  he  said  that 
he  was  in  Portuguese  lands,  I  proposed  to  you  in  my  letter  the  solid  indes- 
tructible argument  of  the  cancellation  of  the  treaty,  it  seming  to  me  more 
convenient  to  look  to  that  source  in  search  of  the  pacifying  remedy,  rather 
than  contend  with  a  subject  dependent  upon  your  Government,  since  no 
other  reply  could  be  obtained  but  that  he  was  on  his  grounds,  a  kind  of 
watch-word  that  he  probably  learnt  at  San  Pablo,  dictated  by  the  Council 
which  was  held  there  to  aid  and  protect  the  rebels  of  Curuguati  against  the 
Crown  of  Spain,  taking  advantage  of  these  disorders  to  take  possession  of  the 
river  and  its  borders. 

If  I  had  not  minded  that  establisment  you  would  say  that  it  had  my  ap- 
probation, and  that  of  all  this  province,  while  now  because  I  have  remons- 
trated in  due  time  and  in  the  most  polite  manner,  in  accord  with  the  exisitng 
peace  and  harmony  between  both  nations,  you  boast  of  not  having  ordered 
the  withdrawal  just  because  I  had  raise  this  question  I  What  would  you  have 
done  if  I  had  kept  silent  ?  Your  ways  of  controverting,  in  your  justification, 
are  rather  compHcated,  though  very  comprehensible  within  the  scope  of  chi- 
canery. 

Among  the  many  incongruities  which  you  produce  as  evidence  in  favor 
of  the  peaceful  and  modern  possession  of  Gatimi,  the  greatest  and  most  la- 
mentable that  will  strike  the  mind  of  our  most  August  Sovereign  will  be  the 
one  in  which  you  refer  to  the  encounter  between  the  Curuguatis  soldiers  sent 
by  me  to  explore  those  deserts,  and  Barros  and  his  Arrabal.  You  assert  that  in 
this  encounter  the  Curuguatis  cried:  Long  hve  the  King  of  Portugal  for  we 
are  on  his  lands,  and  that  you,  in  proof  of  this  clamorous  declaratiou,  yon 
hold  an  act  sent  to  you  by  Barros,  testifying  the  foregoing  spontaneous  con- 
fession of  the  said  Curuguatis. 

And  by  the  way,  when  I  was  reading  this  most  singular  passage  I  re- 
called that  sacred  one  in  the  History  of  the  Hebrew  Kings,  when  Sadoc  and 
Nathan  anointed  Solomon  as  King,  at  Gibon  et  ascendente. .  ,  .  dixerunt,  viva 
Rex  in  eternum ;  though  I  well  knew  that  when  you  communicated  to  me 


—  399  — 

this  celebrated  passage,  you  did  not  mean  to  attribute  to  the  Curuguatis  the 
gift  of  the  two  above  named  anointers  ;  but  to  distinguish  them  as  witnesses 
against  the  right  of  their  own  Soverieng,  to  the  benefit  of  the  Crown  of  Por- 
tugal. 

The  exposition  of  this  fact  alone,  is  the  most  conclusive  proof  that  you 
can  give  the  world  of  the  evils  planned  for  the  success  of  the  expedition ;  it 
is  the  transparency  through  which  appears  the  disordinated  conduct  of  the 
Paulists  in  favoring,  protecting  and  aiding  those  rebellious  vassals  of  my 
King  and  Master,  thus  causing  ruination  in  this  province,  and  wholesale  unea- 
siness in  the  town  of  Curuguati. 

In  view  of  all  this,  I  ask :  Where  does  that  harmony  exist  which  you 
preach  so  much  in  your  location,  and  which  you  strive  to  preserved  among 
us  as  a  pearl  most  precious  ?  Where  is,  I  repeat,  that  punctuality,  that  good 
faith  and  sincerity  which  you  promise  in  your  letter  to  keep,  in  just  recipro- 
city, toward  this  province  ?  Your  silence  and  the  order  for  Barros  to  retreat 
with  the  traitors  whom  he  aided  are  the  best  replies  with  which  you  will  win 
much  glory  in  the  appreciation  of  your  King,  in  whose  Royal  mind  there  is 
no  room  for  treachery,  fraud  or  usurpation  to  govern  with  justice,  equity  and 
probity. 

I  therefore,  and  to  finish  our  questions  on  this  subject,  request  you  in 
the  name  of  the  King,  my  master,  and  of  yours,  by  virtue  of  the  close  ties  of 
friendship  and  relationship  with  which  they  are  bound,  that  you  will  forth- 
with send  order  to  Barros  to  retire,  with  his  arrabal  of  Paulists,  from  the 
shores  of  the  Gatimi,  leaving  this  province  in  peace  and  quiet,  in  the  same 
form  and  manner  in  which  it  was  before  and  after  the  cancellation  of  the 
treaty  on  limits;  this  resolution  being  the  most  in  sympathy  with  the  preser- 
vation of  good  harmony,  peace  and  concord  which  we  ought  to  appreciate 
and  promote.  The  object  of  all  this  is  to  convince  you  of  your  erroneous 
opinions,  and  not  to  ofTend  your  person  which  I  sincerely  revere.  Asump- 
cion,  September  i8th  1770.  This  is  a  copy  of  the  original  on  file  in  the  office 
of  the  Secretary  of  this  Captaincy  General.  Buenos  Ayres,  July  24th  1771. — 
Joseph  de  Albizuri,  (with  his  mark.) 


1  784-1  795 


Differences   with  the  Portuguese  since  the  peace  of  1763  to 

the  declaration  of  war   in  1777  :  abstracts  made  from 

the  l^emoirs  of  the  Viceroys  of  the  River  Plate  ( * ) 

Though  the  treaty  of  peace  concluded  at  Paris  in  January  tenth  in  the 
year  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-three  fully  specified  the  respective  domi- 
nions and  possessions  of  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  in  America,  the  latter 
tried  to  delay  the  receipt  of  the  Colonia  del  Sacramento,  in  order  to  promote, 
as  they  did,  new  pretensions  which,  though  unfounded,  there  was  a  desire  to 
settle  amicably  between  the  Courts  of  Madrid  and  Lisbon. 

Therefore,  and  on  the  strength  of  the  peace  which  was  ratified  by  the 
Portuguese  Commanders  of  the  Viamont  and  San  Cayetano,  the  Comman- 
der of  our  troops  on  the  frontiers  of  Rio  Grande  de  San  Pedro,  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Don  Jose  Molina,  who  acknowledged  them  on  account  of  the  gather- 
ing of  troops  they  were  making  at  several  places  and  mountains  of  Tape 
belonging  to  the  Spanish  dominion,  bordering  the  river  San  Gonzalo,  assur- 
ing him  there  was  no  foundation  for  his  suspicion  and  that  he  would  fulfil 
the  orders  they  have  from  their  sovereing  to  maintain  good  harmony  without 
committing  any  vexation  on  no  pretext  whatever ;  but  it  did  not  take  long  to 
see  that  both  proceeded  in  bad  faith,  for  the  protest  on  the  Portuguese  side 
having  been  made  on  May  24th,  1767,  on  the  following  day  May  28th  they 
attacked  the  advanced  guard  in  the  northern  border  of  the  said  Rio  San  Pe- 
dro, and  took  possession  of  it  by  the  force  of  arms. 

This  scandalaus  deed,  unheard  of  among  civilized  nations,  gave  rise  to  a 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  documents  existing  in  the  General  lArchives  of 
Indies,  which  in  copies  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul,  at  Sevile,  form,  part  of 
group  B,  No.  7,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—   4°  2   

remonstration  on  the  part  of  our  Court  to  that  of  Portugal,  and  His 
Most  Faithful  Majesty  issued  the  strictest  orders  that  the  Viceroy  of 
Brazil  should  restore  things  to  their  former  standing  on  the  said  28th  of 
May,  ordering  at  the  same  time,  and  as  a  proof  of  his  indignation,  to  send  to 
Lisbon,  as  a  prisoner,  the  Portuguese  Commander,  to  whom  the  offense  was 
attributed  ;  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty  wishing  to  show,  with  this  and  other 
demonstrations,  how  much  he  deplored  all  that  had  happened.  The  orders 
from  our  Court  were  combined  with  those  from  Lisbon,  and  the  Governor  of 
this  province  who  was  at  the  time  the  Lieutenant  General  Don  Francisco 
Bucareh,  was  instructed  to  push  on  till  he  would  regain  possession,  without 
the  noise  of  arms,  of  the  place  so  wrongfully  occupied  by  the  Portuguese  who, 
and  particularly  the  Viceroy  of  Brazil  with  apparent  excuses,  and  finally  with 
sophistical  reasons  refused  to  evacuate  and  give  up  the  place. 

On  the  contrary,  they  kept  on,  with  the  utmost  recklessness,  smuggling, 
stealing  cattle  and  horses  aided  by  officers  and  troops,  who  had  orders  to  use 
force  if  they  met  any  opposition  ;  and  inducing  the  Indians  from  the  pueblos 
of  Misiones  to  desert,  as  they  did  in  great  number,  into  their  settlements 
where  they  would  enjoy  religious  liberty. 

Don  Francisco  Bucareli  returned  to  Spain  well  convinced  of  the  fal- 
lacious conduct  of  the  Portuguese,  who  far  from  fulfiling  their  promises,  ad- 
vanced their  purposes  into  fresh  hostilities. 

Shortly  after  taking  possession  of  the  office  I  received  a  special  message 
from  the  Court  with  a  Royal  Warrant  of  December  eighth,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  seventy,  in  which  I  was  instructed  to  warn  at  once  the 
people,  and  guard  the  southern  bank  of  Rio  Grande,  because  a  secret  expe- 
dition was  on  foot  against  the  same,  commanded  by  the  captain  of  sea  and 
land,  Don  Bernardo  Ramirez  de  Esquivel,  who,  in  fact,  arrived  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro  with  such  object  in  view,  but  he  did  not  realize  it,  on  information  that 
the  said  port  was  well  protected  by  me  with  sufficient  troops. 

Right  thereafter  the  Captain  General  of  San  Pablo  detached  a  Lieute- 
nant Colonel  with  four  hundred  men  of  regular  troops,  who  joined  Captain 
Don  Antonio  Silveira  Peixoto  with  a  party  to  excite  rebellion  in  the  pueblos 
of  Misiones  by  means  of  edicts  in  the  name  of  the  proscripts;  but  he  was  taken 
prisoner  with  his  troops  and  two  subaltern  officers  in  the  pueblo  of  Corpus, 
from  where  I  had  passed  them  to  this  city  where  they  were  held  in  close  con- 
finement by  order  of  the  Audiencia,  until  the  peace  was  made. 

The  Portuguese,  not  content  with  their  continuous  excessive  thefts  of  all 
kinds  of  cattle,  out  of  which  the  Most  Faithful  King,  or  his  Governors,  col- 
lected one-fifth,  tried  at  the  same  time  to  penetrate,  setting  up  settlements 
on  the  south  side  of  the  rivers  Pardo;  Tabatunpay  and  Pepiri,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  which,  and  near  the  river  Icabacua,  and  other  grounds  which,  with- 
out question,  belonged  to  Spain,  they  increased  their  estates  with  the  thefts, 
and  this  prompted  me  to  inform  the  Court  that  by  virtue  of  the  previous 
orders  received,  I  was  making  preparations  to  dispossess  them  and  fortify 
the  post  of  Santa  Tecla,  which,  if  garrisoned  with  some  troops  of  infantry  and 


—  403  — 

dragoons,  could  watch  the  avenues  through  which  the  Portuguese  carried  on 
their  smuggling  and  thieving. 

This  plan  having  been  approved,  I  started  my  expedition  with  five  hun- 
dred men  of  regular  troops,  and  an  equal  number  of  militiamen,  four  cannons 
and  four  canoes.  I  occupied  the  post  of  Santa  Tecla,  and  leaving  orders  and 
instructions  to  fortify  the  same,  I  proceeded  onward  to  the  river  Pepiri 
where,  I  was  informed,  the  Portuguese  were  intrenched,  and  they  abandoned 
the  place  without  much  opposition,  notwithstanding  their  advantageous  posi- 
tion. Those  of  the  Tabatinga  did  the  same,  they  having  withdrawn  before- 
hand all  the  cattle  they  had  in  their  farms. 


Demarcation  of  Limits  to  establish  the  boundary  line  betvireen  this  dominion 

of  the  Kingr  our  Master  and  the  Crown  of  Portug-al :  Present  state 

of  these  important  operations :  Taken  from  the  Memoir  by 

the  Marquis  of  Loreto,  February  10,  1790. 

In  the  instructive  report  which  I  have  mentioned  elsewhere,  relative  to 
the  informations  received  by  my  predecessor,  your  Excellency  will  find,  in 
reference  to  the  steps  taken  to  draw  the  boundary  line  of  these  frontiers,  leav- 
ing the  foreign  dominion  well  defined,  an  accurate  statement;  but  I  must  add 
here  all  that  is  conducive  to  place  in  view  the  present  condition  of  these 
operations,  and  to  that  end  I  shall  dwell  not  only  upon  the  principles  which 
must  have  governed  the  said  operations,  but  on  every  party,  individually, 
and  sufficiently  to  save  your  Excellency  the  examination  of  some  antecedents 
that  are  not  pertinent,  so  that  your  attention  may  be  called  to  others  more 
important  which  may  present  themselves  about  the  matter. 

By  virtue  of  the  preliminary  treaty  on  limits,  October  i  ith,  1777  His  Ma- 
jesty ordered  to  go  to  America  the  officers  whom  He  was  pleased  to  employ 
in  the  demarcation  that  was  about  to  be  made  between  this  Crown  and  that 
of  Portugal ;  and  upon  their  arrival  they  proceeded  to  devise  the  divisions 
that  were  to  be  made  on  this  southern  side  by  virtue  of  the  Royal  instruc- 
tions received  on  June  sixth,  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-eight,  on  file 
at  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  the  chamber.of  this  Viceroiship. 

The  King  ordered  that  three  divisions  should  be  made,  the  first  and 
second  of  which  to  be  subdivided  in  two,  each  one,  with  a  headquarter-mas- 
ter,  one  surveyor,  one  geographer  and  one  guide  ;  the  third  one  not  to  be 
subdivided  ;  and  that  Portugal  must  make  an  equal  number  and  the  same 
number  of  individuals.  For  the  first  Spanish  subdivision  the  following  per- 
sons were  appointed  : 

FIRST    DIVISION. 

Headquarter-master,  Brigadier  Jose  Varela  y  Ulloa. 
Surveyor,  Captain  Don  Bernardo  Lecoq. 

ADJUTANTS. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  D.  Jose  Ortiz. — Pilot,  D.  Joaquin  Gundin. — 
Chaplain,  Manuel  de  la  Mata. — Surgeon,  Juan   de  MoHna. — Assistant  Sur- 


—  404  — 

geon,  Jose  Santaela. — Phlebotomist,  Jose  A.  Segovia. — Stone-cutter,  Gero- 
nimo  Acosta. — Carpenter,  Pedro  Aloy. — Cart  wright,  Ramon  de  los  Santos. 
— Baker,  Luis  Luigorio. — Blacksmith,  Jose  Asene. — Guide,  Domingo  Mi- 
randa.— Another  Guide,  Jose  Nuiiez. 

To  this  was  joined  a  detachment  of  dragoons  and  their  officers,  and  the 
number  of  laborers  for  the  service  of  carts,  horses  and  cattle,  with  their  cor- 
responding foremen. 

This  subdivision  left  this  capital  on  December  twenty-ninth,  seventeen 
hundred  and  eighty -three  towards  the  guard  of  brook  Chuy,  to  join  the  Por- 
tuguese division  where  their  demarcation  was  to  begin,  and  follow  up  the 
the  hill  which  divided  the  water  towards  the  rivers  Uruguay  on  the  west  and 
the  Yacuy  on  the  east,  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Pepiri. 

This  party  has  already  accomplished  its  commission,  and  received  orders 
to  return  to  this  capital;  but  the  points  on  which  the  Commissioners  of  both 
nations  disagree,  are  still  undecided  by  the  respective  Courts.  The  first 
point  is  about  the  demarcation  of  the  river  Piratini,  which  flows  into  the  lock 
of  lake  Merim,  because  the  Portuguese  have  refused  to  comply  with  the  treaty; 
the  second  point,  about  the  meadows  of  the  Misiones,  which  must  remain  in 
the  dominions  of  Spain,  as  is  stipulated  in  the  treaty ;  the  third  point  lately 
raised,  is  about  the  mistake  ijiade  by  the  demarcators,  as  by  the  treaty  of 
seventeen  hundred  and  fifty,  in  taking  another  river  for  the  river  Pepiri,  in- 
stead of  taking  another  further  east,  as  explained  in  the  minutes  of  D.  Jose 
Varela  y  Ulloa.  The  officer  is  on  his  way  back,  having  discharged  his  com- 
missions. 

SECOND    DIVISION. 

This  division  left  this  city,  together  with  the  first  one,|on  the  same  day  ; 
and  after  having  been  engaged  in  various  operations,  they  separated,  and  it 
proceeded  to  its  destination,  the  towm  of  Candelaria  or  Corpus,  the  last  of 
the  eastern  side  of  the  river  Parana;  going  up  in  boats  to  the  foot  of  the  fall 
of  the  river  Iguazu,  or  Curitiba,  three  leagues  distant  from  its  mouth  in  the 
Parana,  and  from  there  to  the  river  San  Antonio,  which  is  the  second  that 
flows  in  it  by  the  south  ;  and  going  up  as  far  as  the  waters  permit,  to  try  to 
find  its  source  and  unite  it  to  the  river  Pepiri,  the  mouth  of  which  will  have 
been  found  by  the  first  division  ;  and  upon  its  return  the  demarcation  shall 
be  made  from  the  mouth  of  the  Iguazu  to  the  foot  of  the  big  fall  of  the  river 
Parana,  according  to  the  Article  VIII  of  the  treaty. 

But  this  demarcation  must  be  changed  as  far  at  the  river  Pepiri  is  con- 
cerned, for  it  was  lately  found  out,  as  I  have  stated,  that  the  said  river  Pepi- 
ri may  not  be  the  one  which  the  Commissioners  took  in  connection  with  the 
demarcation  of  the  treaty  of  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty,  but  another  river 
situated  further  east  of  the  former  one,  as  is  demonstrated  by  the  notes  of 
our  Commissioner  Jose  Varela  y  Ulloa;  a  dispute  which  shall  be  referred  to 
the  respective  Courts,  for  final  decision.     Buenos  Ayres,  Febrary  lo,  1790. 


—  405  — 

Survey   of  the  River  Pepiri-Guazu  by  the  Commissioner  surveyor  D.   Die- 
go de  Alvear :  Taken  from  the  Memoir  by  the  Viceroy  Arredondo,  1795. 

The  boundary  line  being  made  to  run  to  start  from  the  extreme  of  the 
Piratini,  until  the  confluence  of  the  Pepiri-guazu  with  the  Uruguay  is  found  on 
the  western  side  of  the  latter,  as  resolved  in  articles  III,  IV,  VI  and  VIII,  this 
point  was  not  duly  cleared  up,  until  the  :  3th  of  April.  1 790,  when  I  addressed 
a  note  to  the  commissioner  of  the  second  party  of  demarcation,  Captain  of 
the  Navy,  Don  Diego  de  Alvear  requesting  him  to  proceed  with  all  possi- 
ble speed  with  the  survey  of  the  said  Pepiri-guazu.  He  discharged  his  com- 
mission duly  and  completely,  as  by  his  note  of  August  3d  of  the  following 
year,  not  without  many  sufferings  and  the  loss  of  some  of  his  people  who  fell 
victims  of  the  heathens  and  diseases  contracted  with  hard  work  and  the  bad 
climate  of  these  places.  This  river  Pepiri-guazu  originated,  according  to  the 
information  received  from  the  said  commissioner,  in  a  small  lake  situated  at 
26°  43^  latitude  in  open  extensive  fields,  and  runs  thence  from  east  south  east, 
a  distance  of  60  leagues,  to  its  entrance  in  the  Uruguay,  forming  two  large 
beautiful  cataracts,  and  numberless  small  falls,  and  takes  a  large  portion  of 
brooks  in  its  northern  borders. 


[Discovery  of  nevr  river,  confluent  of  the  Pepiri-guazu. 

During  this  important  operation,  our  geographer,  Don  Andres  de  Oyar- 
vide,  though  he  had  been  left  alone,  by  the  inopportune  retreat  of  his  Portu- 
guese colleague,  under  pretext  that  his  instructions  forbade  him  to  go  beyond 
the  entrance  of  the  Pepiri,  happened  to  discover  another  river  which  met  with 
the  said  Pepiri,  and  he  applied  his  work  to  both  surveys  ;  but  though  he 
only  succeeded  in  surveying  it  to  the  extent  of  two  leagues,  the  result  was  of 
no  small  account,  for  he  established  the  resemblance  of  this  river  to  the  river 
San  Antonio,  in  the  previous  demarcation,  and  its  proximity  to  the  true 
Pepiri-guazu,  from  whence  the  boundary  line  should  start ;  from  which  he 
named  the  said  river  San  Antonio. 

In  view  of  these  considerations,  I  requested  the  said  Commissioner  to 
complete  the  said  survey  of  the  said  river,  from  the  eastern  part,  or  the  Por- 
tuguese border  of  Curitiba,  to  the  extreme  open  fields  where  both  rivers  ori- 
ginate, it  being  difficult  and  dangerous  to  enter  those  places  elsewhere  ;  and 
to  direct  his  application  to  that  purpose,  even  if  it  were  objected  to  by  his 
competitor  ;  for  this  very  opposition  would  serve  to  show  to  the  Courts  that 
nothing  have  been  left  undone  on  our  part  conducive  to  the  fulfilment  of  the 
treaty.  The  opposition  of  the  Portuguese  commissioners  was  effective,  not 
only  because  they  thought  it  would  be  useless  to  survey  a  river  which,  they 
assured,  was  not  the  one  spoken  of  in  Article  VIII,  under  the  name  of  San 
Antonio,  which  flows  into  the  great  Curitiba  or  Iguazu,  but  because  it  did  not 
resemble  the  Piquiri  or  Pepiri-guazu;  which  our  commissioner  calls  the  true 
one.    -But  the  strong  arguments  of  the  latter,  which  may  be  seen  in  his  note 


—  4o6  — 

of  December  12th,  1791  to  this  Superior  Government,  show  the  evidence  that 
the  two  rivers  pointed  out  by  Article  VIII,  are  none  others  but  those  above 
named. 

The  foregoing  paragraphs  of  the  memoirs  left  by  the  Viceroy  of  the  River 
Plate,  Don  Juan  Jose  de  Vertiz  and  the  Marquis  de  Loreto,  dated  respectively 
Buenos  Ayres,  March  12th,  1784  and  February  ist,  1790,  have  been  found 
correct  after  comparison  with  the  originals  on  file  in  this  General  Archive  of 
Indies,  in  the  Library  of  the  same.  Sevile,  October  28th,  1892. — Chief 
Recorder,  Pedro  Torres  Lanzas. 


1790 


Reflections  on   the  reports   g-iven  by  the   G-overnor   Quarter- 

IVEaster,  about  the  foundation  of  the  fort  Coimbra  and 

the  town   of  Albuquerque  by  the  Portuguese  on 

the  banks  of  the  river  Paraguay.  {*) 

Your  Excellency :  although  this  Governor  Quarter  Master  gives  your 
Excellency  a  detailed  report  of  the  Fort  Coimbra  and  the  town  of  Albuquer- 
que, which  the  Portuguese  have  lately  founded  on  the  western  coast  of  the 
river  Paraguay,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  bring  to  the  notice  of  your  Excellency 
some  reflections  suggested  by  my  geographical  knowledge  of  these  countries, 
which  your  Excellency  will  kindly  communicate  to  Flis  Majesty,  so  that  the 
Portuguese  shall  not  succeed  in  breaking  the  last  treaty  of  peace,  inas- 
much as  it  is  contrary  to  the  maintainance  of  their  usurpations,  and  gives  us 
facility  to  check  their  progress. 

Of  course,  these  settlements  detailed  to  your  Excellency  by  this  Gover- 
nor Quarter  Master,  have  been  made  unjustly,  against  the  stipulations  of  the 
treaties,  which  in  their  articles  nine  and  thirteenth  leave  expressly  to  His 
Majesty  the  perpetual  domain  of  the  said  western  coast  and  the  free  naviga- 
tion through  the  said  river  Paraguay,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Jauru. 

With  these  grave  usurpations,  the  Portuguese  are  placeed  in  a  position  to 
penetrate  into  Peru,  through  a  passage  where  His  Majesty  has  no  strong  vas- 
sals who  can  resist  their  transgressions,  the  result  of  which  cannot  be  but  de- 
plorable, and  the  said  settlements  being  located  some  thirty  leagues  from  our 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Archive  of 
the  Royal  Academy  of  History  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul 
at  Madrid,  forms  part  of  group  B.,  No.  8  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evi- 
dence." 


—  4o8  — 

* 
Chiquitos,  with  which  they  are  now  in  communication,  they  may  within  a 
few  years  induce  our  poor  unsteady  Indians  to  go  over  to  their  mines,  which 
are  in  need  of  more  hands.  The  mutiny  has  probably  had  no  other  source 
but  the  suggestion  and  help  from  Albuquerque  where  they  have  taken  re- 
fuge, and  some  of  our  Chiquitos,  who  are  probably  the  principal  delinquents, 
were  well  received. 

I  will  not  make  any  mention  here  of  the  damages  to  which  our  Monar- 
chy is  subject  on  account  of  these  settlements,  but  will  set  forth  the  advan- 
tages of  which  they  deprive  us.  The  river  Paraguay,  which  is  the  best  in 
the  world  for  navigation,  is  open  to  us  from  Spain,  and  brings  us  easily  to  the 
centre  of  the  Portuguese  miners,  who  knowing  these  advantages,  which  they 
have  not,  have  founded  the  above  named  settlements  which  deprived  us  of 
the  same,  and  we  cannot  oppose  their  rapid  progress  in  the  mines  of  Rlato- 
grosso,  Cuyaba  and  mountains  of  Paraguay  which  is  the  source  of  the  river  of 
that  name. 

This  only  consideration  is  sufficient  to  try,  by  all  means,  to  have  them 
abandon  the  said  settlements  which  by  the  treaty  of  peace,  are  expressly  for- 
bidden on  our  boundaries.  I  shall  therefore  explain  my  ideas  based  upon 
geographical  knowledge,  which  show  that  the  King  cannot  check  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Portuguese  in  these  mines,  unless  by  the  efforts  of  this  province. 
No  other  Governor  conceived  this  g^eat  and  useful  idea  before  the  Illustrious 
Don  Agustin  Fernandez  de  Pinedo,  who,  without  any  means  nor  help  had 
the  hardihood  to  start  them,  gathering  people  and  going  with  them  in  1773 
to  found  a  fort  and  a  town  where  Coimbra  is  now  situated.  But  so  persis- 
tent and  obstinate  was  the  oppossition  he  met  on  the  part  of  this  Council  and 
its  deputies,  that  he  was  obliged  to  remain  under  the  trafic,  where  he  found- 
ed the  city  of  La  Concepcion,  which  has  given  prestige  to  this  province,  ex- 
tending its  jurisdiction  eight  times  more  than  it  was  on  the  north  side. 

Following  the  idea  and  example  of  Seiior  Pinedo,  by  destroying  the  said 
settlements,  we  could  and  should  settle  on  the  same  places,  belonging  to  us 
by  the  treaties;  which  is  not  so  difficult  to-day  as  when  it  was  intended  by 
him,  as  we  have  a  stopping  place  in  La  Concepcion,  and  the  province  is 
much  more  wealthy  and  populated.  This  done,  we  could  lay  down  in  the 
said  places,  in  forty  to  sixty  days  from  this  capital,  all  kinds  of  merchanta- 
ble goods  in  schooners  and  cutters  similar  to  those  trading  in  this  River  Pla- 
te, and  sell  them  to  the  Portuguese  miners,  who  are  not  far,  sixty  to  one 
hundred  per  centum  cheaper  than  those  coming  from  Santos  through  San 
Pablo  and  the  rivers  Tiete,  Pardo,  Taquari  and  Theane,  which  have  so  many 
falls  and  rocks  that  it  takes  three  months  to  make  the  passage,  and  the  load 
and  canoes  are  carried  on  the  shoulders  many  times,  and  besides,  they  can 
only  navigate  in  winter  because  there  is  no  water  in  other  seasons,  and  even 
then,  it  cannot  be  done  without  escort  which  shall  protect  them  from  the  in- 
sults of  the  savages. 

This  commerce  could  not  introduce  anything  but  gold  and  diamonds, 
because  the  said  mines  produce  nothing  else,  neither  have  they  manufacto- 
ries nor  products,  except  those  which  we  can  spare.     Cattle  is  worth  there 


—  409  — 

twenty  times  more  than  here,  the  salt  which  we  have  in  excess  is  monopoli- 
zed by  them,  because  Brazil  does  not  produce  it;  negroes  have  the  same  va- 
lue as  in  this  province,  and  the  European  goods  we  can  buy  for  less  price. 

It  is  true  that  smuggling  is  prohibited  by  the  treaties;  but  by  tolerating 
it  nothing  more  would  be  done  than  what  the  Portuguese  do  in  Rio  Grande, 
and  wherever  the  occasion  presents  itself.  But  in  spite  of  our  honesty  and 
good  faith  in  not  admitting  this  moderate  reprisal,  the  destruction  of  the  said 
Coimbra  and  Albuquerque,  and  other  towns  further  North  in  secluded  pla- 
ces, and  the  proximity  with  people  and  prisons  to  take  the  air  of  the  mines, 
is  absolutely  indispensable,  to  watch  the  Portuguese  closely  in  times  of 
peace,  and  attack  them  in  those  of  war. 

The  Paraguayans,  settled  where  I  desire,  would  answer  this  purpose  in 
two  infallible  manners :  firstly,  to  place  an  armed  cutter  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Taquari,  or  that  of  the  Chiani,  which  flows  into  the  Paraguay ;  with 
which  the  trade  with  San  Pablo  would  be  stopped,  and  the  fleet  of  canoes 
which  are  the  only  vessels  the  Portuguese  could  offer  for  resistance  would  be 
seized :  the  second  manner  to  do  away  with  said  miners  in  times  of  war,  is 
to  attack  them  openly,  with  the  hope  that  they  are  powerless,  because  their 
people,  composed  of  slaves  and  oppressed  unsteady  men,  will  draw  the 
sword  for  our  cause  and  their  liberty,  and  besides,  by  having  one  or  two 
schooners  at  the  bar  of  the  Jauru,  those  settlers  could  not  help  each  other. 
Besides  all  that  has  been  mentioned,  if  we  establish  ourselves  in  those  places 
we  would  have  free  communication  with  our  Chianitas  and  facility  to  reduce 
the  industrious  and  quiet  Guanas  and  the  Mbayas,  with  other  advantages 
which  I  will  not  describe,  contenting  myself  with  the  suggestion  of  my  ideas 
which  your  Excellency  will  kindly  communicate  to  His  Majesty. — Asump- 
cion,  October  13th  1790. 


1791 


The  Vice  Roy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  Arredondo,  advices  the 

Conde  de  Florida  Blanca  that  he  has  g-iven  the  necessary 

orders  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Portuguese  from  Itapucu 

which  they  have  unduly  occupied.  ( * ) 

Your  Excellency  : —  By  the  enclosed  copy  Your  Excellency  will  be  ap- 
prised of  the  note  sent  to  me  by  the  Governor  Quarter  Master  of  Paraguay,  in 
reference  to  that  which  he  communicated  and  which  the  commandant  of  the 
city  of  La  Concepcion  obtained  from  the  Indians  Mbayas  that  the  Portuguese 
were  settling  on  the  Itapucu,  seventy  leagues  distant  from  the  same,  ac- 
companying a  paper  which  appears  to  have  been  written  to  a  Captain  of  the 
same  Indians,  encouraging  him  to  bring  them  aid  for  their  support,  and  giving 
me  all  the  news  which  confirm  the  existing  of  this  new  settlement;  and  it  is 
probable  that  some  friendship  may  have  been  established  between  the  Portu- 
guese and  the  Indians,  from  which  well  founded  fears  are  entertained  that 
the  former  may  take  posssession  of  all  those  fields. 

Supposing  the  Itapucu  is  a  place  belonging  in  the  domains  of  the  King 
I  have  replied  to  the  said  Governor  Quarter  Master  in  this  sense  renewing 
the  order  of  establishing  guards  or  stations  to  oppose  the  spreading  of  the 
Portuguese  into  that  province.  And  as  it  is  not  probable  that  they  are  in  a 
position  to  make  a  resistance,  I  have  suggested  to  him  the  advisability  of 
trying  forthwith  to  persuade  them  to  retire,  by  intimations,  made  in  the  spot, 
sending,  to  that  effect,  numerous   party   of  men  disposed  to  expell   them; 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the"  Central  Archive 
of  Alcala  de  Henares  which,  in  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at 
Madrid,  forms  part  of  group  B,  No.  9,  of  manuscript   documents   of  the   "Argentine   Evid- 


—  4^2  — 

although,  in  order  not  to  alter  the  good  understanding  prevailing  in  the  court, 
nor  to  interfere  \vith  the  provision  contained  in  article  XIX  of  the  preliminary 
treaty  on  limits,  I  have  warned  him  that  this  demonstration  is  not  to  exceed 
the  proportion  of  an  attempt,  and  that  all  kinds  of  violence  must  be  avoided. 
I  have  thought  myself  obliged  to  this  apparent  means  of  force  by  the  neces- 
sity of  exhausting  the  means  of  checking  the  Portuguese  in  their  ambitious 
ideas.  I,  therefore,  expect  that  His  Majesty  will  deign  to  approve  my  re- 
solution.    Buenos  Ayres  December  7th.  1791. 


Yonr  Excellency'—  Nicolas  de  Arredondo  to  His  Excellency  Count  of 
Florida  Blanca- 

Your  Excellency  : — The  Commandant  of  the  city  of  La  Concepcion 
in  his  note  of  August  the  30th.,  says  to  me,  that  among  the  Indians  Mbayas, 
one  of  the  nations  of  that  continent,  it  is  reported  that  the  Portuguese  were 
settling  Itapucu,  a  place  seventy  leagues  distant  with  a  plain  road,  where 
the  town  was  erected,  and  in  proof  of  which  the  same  Mbayas  handed  him 
the  paper  which  I  beg  to  enclose.  Shortly  before  receiving  this  news,  appeared 
before  him  another  Mbaya  with  breeches  and  shirt  on  (which  they  never 
wear)  assuring  him  that  he  had  obtained  them  from  the  Portuguese,  which 
was  corroborated  by  the  peculiar  form  of  clothing  used  by  this  nation.  We 
have  the  certainty  that  the  Portuguese  have  tried  to  form  an  alliance  with 
the  Mbayas,  judging  by  the  familiarity  with  which  they  are  treated  in  this 
paper,  which  we  do  not  know  to  whom  it  has  been  addressed.  Should  they 
be  successful  in  forming  such  an  aUiance,  it  will  be  an  easy  thing  for  them  to 
become  the  owners  of  those  lands,  for  these  Indians  are  impetuous  and  war- 
riors; although  from  informations  lately  received,  they  have  paid  dearly  for 
this  new  friendship,  for  according  to  the  Cacique  Natalenique,  they  have  had 
a  serious  encounter,  -with  dead  on  both  sides.  I  do  not  vouch  for  the  truth  of 
it,  but  from  other  antecedents  the  news  is  probable.  I  communicate  to  your 
Excellency  the  event  in  the  same  manner  in  which  it  was  said  to  me  by  the 
Commandant  with  reference  to  the  reports  of  the  Mbayas,  so  that  Your  Ex- 
cellency may  decide  what  it  may  be  best.  I  have  thought  to  send  up  a  canoe 
to  investigate  the  truthfulness  of  the  news,  but  this  being  incumbent  upon 
the  previous  commissions,  I  expect  that  Your  Excellency  will  inform  me  of 
yonr  resolution  in  the  matter.  In  the  meantime,  I  shall  gather  all  the  news 
which  may  appear  more  individual  and  reliable,  Asumpcion,  September  19th. 
1791. — Your  Excellency. — Joaquin  Alas. — To  His  Excellency  Viceroy 
Don  Nicolas  de  Arredondo. 


My  friend  Captain  Joaquin  :  On  your  return  bring  many  horses  and 
mules,  and  silver  spurs  and  flour:  you  will  sell  them  in  this  place. — Mark — 
It  corresponds  with  the  original  which  is  exhibited  in  this  historical  exposi- 
tion on  the  installation  of  the  Central  General  Archive.  Madrid,  March 
twelfth  of  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety  three. — General  Deputy, 
Fide/  Pita. 


1  792 


XVote  firom  the  Viceroy  Arredondo  to  the  Count  of   Aranda 

complaining  of  the  continued  advances  and  depredations  of 

the  Portuguese  on  the  South  of  the  Firatini.    ( * ) 

Your  Excellency : — Although  I  had  made  several  dispositions,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  this  year,  in  order  to  establish  before  winter  the  three  guards,  or 
stations,  in  cor  sequence  of  the  Royal  decree,  dated  June  eleventh  of  the  pre- 
ceeding  year,  to  avoid  the  inroad  of  the  Portuguese  in  this  southern  part  of 
Piratini,  the  slowness  in  dictating  other  dispositions  equally  necessary,  the 
resolution  of  which  ought  to  have  been  realized  with  preference,  with  inter- 
vention of  the  Royal  Treasury,  did  not  permit  to  take  advantage  of  that  fav- 
orable season,  and  it  was  necessary  to  wait  until  the  present  spring  ;  and 
having  informed  the  Government  of  Montevideo  of  the  workmen,  horses, 
carts,  wagons,  etc.,  which  were  necessary  for  the  establishment  and  support 
of  the  said  guards,  I  have  given  the  instructions,  a  copy  of  which  is  enclosed, 
to  the  Pilot  Don  Joseph  Gundin,  to  proceed,  by  which,  your  Excellency  will 
take  note  of  the  considerations  that  made  me  select  this  individual  for  that 
purpose,  although  I  have  followed  the  opinion  of  the  second  Engineer  Don 
Bernardo  Lecocq  in  everything  relating  to  this  establishment,  he  having  been 
appointed  by  His  Majesty  to  realize  it.  The  troop  destined  to  the  said  guards 
is  the  only  one  expressed  in  the  enclosed  statement,  the   small  garrison  of 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archive  ol 
Alcala  de  Henares  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul,  at  Madrid, 
forms  part  of  group  B,  No.  lo  of  manuscript  documents  of  the   "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  414   — 

this  province  not  allowing  to  remove  the  force,  although  I  know  that  it  would 
be  convenient  that  it  should  be  more  numerous,  to  check  the  invasion  that 
the  Portuguese  might  attempt,  whose  troops  are  openly  occupying  the  same 
post  or  guards,  or  stealing  under  the  disguise  of  ranchers,  the  horses  ap- 
pertaining to  the  said  guards  :  all  of  which  I  communicate  to  your  excellency, 
promising  to  notify  everything  that  may  occur  in  the  matter,  and  may  be 
worthy  of  the  notice  of  your  Excellency. — Buenos  Ayres,  December  thirteenth, 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-two. — Your  Excellency  NICOLAS 
DE  ARREDONDO.— To  his  Excellency  Count  of  Aranda. 


I  801 


TRUE   STATISTICS 

of  the  seven  eastern  pueblos  of  IMEisiones  of  Uruguay,  at  the 

time  they  were  invaded  by  Brazilians,  some  eighty  days 

after  the  ratifications  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace 

of  Badajoz. 


This  is  a  translation  from  thie  original  document 

existing  in  tlie  General  Archiives  of  Indies  wFiichi,  in  a  copy 

duly  legalized  by  thie  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile, 

forms  part  of   group  B,  No.  11  of   manuscript 

documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence." 


—  4^6 


STf^TEMENT 

the  interests  and  number  of  Indians  of  tlie  seven  pueblos 
Spanish  territory  ever  since  they  were 


PUEBLOS. 

Farms. 

Heads  of 
cattle. 

Oxen. 

Horses. 

Mares. 

Donkeys. 

San  Borja   .    .    . 
San  Nicolas   .   . 
San  Luis  .... 
San  Lorenzo   .    . 
San  Miguel  .    . 
San  Juan.    .    .    . 
Santo  Angel   .    . 

7 
4 
3 

2 

6 
I 

3 

12,700 

25,150 

10,030 

3,000 

73.817 
200 
200 

643 

1.327 

903 

400 

"1,000 

360 

40 

541 
5.556 
937 
600 
2,304 
500 
200 

13.300 
2,736 
2,840 
1,800 
5,000 
1,150 
50 

198 

25 
6 

Totals  .    . 

26 

125,097 

4.673 

10,638 

26,876 

220 

I.  That  the  said  seven  pueblos  are  on  the  eastern  side  of  river  Uruguay 
comprises  an  extension  of  2,500  square  leagues  :  most  of  them  compose  the 
some  leased  possessions,  to  Spaniards,  whose  number  of  cattle  is  not  known, 
administrators  and  severals  Indians  in  particular.  Those  expressed  in  the  9th 

II.  That  the  1 1  cotton  farms  are  very  extensive  and  their  crops 
pueblos. 

IIL     That  the  vessel  of  the  pueblo  of  San  Borja  we  succeeded  in  saving 

IV.  That  the  portuguese  having  gone  so  far  as  Cerro  Largo,  they 
many  cattle. 

V.  The  preceding  statenjent  agrees  with  its  respective  originals  which 
Misiones  Guaranis,  the  colonel  Don  Joaquin  de  Soria,  who  sent  them  in 
roiship  before  the  proclamation  of  the  war  with  Portugal,  or  in  May  of  the 
that  the  detailed  exposition  of  the  interests  of  the  seven  pueblos  was  taken 
possession  of  the  same. 

VI.  The  2, 169  free  Indians  did  not  possess  the  adjudications   and  aid 

Madrid,  31st  December  1804 


—  4X7  — 


SHOWING 

of   Misiones    Guarani's  held  by  the  Portuguese  on  our 
invaded   in  the  month  of  August  I80I. 


Mules. 

Sheep. 

Goats. 

Hogs 

li 

U42 

Works 

> 

Amount 

of  stocks   in 

store. 

Indians  in 
community 

Do  free 

TOTAL  OF 
SOULS. 

80 

4,900 

19 

91 

3 

I 

I 

2,400 

1.925 

503 

2,428 

72 

1,530 

80 

I 

21,482 

1.953 

466 

2,419 

56 

231 

59 

I 

4,668 

1,229 

204 

1.433 

I 

I 

x,ooo 

556 

142 

698 

228 

682 

7 

I 

I 

2,597 

1,615 

no 

1,725 

15 

2 
2 

1,500 
1,000 

552 

775 

708 
36 

1,260 
811 

451 

7.343 

19 

237 

II 

3 

I 

34,647 

8,605 

2,169 

10,774 

between  the  river  Ibicui   and  the  boundary  line  with  Brazil.     Their  territory 
above  26  farms  where  the  above  named  animals   pasture.     There  were    also 
as  well  as  the  number   of   them   owned   by   the   lieutenant   governor,   the 
column  were  the  property  of  the  communities  of  the  pueblos, 
constituted  one  of  the  most  important  -branches  for   the   communities  of  the 

it,  as  well  as  the  silver  jewels  of  the  churches  of  the  seven  pueblos, 
penetrated  into  the  farms  of  the  residents  of  Montevideo   and   carried   away 

by  order  of  the  Marquis  de  Aviles  drew  up  the  governor  of  the  30  pueblos  of 
January  1801,  and  when  the  said  Marquis  left  the  government  of  that  Vice 
same  year,  I  delivered  the  said  statements  at  the  office  of  the  Secretary;  so 
and  sent  by  the  said   governor   seven  months  before   the   Portuguese   took 


decreed  by  the  said  Viceroy. 


MIGUEL  DE  LASTARRIA. 


fUHI7BESIT7l 


1804 


c  o  iMi  m  u  sr  I  c  A  T I  o  zv 

firom  the  Count  of  Campo  Alang-e,  Spanish  Ambassador  at  Lis- 
bon, to  the  Portuguese  IMEinister  Araujo  de  Azevedo,  pro- 
testing against  the  advances  of  the  Portuguese  in  the 
IKEisiones,  made  after  the  agreements  of  the  Peace  of 
Badajoz,  urging  on  him  celebration  of  a  defi- 
nitive treaty  on  boundaries.  {*) 

Your  Excellency : — When  with  the  treaty  of  peace  of  Badajoz  the  har- 
mony, transitorily  altered  between  the  two  Courts,  was  established, His  Majesty, 
the  King  my  master,  having  been  informed  that  the  Portuguese  troops  had 
occupied  on  the  continent  of  South  America  some  lands  belonging  to  the 
Crown  of  Spain,  ordered  his  charge  d'affaires  to  request,  as  a  consequence  of 
the  peace  happily  restablished,  the  evacuation  of  all  the  lands,  grounds  and 
places  occupied  by  the  Portuguese  troops  since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  so 
that  everything  should  remain  in  the  same  state  in  which  they  were  before 
the  breaking.  The  said  charge  d'affaires  of  His  Majesty  proceeded  accord- 
ingly, in  his  note  of  August  seventeenth,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
two,  to  His  Excellency  Don  Juan  de  Almeida. 

This  Secretary  of  State  of  foreign  affairs  replied,  that  His  Royal  High- 
ness the  Prince  Regent,  upon  being  informed  of  the  conquests  achieved  by 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archives  of 
Alcala  de  Henares  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Madrid, 
forms  part  of  group  B,No  12  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


420    

his  army  in  those  places,  issued  orders  that  they  should  be  evacuated  and  re- 
stored to  His  Catholic  Majesty,  and  had  communicated  the  fact  to  the  Span- 
ish Government,  by  order  of  the  tenth  of  the  same  month  of  August,  sent  to 
the  Minister  of  Portugal  at  Madrid,  so  that  His  Royal  Highness  had  or- 
dered that  which  His  Majesty  asked  for,  even  before  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment had  expressed  its  desire.  This  matter  was  supposed  to  be  settled  in 
view  of  this  most  positive  answer,  and  the  King,  my  master,  being  under  the 
same  impression  his  charge  d'affaires,  only  repeated  in  his  note  of  October 
the  fifteenth  of  the  same  year,  that  His  Majesty  expected  that  the  orders 
issued  by  His  Royal  Highness  would  be  complied  with.  The  irregular  pro- 
ceedings of  several  Portuguese  Governors  in  America  in  harassing  the  Span- 
ish possessions,  improving  those  that  had  been  unduly  acquired,  or  which 
should  not  be  held  after  the  peace,  and  acting  in  a  manner  entirely  opposed 
to  the  sence  of  justice  of  His  Royal  Highness,  and  to  the  considerations  of 
friendship  and  good  harmony  which  closely  bind  both  sovereigns ;  obliged 
His  Majesty  to  lay  his  complaints  before  the  Portuguese  Government,  and  to 
ask  for  a  remedy,  as  was  exposed  by  the  same  charge  d'affaires  in  his  note  of 
the  nineteenth  of  the  same  month  of  October,  and  in  other  various  notes 
upon  these  or  other  subjects,  all  in  reference  to  certain  interests  and  rights 
upon  that  continent.  But  in  regard  to  the  evacuation  and  restitution  of  that 
which  was  occupied  by  the  Portuguese  in  America  since  the  breaking  of  the 
war,  the  question  was  decided,  and  it  was  only  expected  that  the  orders 
from  His  Royal  Highness  would  run  the  long  distance  which  separates  both 
continents  to  receive  the  news  that  the  restitution  had  been  accomplished. 
Instead  of  such  news,  His  Majesty  received  the  information  that  the  Viceroy 
of  the  Janeiro  being  repeatedly  urged  by  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  ex- 
cused himself  for  the  non-restitution,  alleging  that  he  had  no  orders  from  his 
Government,  without  which  nothing  could  be  decided. 

However,  nearly  a  year  had  elapsed  since  the  nineteenth  of  August,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  two,  when  His  Excellency  Don  Juan  de  Almei- 
da told  the  charge  d'affaires  of  His  Majesty,  that  His  Royal  Highness  had 
issued  his  orders ;  and  expressing  the  astonishment  that  such  predetermined 
refusal  of  the  Government  of  the  Janeiro  would  cause,  I  protested,  upon  my 
arrival  at  this  Court,  against  such  resistance,  and  demanded,  by  order  of  the 
King  my  master,  in  my  note  of  June  twentieth,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  three,  that  authentic  copies  of  the  orders  that  were  to  have  been  sent  to 
America  should  be  sent  to  Madrid,  so  that  they  should  be  presented  in  Ame- 
rica by  the  Spanish  officers,  to  the  Portuguese.  The  reply  given  me  by  His 
Excellency  Don  Juan  de  Almeida,  in  a  note  without  date  was,  in  substance, 
that  the  orders  from  His  Royal  Highness  would  have  been  complied  with,  if 
they  had  not  been  withheld  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Spanish  Government 
had  not  restituted  the  territory  of  Jurumefia  which  it  wrongfully  held,  and 
that  His  Royal  Highness  was  disposed  to  send  his  orders  to  America,  expect-- 
ing  that  His  Majesty  would,  on  his  part,  make  the  said  restitution.  Your 
Excellency  sees  how  nearly  a  year  has  elapsed  during  which  time  the  Portu- 
guese Ministry  kept  silent  upon  its  intention  not  to  fulfil    what  it  had  pro- 


—  421  — 

mised  in  August,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  two,  while  the  Spanish 
Government  relied  on  the  sincerity  of  a  solemn  promise.  In  my  note  of  July 
thirteenth  of  the  following  year,  I  insisted  on  the  issue  of  the  orders,  inde- 
pendently of  the  Jurumefia  question,  this  being  a  matter  of  a  quite  different 
nature,  and  in  dispute,  whereas,  that  of  America  was  plain,  incontrovertible 
and  defined.  I  still  insisted  in  a  note  of  August  twenty-one  following,  and 
that  authentic  copies  of  the  orders  should  be  given,  to  avoid  misunderstand- 
ings, and  at  the  same  time  I  entered  upon  various  details  to  demonstrate  that 
the  claims  of  the  Portuguese  upon  that  small  part  of  the  territory  of  Jurume- 
fia was  unfounded  ;  but  Don  Juan  de  Almeida,  who  in  the  meandme  had 
been  exonerated  of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs,  did  not  respond.  I 
had  to  make  a  verbal  explanation  of  all  that  had  ocurred,  to  his  Excellency 
Viscount  Balsemas,  who  succeeded  Don  Juan  de  Almeida  pro  tempore,  who 
admittedtheequity  of  my  Government's  demand,  and  promised  to  reply  to  my 
last  note  to  his  predecessor;  but  as  I  did  not  received  such  reply,  I  reminded 
the  Viscount  of  it,  in  my  note  of  September  twenty-third  following,  to  which 
His  Excellency  replied,  that  he  would  answer  positively  as  soon  as  his  health 
was  improved.  As  the  time  went  by,  in  this  expectation,  His  Royal  High- 
ness assured  me  that  everything  was  settled,  and  that  he  had  the  orders 
issued  for  the  restitution  of  the  said  grounds.  Viscount  of  Balsemas  gave 
me  the  same  assurance,  verbally,  adding  that  His  Royal  Highness  had 
so  ordered,  independent  of  Portugal's  claims  upon  the  territory  of  Jurumena, 
about  which  this  Court  reserved  its  right ;  all  of  which  I  communicated  to 
the  first  Secretary  of  State  of  His  Majesty.  Many  days  passed  between  my 
requests,  the  alternate  indispositions  of  the  Viscount,  my  expectation  and  his 
promises,  to  send  to  me,  according  to  my  last  demand,  the  duplicate  of  the 
orders  which  were  to  be  sent  to  America,  when  we  met  in  Mafra,  and  His  Ex- 
cellency told  me  that  he  had  urged  on  the  Minister  of  the  Navy  the  issue  of 
the  orders,  and  that  the  Minister  replied  that  he  could  not  do  so,  because  he 
had  a  special  order  from  His  Royal  Highness  not  to  finish  this  matter  until 
the  Jurumena  affair  had  been  disposed  of;  but  that  he  had  insisted  again  with 
the  Minister  of  the  Navy,  giving  him  to  understand  that  His  Royal  Majesty 
had  had  the  said  orders  sent  to  America,  leaving  in  supense  the  Jurumefia 
claim  ;  that  he  had  given  me  the  assurance  himself,  and  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  fulfil  the  promise  given,  and  to  send  him  the  duplicate  of  the  orders 
to  place  them  in  my  hands.  Upon  this  occasion  the  Viscount  went  so  far  as 
to  promise  me  that  I  should  have  the  orders  in  my  possession  within  two  or 
three  days;  and  with  this  new  assurance  he  replied,  to  my  astonishment,  for 
the  delay  of  an  order,  so  much  opposed  to  what  His  Royal  Highness  had 
promised  me.  As  I  did  not  see  the  effect  of  this  promise,  I  had  the  honor 
to  speak  of  it  with  the  Prince  Regent,  informing  him  that  His  Royal  orders 
were  ignored,  and  that  the  word  that  they  should  be  complied  with  had  been 
given  to  His  Catholic  Majesty.  His  Royal  Highness  had  the  kindness  to 
take  note  of  my  remembrance,  and  he  assured  me  that .  he  would  see  his  Mi- 
nister that  very  day,  and  that  his  orders  would  be  sent  to  America  at  once. 
As  usual,  His  Royal  Highness  kept  his  word,  and  the  Viscount  addressed  to 


422    

me  a  copy  of  the  Royal  order,  directing  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  Navy 
under  date,  at  Mafra,  ninth  of  November,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
three,  that  it  was  the  will  of  His  Royal  Highness  that  a  copy  of  the  orders 
that  were  to  be  sent  to  America  should  be  given  me  as  he  had  so  promised 
to  me,  as  Your  Excellency  will  see  by  the  enclosed  copy  No.  i.  My  expecta- 
tion failed  this  time  also,  and  there  being  no  reply,  I  addressed  a  note  to  the 
Viscount  de  Balsemas,  under  date  of  eighteenth  of  the  said  month  of  Novem- 
ber, expressing  astonishment  at  such  unusual  procedure  and  so  far  from  the 
good  faith  which  characterizes  the  Portuguese  Government,  as  His  Excel- 
lency will  see  bj'  the  accompanying  copy  No.  2.  In  the  latter  part  of  Nov- 
ember, I  repeated  to  His  Royal  Highness,  in  Mafra,  my  request  that  his  orders 
should  be  fulfiled;  and  His  Royal  Highness  had  the  kindness  again  to  pro- 
mise it  to  me  in  the  most  emphatic  manner.  As  none  of  the  promised  dupli- 
cate copies  were  forthcoming,  I  addressed  anew  my  representations  to  His 
Royal  Highness,  who,  on  the  ninth  day  ot  the  following  December,  gave  me 
his  word  that  in  the  course  of  the  next  day,  the  tenth,  or  the  following  at 
the  latest,  the  said  duplicate  copies  would  be  sent  to  me.  It  was  not 
possible  to  imagine  that  this  promise  should  have  no  effect,  but  such  was  the 
case.  The  Viscount,  to  "whom  I  continually  expressed,  verbally,  the  incre- 
dible irregularity  of  this  conduct,  and  he  always  would  answer  that  the  delay 
was  due  to  the  Department  of  the  Navy,  gave  me  new  assurance  which 
rendered  my  expectation  all  the  more  painful.  Finally,  I  appealed  again  to 
His  Royal  Highness  later,  in  December.  He  said  that  he  reported  to  his 
Minister  his  command  to  satisfy  me,  and 'that  I  might  see  him.  I  did  so, 
and  told  him  that  His  Royal  Highness  sent  me  to  receive  the  authentic  copies 
in  question  ;  the  Viscount  replied  that  he  had  received  no  order  whatever 
from  the  Prince  Regent  lately,  but  he  would  take  them  from  His  Royal 
Highness  and  bring  them  to  me  with  a  view  to  receive  that  reply  in  writing, 
I  addressed  a  very  simple  note  to  the  Viscount  on  December  twenty-first,  in- 
forming him  of  what  His  Royal  Highness  had  told  me,  but  I  received  no 
reply.  The  long  sickness  preceding  the  death  of  His  Excellency  Viscount 
of  Balsemas,  together  with  the  critical  events  during  the  negotiations  of  this 
Government  with  France  at  that  time,  held  back  quite  often,  out  of  mere 
consideration,  the  activity  of  my  efforts  in  a  matter  of  this  nature,  as  it  was 
held  back  afterwards,  on  similar  ground,  the  appointment  pro  tempore  of 
Minister  of  State  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  Count  of  Villaverde,  and  the  first 
epoch  of  your  Excellency's  advent  to  the  same,  together  with  the  desire  to  see 
if  we  could  get  rid  of  other  business.  Desiring,  really,  not  to  be  tiresome  to 
your  Excellency,  in  which  I  would  have  omitted  the  minuteness  of  this  expo- 
sition, if  the  state  of  the  business,  its  nature,  which  has  taken  a  new  phase, 
and  the  consideration  that  Your  Excellency  is  extraneous  to  this  claim,  had 
not  decided  me  to  enter  upon  these  details,  which  I  have  cut  short  as  much 
as  it  was  possible,  and  which  will  spare  Your  Excellency  the  examination  of 
the  whole  document.  Your  Excellency  see,  with  your  known  clear  sighted- 
ness,  that  His  Majesty  asked  after  the  peace,  in  strict  justice, the  restitution  of 
all  that  had  been  occupied  in  America  since  the  breaking  of  war,  so  that  every- 


—  423  — 

thing  should  remain  as  it  was  before  ;  your  Excellency  see  that  it  was 
promised  to  the  Court  of  Spain,  in  the  month  of  August,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  two,  through  the  Minister  of  His  Royal  Highness,  at  Madrid, 
and  through  the  charge  d'affaires  of  the  King  at  Lisbon,  that  orders  were 
about  to  be  issued  and  sent  to  America  for  the  said  evacuation  and  restitu- 
tion; your  Excellency  see,  that  at  the  said  end  of  a  year  His  Majesty  learned, 
and  not  through  the  Portuguese  Government,  that  such  orders  had  not  been 
sent,  and  no  restitution  had  taken  place  ;  Your  Excellency  see  that  I  renewed 
my  efforts,  and  the  Jurumena  claim  is  resorted  to  as  a  pretext;  that  said  dif- 
ficulty was  removed  by  His  Royal  Highness  commanding  that  the  orders 
shall  be  issued,  leaving  apart  the  Jurumeiia  incident,  as  His  Royal  Highness 
had  the  kindness  to  assure  me,  in  one  of  the  many  occasions  1  had  the  honor 
to  talk  to  him  upon  the  subject ;  and  that  nothing  is  done;  your  Excellency 
also  see,  that  amidst  a  contention  between  the  two  Ministers  of  His  Royal 
Highness,  the  Viscount  urging  on  the  Minister  of  the  Navy  to  send  the  orders 
to  America,  and  to  hand  me  the  duplicates  thereof,  and  the  latter  refusing  to 
do  so,  I  received  copy  of  a  note  from  the  Viscount  to  His  Excellency  Vis- 
count of  Arcadia  ordering  him,  in  the  name  of  His  Royal  Highness,  to  comply 
with  his  command  ;  and  finally.  Your  Excellency  see  that  His  Royal  High- 
ness has  the  goodness  to  give  me  his  word  repeatedly  and  promise  me  that 
his  orders  shall  be  fulfiled,  and  that  within  a  few  hours  I  shall  be  satisfied  ; 
that  his  Minister  promises  the  same  thing,  and  that  two  years  having  elapsed 
since  the  first  word  was  given  in  writing,  things  are  just  as  they  were  at  the 
beginning  of  the  claim.  And  it  ftxust  be  added,  in  addition  to  this,  that  the 
Spanish  Magistrates  at  Buenos  Ayres,  the  vassals  of  the  King  my  master,  at 
Montevideo,  all  the  inhabitants  of  Spanish  America  in  those  countries,  are 
incessantly  complaining  against  it,  and  recently  before  His  Majesty,  against 
the  unbearable  damages  resulting  from  the  occupation  of  those  grounds  by 
the  Portuguese,  against  the  new  intrusions  made  by  them  under  the  shadow 
of  the  old  ones  ;  against  the  need  of  the  proprietors,  the  ruination  of  trade, 
disorder  and  all  sorts  of  inconveniences  which  is  caused  by  the  retention  of 
those  grounds — His  Royal  Highness  is  just,  Your  Excellency  is  learned,  and 
appreciates  the  importance  of  maintaining,  by  all  means,  the  good  harmony 
so  pleasant  to  the  hearts  of  both  sovereigns  who  are  bound  by  all  possible 
ties  ;  and  therefore,  I  trust  that  if  Your  Excellency  notifies  His  Royal  High- 
ness the  foregoing  statements,  and  remembers  him  that  his  justice  and  His 
Royal  word  is  pledged,  the  strictest  orders  will  be  sent  immediately  to  the 
Portuguese  Governors  in  America  for  the  evacuation  and  restitudon  of  all 
the  lands,  grounds  and  places  which  are  occupied  by  the  Portuguese  since 
the  last  war,  belonging  to  the  King,  my  master,  so  that  things  shall  remain 
in  the  same  state  in  which  they  were  before  the  war;  and  that  the  authentic 
duplicate  of  the  said  orders  shall  be  sent  to  me,  for  the  purposes  already 
mentioned.  This  is  what  I  am  ordered  by  His  Majesty  to  demand  of  His 
Royal  Highness's  sincerity.  I  have  the  honor  to  present  my  respects  to  Your 
Excellency. — Lisbon,  September  fifteenth,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
four.     Your  most  obedient  servant,   COUNT  OF  CAMPO  ALANGE, 


18  04 


XVote  of  Don  Pedro  Cevallos,   approving-  the  conduct  of  Count 
of  Campo  de  Alange  in  the  matter  of  the  foregoing  com- 
munications, inducing  him  to  ask  the  Portuguese  G-ov- 
ernment  the  appointment  of  a  IlSinister  Plenipo- 
tentiary to  celebrat  e  the  definitive  Treaty  of 
Limits  in  America,  {*) 

Your  Excellency  : — I  have  informed  the  King  of  the  contents  of  the  let- 
ter of  your  Excellency  of  the  22d  ultimo,  No.  318,  and  of  the  copy  of 
the  accompanying  note  which  your  Excellency  handed  to  the  Minister  about 
the  restitution  of  the  grounds  and  places  belonging  to  His  Majesty  in 
South  America,  which  are  wrongfully  occupied  by  the  Portuguese  since  the 
last  war ;  and  said  note  and  its  contents  having  been  approved  by  His  Ma- 
jesty, I  take  pleasure  to  communicate  it  to  your  Excellency,  adding,  for  your 
guidance,  that  His  Majesty  approves  that  the  demarcation  and  assignation 
of  the  limits  of  both  dominions  on  that  continent  shall  be  proceeded  with, 
without  appointing  new  Commissioners;  that  for  such  purpose  the  Portuguese 
Government  may  give  its  power  and  instructions  to  the  new  Ambassador  of 
Portugal  near  the  King  our  Master  ;  also  that  an  article  be  inserted  in  the 
treaty  about  the  help  and  mutual  aid  that  both  Crowns  shall  lend  each  other 
in  case  of  any  movement  or  uprising  in  America,  and  that  you  shall  send  a 
note  about  the  celebration  of  the  said  treaty,  without  ceasing  to  insist  upon 
the  restitution  so  often  demanded,  of  the  grounds  occupied  by  the  Portuguese 
on  the  said  continent,  and  held  contrary  to  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty  of 
peace  and  friendship  between  Spain  and  Portugal  signed  at  Badajoz,  June 
6th,  1801.  San  Lorenzo,  October  4th,  1804. — To  the  Count  of  Campo 
Alange. 


( *  )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archive  ol 
Alcala  de  Henares  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul,  at  Madrid, 
forms  part  of  group  B,  No.  13  of  manuscript  documents  of  the   "  Argentine  Evidence." 


1804 


Iietter  of  Count  of  Campo  Alange  to  IVEinister   Pedro  de  Ce- 
vallos,  and  memorandum  of  the  reply  to  the  same.  ( * ) 

Lisbon,  September  22d,  1804,  No.  318,  To  His  Excellency  Don  Pedro 
de  Cevallos. 

The  Count  of  Campo  de  Alange  encloses  a  copy  of  the  comprehensive 
letter  which  he  delivered  to  the  Minister  regarding  the  restitution  of  the  lands 
that  the  Portuguese  have  unjustly  occupied  in  America  since  the  last  war, 
and  tells   about  the  conference  he  had  with  the  Minister. 

He  avails  himself  of  the  opportunity  to  offer,  etc.,  etc. 

That  the  enclosed  letter  has  been  approved  by  His  Majesty,  who  agrees 
to  proceed  to  the  determination  of  the  boundary  line  without  appointing  new 
Commissioners,  and  that  to  this  end  the  Portuguese  Government  could  for- 
ward instructions  to  the  new  Ambasador,  His  Majesty  agrees  also  upon 
the  insertion  of  a  clause  respecting  mutual  help  to  be  offered  by  each  Crown, 
in  case  of  an  uprising  in  America,  agreeing  to  address  a  letter  upon  the  ne- 
gotiation of  this  treaty,  urging,  at  the  same,t  ime  that  the  so  long  claimed  res- 
titution be  made  of  the  lands  occupied  by  the  Portuguese  and  retained  con- 
trary to  what  was  stipulated  in  the  treaty  of  Badajoz. 

Made  in  conformity  with  a  memorandum  dated  October  5th,  1804. 


(*■ )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archive 
of  Alcald  de  Henares  which,  in  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at 
Madrid,  forms  part  of  group  B,  No.  14,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evid- 
ence." 


1804 


Letter  of  Count  of  Campo  Alange  to  IMEinister  Don  Pedro  Ce- 

vallos,  informing  the  latter  of  an  interview  held  with 

Araqjo  de  Azevedo,  relating  to  the  Portuguese 

usurpations  in  America.   {*) 

Your  Excellency  :  Desiring  to  present  personally  to  this  Minister  a  cir- 
cumstantial letter  regarding  the  restitution,  so  long  promised  and  never  ful- 
filed  by  this  Government,  of  the  lands  belonging  to  His  Majesty  in  South 
America,  and  which  are  unjustly  occupied  by  the  Portuguese  since  the  last 
war,  I  ask  the  favor  of  an  interview,  and  yesterday  I  was  received  by  the 
Minister.  I  delivered  the  letter,  a  copy  of  which  I  enclose  for  the  individual 
knowledge  of  your  Excellency,  and  I  spoke  in  general  terms  of  the  contents 
of  the  same,  which  form  a  new  subject  for  this  Minister,  but  which  subject 
he  will  find  clearly  set  forth  in  my  comprehensive  despatch.  He  received 
this  despatch,  promised  to  read  it,  and  I  agreed  to  await  his  answer. 

In  the  course  of  our  conference  he  made  some  remarks,  which  although 
they  cannot  be  taken,  nor  were  proferred,  as  the  final  answer  which  I  yet 
await,  deserve  to  be  conveyed  to  Your  Excellency's  knowledge,  as  they  were 
made  in  a  spirit  of  defense  or  objection. 

He  told  me  that  a  great  many  of  those  lands  had  only  been  occupied  by 
Portuguese  deserters  and  natives  of  the  place  and  that  the  inhabitants  of  sev- 
eral of  the  villages  belonging  to  His  Majesty  and  which  are  occupied  by  the 
Portuguese,  had  appHed  to  the  Portuguese  Government  and  had  asked  to  be 


( * ) .  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archive 
of  Alcalade  Henares  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  Consul  of  the  United  States  at 
Madrid,  forms  part  of  group  B,  No.  15,  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine 
Evidence. » 


—  43°  — 

retained  under  the  dominion  of  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty,  and, finally,  it  being 
very  convenient  to  remove  all  cause  of  irritation  between  two  such  friendly 
and  intimately  connected  Courts,  he  was  of  the  opinion  that  a  final  determi- 
nation of  the  boundary  line  should  be  made  in  America,  for  which  operation 
the  Courts  had  sufficient  data  at  hand,  and  could  write  to  America  for  any 
other  that  might  be  wanting,  besides,  that  owing  to  the  great  extension  of 
said  lands,  some  portions  more  or  less  in  the  divisory  line,  made  very  little 
difference,  if  any. 

I  answered  in  parts,  and  said  that,  if  the  Portuguese  troops  had  not  aided 
such  occupation,  it  would  not  have  been  accomplished,  and  that  the  Portu- 
guese who  now  occupied  the  lands  that  should  have  been  returned  when  the 
war  was  over,  were  the  same  who  had  taken  possession  of  said  lands  ;  and 
that  the  representations  which  the  inhabitants  of  some  of  the  villages,  belong- 
ing to  the  Crown  of  Spain  had  made,  or  could  make,  to  remain  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Crown  of  Portugal,  had  no  signification;  because  if  that  prin- 
ciple could  ever  be  adopted,  the  most  absurd  and  novel  consequences  would 
follow  against  the  sovereingty  of  States,  as  a  supposed  or  temporary  disatis- 
faction  of  the  people  would  then  constitute  a  good  ground  for  an  usurpation 
of  territory.  Regarding  the  conclusion  of  a  definitive  treaty  of  hmits,  I  an- 
swered that  such  was  the  mind  of  His  Majesty  and  that  I  had  orders  to  pro- 
pose the  consideration  of  such  a  treaty,  by  appointing  Plenipotentiaries  from 
both  Courts,  who  would  discuss  the  question  of  this  Continent,  without  ap- 
pealing to  the  useless  medium  of  appointing  Commissioners,  and  that  we 
would  treat  of  this  matter  as  soon  as  I  received  an  answer  to  my  request  of 
restitution  together  with  a  duplicate  of  the  orders  that  must  be  immediately 
sent  to  America. 

He  repeated  that  he  was  of  the  opinion  that  a  definitive  boundary  treaty 
should  be  agreed,  upon  which  should  settle  all  difficulties  now  existing,  and 
that  he  thought  it  would  be  convenient  to  insert  a  clause  by  which  mutual 
help  would  be  rendered  by  the  Courts  in  case  of  an  uprising  in  America,  a 
measure  which  would  be  advantageous  to  both  Crowns,  and  the  wisdom  of 
which  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  such  uprisings  are  possible  and  that  indica- 
tions of  them  have  already  been  observed  in  Brazil,  principally  in  the  Cap- 
taincy of  Minas  Geraes. 

If  it  should  be  agreable  to  His  Majesty  that  1  should  address  a  letter 
respecting  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty,  before  I  receive  an  answer  to  my  des- 
patch requesting  the  restitution  of  the  lands,  I  hope  your  Excellency  will  in- 
form me  in  time,  so  that  I  may  act  in  accordance  with  His  Majesty's  wishes. 
God  keep  your  Excellency  for  many  years.  Lisbon,  September  22d,  1804. — 
THE  COUNT  OF  CAMPO  ALANGE.— To  His  Excellency  Don  Pedro 
Cevallos. 


1806 


statement  about  the  situation  of  the  negotiation  with  Portugal 

and  the   conclusion  of  a  definitive  treaty  of  limits,  as 

shown  by  the  preceding  documents.     {*) 

Your  Excellency  : — In  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  Your  Excel- 
lency, that  a  statement  be  made  about  the  situation  of  the  negotiation  with 
Portugal  about  the  conclusion  of  a  definitive  treaty  on  limits  oft  he  Dominions 
of  America  between  both  Powers,  I  beg  to  state  :  That,  in  the  month  of 
August,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  four,  a  copy  was  sent  to  Your  Ex- 
cellency by  the  Department  of  War  of  a  consultation  made  by  the  Board  of 
Fortresses  and  defence  of  the  Dominions  of  Indies,  in  relation  to  the  great 
and  unjust  usurpations  of  the  possessions  of  Spain  in  South  America,  com- 
mitted by  the  Portuguese,  the  opinion  of  the  Board  being  that  the  best  means 
to  eradicate  these  transcendental  evils  is  to  conclude,  without  delay,  by  com- 
petent Ministers  Plenipotentiaries,  a  definitive  treaty,  with  some  variations  in 
the  limits,  to  avoid  doubts  and  vicious  interpretations  on  the  part  of  the 
Portuguese  against  the  possessions  of  His  Majesty  ;  in  order  that  these  may 
be  more  secured,  rejecting  any  proposal  from  Portugal  to  appoint  new  Com- 
missioners for  the  demarcation  of  the  limits,  because  they  are  not  necessary, 
since  there  are  in  both  Departments  sufficient  astronomical  knowledge  to 
fix  the  same,  and  conclude  the  treaty  ;  and  in  the  said  communication  from 
the  Department  of  War,  it  was  said  that  His  Majesty,  in  conformity  with  the 
opinion  of  the  Generalisimo  Principe  de  la  Paz,  had  been  pleased  to  approve 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archive  of 
Alcala  de  Henares  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile, 
forms  part  of  group  B,  No.  i6  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  «  Argentine  Evidence.  » 


—  432  — 

the  said  opinion  of  the  Board,  and  that  by  his  order  the  said  copy  of  the 
consultation  was  referred  to  Your  Excellency. 

In  view  of  which,  it  was  resolved  that  a  copy  of  the  said  consultation 
should  be  sent  to  the  Ambassador  of  His  Majesty  at  Lisbon,  requesting  him 
to  propose  to  the  Portuguese  Cabinet  the  celebration  of  a  definitive  treaty  on 
limits  of  the  Dominions  of  both  Powers  in  America  ;  and  it  being  unneces- 
sary to  proceed  in  that  direction,  to  appoint  new  Commissioners  for  the 
demarcation,  as  both  governments  have  sufficient  astronomical  experts  to 
fix  the  said  limits  ;  that  it  is  painful  that  two  Powers  united  by  so  many  ties 
and  living  in  close  harmony,  cannot  agree  upon  a  contest  that,  in  its  present 
state,  will  be  the  source  of  frequent  complaints  and  claims,  the  effects  of 
which  will  always  be  injurious  to  the  sincere  friendship  that  ought  to  exist 
between  both  Cabinets  ;  and  that  Spain  has  been  longing  for  centuries  to 
see,  but  without  sucecess,  a  demarcation  for  which  the  only  thing  wanting  is 
the  sincere  and  practical  wish  of  the  Portuguese  Cabinet. 

It  was  so  executed  by  sending  the  corresponding  note  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  September  to  the  Ambassador  at  Lisbon,  to  whom  the  following  copy 
of  a  representation  addressed  to  Your  Excellency  by  the  Marquis  of  Sobre 
Monte,  was  sent  on  the  second  of  October,  relative  to  various  acts  of  the 
Portuguese  against  the  possessions  of  His  Majesty  in  South  America,  so  that 
the  Ambassador  should  have  this  new  proof  of  the  offerees  committed  by 
the  Portuguese  in  those  countries  ;  and  they  serve  as  new  reasons  to  demand 
the  restitution  of  the  usurped  territories,  and  the  celebration  of  the  desired 
treaty  on  limits  between  the  two  Powers. 

With  a  letter  of  September  twenty-second,  the  Ambassador  sent  to  Your 
Excellency  copy  of  a  lengthy  note  which  he  addressed  to  the  Minister  of 
State  of  Portugal  about  the  restitution,  so  often  promised  and  thus  far  unac- 
cc>mplished  by  his  government,  of  the  grounds  and  places  belonging  to  His 
Majesty  in  South  America,  and  which  the  Portuguese  are  wrongfully  occupy- 
ing since  the  last  war  ;  and  he  said  to  Your  Excellency  that  in  his  conference 
upon  this  subject  which  he  held  with  the  said  Minister,  the  latter  stated  to  the 
Ambassador,  that  many  of  those  grounds  had  not  been  occupied  but  by 
Portuguese  deserters  and  natives  of  the  country  ;  that  several  towns  belong- 
ing to  His  Majesty,  and  which  are  occupied  by  Portuguese,  had  expressed 
to  the  government  their  wish  to  remain  under  the  dominion  of  His  Most 
Faithful  Majesty,  and  finally,  that  it  being  very  proper  to  remove  every 
cause  of  contention  between  two  Courts  so  closely  united  and  friendly,  he 
thought,  it  would  be  advisable  to  determine,  in  a  permanent  manner,  the 
limits  of  both  Dominions  in  that  continent,  for  which  determination  both 
governments  had  certainly  sufficient  data  about  most  of  the  grounds,  and  it 
was  easy  to  obtain  more,  by  asking  in  America  about  any  doubt  that  might 
occur,  and  besides,  that  the  immensity  of  those  grounds  rendered  certain 
portions  thereof,  more  or  less  upon  the  boundary  line,  of  little  or  no  conse- 
quence. 

The  Ambassador  replied  that  if  the  Portuguese  troops  had  not  aided, 
this    occupation    would   not  have  taken   place  ;   that  the  Portuguese   who 


—  433  — 

retained  what  they  ought  to  have  restituted  in  those  places,  after  the  war, 
were  the  same  who  had  occupied  them  ;  that  the  representations  made,  or 
to  be  made,  by  some  of  the  towns  belonging  to  the  Crown  of  Spain,  to 
remain  under  the  authority  of  Portugal,  had  no  significance,  because  if  that 
principle  was  to  be  taken  as  a  rule,  the  most  absurd  conclusion  would  be 
arrived  at  against  the  sovereignty  of  States,  for  a  disatisfaction  attributed 
to  the  people  would  often  be  a  title  for  usurpation  ;  and  that  as  far  as  a 
definitive  treaty  on  limitswasconcerned,it  was  just  what  His  Majesty  desired, 
the  realization  of  such  important  measure  to  be  accomplished  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  Ministers  from  both  Courts,  to  discuss  the  matter  on  this  continent, 
without  having  recourse  to  the  useless  means  of  Commissioners,  but  that 
this  matter  would  come  up  for  consideration  as  soon  as  a  reply  upon  the 
question  of  restitution,  accompanied  with  the  orders  to  be  sent  immediately 
to  America,  should  be  received. 

The  said  Minister  repeated  his  opinion  to  make  a  treaty  on  limits,  to 
settle  all  difficulties  and  disputes,  adding  that  he  thought  it  convenient  to 
insert  an  article  providing  for  a  mutual  aid  for  the  Courts  in  case  of  an  up- 
rising in  America,  in  which  both  Crowns  could  not  but  take  an  interest  ;  and 
that  this  perfect  understanding  between  the  two  governments  was  all  the  more 
necessary,  because  such  movements  were  not  impossible,  and  that  there  had 
been  some  indications  of  an  uprising,  particularly  in  the  Captaincy  of  Minas 
Geraes. 

In  view  of  what  has  been  exposed,  a  reply  was  sent  to  the  Ambassador 
on  October  fourth  stating  that  His  Majesty  was  well  pleased  with  and 
approved  the  said  note  addressed  by  him  to  the  Portuguese  Minister ;  that 
His  Majesty  concurred  in  the  convenience  of  proceeding  to  the  demarcation 
and  determination  of  the  limits  of  both  Dominions  in  that  continent,  without 
appointing  new  Commissioners,  to  which  end  the  Portuguese  government 
might  send  its  powers  and  instructions  to  the  new  Ambassador  of  Portugal 
near  His  Majesty,  the  present  Count  of  Ega  ;  that  His  Majesty  approved 
also  the  insertion,  in  the  treaty  on  limits,  of  an  article  regarding  the  help  and 
mutual  aid  that  both  Crowns  shall  ofifer  to  each  other  in  case  of  any  move- 
ment or  uprising  in  America  ;  and  that  the  Ambassador  should  send  a  note 
requesting  that  the  formation  of  such  treaty  shall  be  proceeded  with,  but 
without  ceasing  to  insist  on  the  restitution,  so  often  demanded,  of  the 
grounds  occupied  and  still  held  by  the  Portuguese,  contrary  to  the  stipula- 
tions of  the  treaty  of  peace   of  Badajoz,  1804. 

In  compliance  with  the  said  three  Royal  warrants  issued  to  the  Ambas- 
sador, the  latter,  on  the  twenty-third  of  October,  addressed  a  note  to  the 
Portuguese  Minister  ( a  copy  of  which  was  sent  in  letter  of  the  twenty-seventh 
of  the  said  month )  earnestly  repeating  the  previous  claims  and  solicitations 
about  sending  immediate  orders  for  the  restitution  of  the  grounds  occupied 
by  the  Portuguese  in  America  during  the  last  war,  stating  that  His  Majesty 
was  perfectly  convinced  that  even  after  these  grounds  were  restituted,  a 
restitution  that  was  absolutely  indispensable  to  begin  with,  only  a  small  part 
would  have  been  obtained  of  that  which  is  necessary  to  remove  and  extin- 


—  434  — 

guish  the  germs  of  disgust  which  may  alter  the  good  understanding  and 
harmony  existing  between  both  governments,  for  the  new  celebration  of  a 
definitive  treaty  on  limits  of  those  dominions,  a  very  important  work  left  un- 
finished by  the  preliminaries  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy 
seven,  maintains  an  irresolution  most  injurious ;  that  the  appointment  of 
Commissioners,  as  made  in  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy  seven, 
is  a  measure  exposed  to  many  inconveniences  and  endless  delays,  and  is 
besides,  useless,  for  both  governments  have  sufficient  knowledge  and  astro- 
nomical data  of  that  continent ;  and,  therefore,  His  Majesty  wishing  to 
remove  once  for  ever  all  cause  of  contention  and  disgust,  proposed  to  His 
Royal  Highness  the  Prince  Regent,  as  the  only  means  to  reach  such  im- 
portant end,  the  appointment  of  a  Minister  from  each  Court  to  draw  up  a 
definitive  treaty  on  limits  of  the  dominions  on  the  continent  of  America,  to 
which  end  His  Royal  Highness  could,  if  he  so  desired,  authorize  his  newly 
accredited  Ambassador  near  His  Majesty,  to  begin  at  once,  and  without 
further  delay,  this  important  work  which  will  insure  good  harmony  between 
both  States. 

This  note  deserved  the  approbation  of  His  Majesty,  and  it  was  so  com- 
municated to  the  Ambassador  on  November  sixth,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  four. 

Notwithstanding  all  claims  and  strong  notes,  no  headway  has  been 
made  thus  far,  nor  even  the  least  taken  with  regard  to  such  important  mat- 
ters, and  this  is  the  status  of  the  pending  negotiation  of  a  definitive  treaty  on 
limits  of  the  dominions  of  Spain  and  Portugal  in  America, 

(  The  following  resolution  on  the  preceding  document  appears  on  the 
margin  of  its  original.') 

The  Generalisimo  will  please  to  take  notice  of  this  abstract,  so  as  to  be 
posted  on  the  point  this  negotiation  has  been  carried  to ,  as  a  starting  basis 
for  a  treaty  on  limits  with  Portugal  in  South  America,  which  His  Majesty 
trusts  to  your  zeal  and  usual  prudence ;  to  which  end  he  will  send  you  the 
abstracts  and  remarks  of  Requena  and  Azara,  Commissioners  on  limits, 
taking  a  literal  copy  of  the  same  in  advance,  as  it  shall  be  done  at  once,  to 
avoid  that  an  accident  may  deprive  us  of  a  document  without  which  nothing 
could  be  done.  This  copy  will  be  in  charge  of  the  respective  department,  the 
officer  of  which,  Herrador,  will  be  at  your  command  for  the  writing,  he  being 
acquainted  with  this  work,  having  done  it  in  the  times  of  the  Generalisimo  ; 
with  the  understanding  that  the  abstracts  shall  be  placed  and  taken  every 
day  at  the  desk  of  the  officer  in  charge. — January  eighth,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  six. 


A  note  on  the  same  snbject,  from  the  Department  of  State. 

To  the  Principe  de  la  Paz. — Aranjuez,  January  eighth,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  six. — Your  Excellency  :  In  a  note  of  this  date  I  have  the 
honor  to  send  to  Your  Excellency  the  abstract  made  out  in  the  year  one 


—  435  — 

thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety  six,  in  reference  to  the  demarcation  ot 
the  Hmits  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  possessions  in  South  America,  and 
the  memorial  lately  written  upon  the  same  subject  by  Don  Felix  de  Azara.  I 
also  send  to  Your  Excellency  with  the  said  note  the  original  letter  from  Don 
Francisco  Requena  relative  to  the  said  limits  ;  but  having  kept  copies  of 
both  writings,  in  case  it  should  be  necessary  to  consult  the  same  in  the  course 
of  the  negotiations  in  reference  to  the  definitive  treaty  on  limits,  and  it  being 
convenient  that  a  copy  of  the  said  letter  shall  be  kept  on  file,  for  the  same 
purpose,  at  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  I  abstain,  for  the  present,  from 
sending  the  said  letter  so  that  I  may  take  a  copy  thereof  if  Your  Excellency 
do  not  think  it  necessary  that  I  shall  send  it  immediately.  Expecting  the 
decision  of  Your  Excellency,  I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to  offer  Your 
Excellency  my  respects. 


1804- 1806 


Correspondence    of  the   Commander  of  the   Spanish    frontier* 

Don  Jorge   Facheco,   with  the  Viceroy    of  Brazil, 

concerning  the  Portuguese  usurpations.  {*) 

Your  Excellency:  The  trouble  and  disturbance  that  your  Excellency's 
worthy  Government  has' suffered,  through  the  consent  and  aid  of  the  Bri- 
tish Government,  prevented  my  determination  to  send  to  the  capital  the  unbe- 
lievers under  arrest,  they  are  here  here  still,  twenty-eight  persons  of  both 
sexes,  and  thirteen  suckling  babies.  Four  have  died,  and  the  others  I  dis- 
tributed here  and  there  in  Uruguay,  among  the  people  in  easy  circumstan- 
ces, to  save  the  cost  of  their  maintenance,  which  up  to  the  present,  has  not 
been  defrayed  out  of  the  Treasury's  funds,  but  soliciting  of  the  farmers  what- 
ever they  might  be  disposed  to  give. 

I  have  conceived  the  project  which  I  am  now  about  to  propose  to  Your 
Excellency:  it  consists  in  giving  these  people  their  liberty,  return 
their  wives  to  them,  cloth  them,  furnish  them  with  a  lance  apiece, 
lent  them  some  horses  in  order  that  they  may  beging  to  settle  in  la 
Bagualada,  and  to  place  them  on  the  western  coast  of  the  Quareim;  so  that, 
with  the  entering  and  going  out  of  the  town  and  their  commerce  with  it,  we 
may  see  whether  we  may  be  able  to  better  their  customs ;  and  if  nothing  is 
gained,  little  shall  have  been  lost  by  this  experiment.  I  have  arranged  to 
clothe  them,  by  means  of  two  pieces  of  common  cloth,  and  the  hats  can  be 
supplied  from  a  contraband  of  goods,  taken  from  the  Portuguese,  who  are 
doing  the  most  thriving  business  on  the  western  coast  of  the  Uruguay :  it  ap- 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Archives  of 
the  Department  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argentine  Republic  which  forms  part  of  group  B. 
No.  i8  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  438  — 

pears  to  me  that  in  our  pueblos  of  Misiones,  either  all  have  been  corrupted 
into  following  this  illicit  trade  or  there  is  no  one  who  has  any  regard  for  the 
interests  of  the  State.  I  have  not  yet  transmitted  to  Your  Excellency,  a  de- 
tailed account  of  this  event,  because  various  inquiries  are  now  on  foot,  in 
connection  with  the  official  investigation;  one  of  these  being,  that  the  arrested 
Portuguese  confess  some  of  the  goods  were  taken  by  Don  Jose  Perez,  a  resi- 
dent of  the  Villa  of  Entre-Rios,  in  whose  charge,  they  say,  they  deposited 
the  thousand  and  odd  dollars,  taken  in  the  second  expedition,  as  is  proven 
by  the  value  of  the  invoices  recorded  in  the  said  investigation. 

I  have  expressed  above,  the  suggestion  that  the  cloth-hats,  and  besides 
some  linen-cloth,  from  which  hats  could  also  be  made,  might  be  destined  to 
serve  as  a  congratulation  to  these  barbarians  on  attaining  their  liberty,  and  on 
these  hats,  a  shield  of  bronze  or  tin  could  be  placed,  that  would  not  cost  all 
told  in  Buenos  Ayres  or  Montevideo  eighteen  or  twenty  dollars,  made  to  order, 
and  so,  those  who  wear  them  would  be  distinguised  and  singled  out  by  this 
distinguishing  emblem,  from  the  others  who  have  not  allied  themselves  to  us 
and  by  treating  them  well  it  is  clearly  to  be  seen  that  we  would  little  by  little 
attract  all  who  are  now  with  the  Portuguese,  so  that,  with  time,  it  would  be 
possible  to  obtain  the  mastery  over  the  country,  which,  as  I  inform  Your  Ex- 
cellency, in  another  communication,  they  have  disorganized.  This  is  a  ven- 
turesome plan  and  perhaps,  the  present  circumstaces  will  hardly  afford  Your 
Excellency  the  time  to  think  it  over  ;  but  as  I  have  nothing  else  to  think 
about  than  to  preserve  and  defend  this  territory,  I  have  treated  the  matter 
according  to  the  reasons  set  forth ;  although  I  shall  not  decide  anything  de- 
finitely, until  I  receive  your  Excellency's  just  approbation;  when  this  comes,  I 
shall  at  once  proceed  to  carry  it  into  effect.  May  God  guard  Your  Excellency 
many  years.  Villa  of  Belen  of  Uruguay,  Octuber  28th  1806. — His  Excel- 
lency.— JORGE  PACHECO. — To  His  Excellency  the  Viceroy  Marquis  of 
Sobre  Monte. 


Your  Excellency:  I  did  not  wish  to  send  to  Your  Excellency  the  originals 
of  the  Portuguese  official  documents,  because  I  thought  the  many  cases  that 
to-day  require  your  Excellency's  attention,  might  give  rise  to  their  loss;but  as 
it  is  my  desire  to  furnish  Your  Excellency  with  a  complete  history  of  the  state 
in  which  the  negotiations  are  at  present,  I  have  decided  at  last  to  risk  it;  al- 
though at  the  same  time  I  would  beg  of  Your  Excellency,  that  in  case  you 
fear  there  is  any  danger  of  their  loss,  you  will  kindly  return  them  to  me,  in 
order  that  I  may  preserve  them  ;  as  in  them  I  see  documents  that  are  of  great 
benefit  to  the  interests  of  my  King.  May  God  guard  Your  Excellency  many 
years.  Villa  de  Belen  del  Uruguay,  October  28th  1806.  His  Excellency. 
—JORGE  PACHECO.— To  His  Excellency  the  Marquis  of  Sobre  Monte. 


Your  Excellency:  The   enclosed   original  document  of  the  Captain  of 
Dragoons,  Juan  de  Dips  Mena  Barreto,  Comamnder  of  the  Siete  Pueblos  Gua- 


—  439  — 

ranis  Orientales  on  the  Uruguay,  which  is  an  answer  to  mine  of  September 
30th  and  a  copy  of  which  must  have  already  been  presented  to  Your  Excel- 
lency, will  serve  to  inform  Your  Excellency,  of  the  decision  he  announces 
to  me,  which  relates  to  the  establishment  of  a  new  guard,  that  as  he  expresses 
it,  he  is  stationing,  according  to  orders,  in  the  branch  or  arm  of  the  Ibicui, 
called  the  Nandui.  This  stream  springs  in  a  false  curve,  that  is  united  to 
the  different  currents  'that  empty  into  the  Santa  Ana,  and  runs  East-west ; 
it  is  distant  from  the  hill  of  Yarao,  nine  or  ten  leagues;  its  longitude  is  seven 
or  eight,  counting  to  its  union  with  the  said  Ibicui,  so  that  if  the  settlement 
be  placed  in  the  center  of  the  mentioned  Ibicui,  in  would  still  result  that  they 
had  advanced  from  the  northern  bank  of  the  already  mentioned  Ibicui  to  the 
extent  of  three  or  four  leagues  into  our  possessions:  but  even  then,  1  would  not 
agree  to  it  as  Your  Excellen  j^  will  perceive  by  the  communications,  that  under 
the  date  of  yesterday,  Ihave  fowarded  to  Mena  Barreto,  already  referred  to, 
and  to  Brigadier  Camara,  which   notices  I  now  also  enclose  to  you. 

According  to  my  belief,  they  have  already  begun  to  yield ;  because  com- 
pared with  the  territory  they  used  to  defend  and  lay  claim  to  before,  the 
ground  they  now  pretend  to  posess  is  far  less  in  extent.  The  said  guard  be- 
comes a  new  thing,  because  it  is  now  fixed  as  a  formal  institution,  but  not 
because  of  the  troops  that  compose  it,  because  these  existed  before;  now  camp- 
ing some  times  on  the  grounds  of  San  Juan  de  Dios,  and  other  times  at  Gui- 
raneay  or  on  the  Yardu.  To  tell  the  truth.  Your  Excellency,  it  is  necessary 
to  be  armed  with  an  extraordinary  amount  of  patience  to  be  able  to  treat 
with  the  Portuguese  nation  on  this  Continent,  because  in  them,  can  be  seen 
nothing  but  ridicule,  bad  faith,  ignorance  and  ambition. 

The  formation  ot  this  Guard  de  la  Concepcion  and  of  this  moving  regi- 
ment (that  they  now  wish  to  convert  into  a  guard  also)  at  the  end  of  the  year 
did  not  have  any  other  motive,  as  I  have  expounded  it  to  the  Commander  1804, 
of  the  frontier  of  the  Rio  Pardo  in  one  of  my  official  notes  to  him,  than  that  of 
proving  that  said  territory  belonged  to  the  Crown  of  Lusitania,  on  which  oc- 
curred the  attack  on  the  Lieutenant  Don  Jose  Rondeau  and  the  Ensign  Fran- 
cisco Barreto,  but  although  this  was  their  idea,  they  have  not  been  able  to 
sustain  it  because  of  their  ignorance,  for  now  we  see  them  retreating  fourteen 
or  fifteen  leagues;  a  very  certain  proof  that  they  lack  of  weight  in  their  an- 
swers, that  they  feel  attacked,  but  do  not  know  how  to  get  out  of  it.  Bri- 
gadier Camara,  in  order  to  avoid  entering  into  details  with  regard  to  my  ob- 
servations, finds  refuge  in  the  pretext,  that  the  question  depends  upon  Your 
Excellency  and  the  Viceroy  of  Brazil,  Mena  Barreto,  Commander  of  the  Gua- 
rani  towns  which  they  took  from  us  in  the%war,  keeps  begging  me  to  settle 
the  matter  with  the  Governor  Gama,  whom  I  would  have  addressed  already, 
had  your  Excellency  permitted  me  to  do  so;  because  I  see  that  unless  some- 
thing is  done,  the  times  passes  by,  and  they,  meanwhile,  by  stealth,  now  at 
one  place  and  now  at  another,  rob  us  of  skins  and  cattle. 

It  apears  to  me.  Sir,  that  my  trip  to  Porto- Alegre  would  prove  very  use- 
ful, although  before  attempting  it,  I  shall  await  Your  Excellency's  orders ; 
which  would  be  very  justifiably  given,  after  I  had  reported  with  all  its  details 


—  440  — 

and  by  word  of  mouth,  all  my  observations,  and  other  news  I  have  acquired. 
If  I  am  not  to  leave  this  frontier,  according  to  your  Excellency's  orders, 
I  have  great  need,  of  the  original  drafts  or  the  copies  of  the  Portuguese  com- 
munications; and  besides  the  treaties  of  Badajoz;  because,  in  every  reply,  I 
am  obliged  to  have  either  one  or  the  other  under  my  eyes.  May  God  guard 
Your  Excellency  many  years.  Villa  de  Belen  del  Uruguay,  November  4th 
i8o6.  His  Excellency.  —  JORGE  PACHECO.— To  His  Excellency  the 
Marquis  of  Sobre  Monte. 

Montevideo,  November  nth  1806. 

With  its  antecedents,  adding  the  last  answer  of  the  Viceroy  of  Brazil,  in 
which  he  unlawfully  answers  as  if  he  claims  these  territories,  and  orders  that 
everything  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  General  Assessor,  that  he  may  as  speedi- 
ly as  possible,  decide  what  is  to  be  done  in  so  grave  a  matter. 


I  have  received  your  note  of  January  30th,  with  another  one  for  my  Bri- 
gadier, which  has  already  followed  its  destination.  I  omit  to  answer  all 
the  points  therein  contained,  because  I  am  not  in  possession  of  the  general 
authority  with  which  you  are  invested  ;  and  whereas  you  make  reference  to 
a  direct  communication  with  my  illustrious  Lord,  the  Governor  General,  I 
beg  you  to  communicate  with  him  in  future,  in  all  circumstances,  as  the  ap- 
pointment of  these  settlements  and  their  garrisons  with  which  I  am  honored, 
came  to  me  from  him,  my  part  being  only  to  execute  the  orders  of  my  com- 
mander and  chief,  the  most  illustrious  Brigadier,  as  I  do  promptly,  and  blind- 
ly execute  them,  in  the  case  just  ocurred,  directing  me  to  estabhsh  formally 
my  guard  in  Nandui,  which  I  am  doing,  and  shall  always  do.  I  reiterate  that 
some  days  ago  I  had  the  pleasure  to  send  to  the  prison  at  Rio  Pardo,  two 
Christian  Indians,  and  two  unbelivers,  because  of  their  being  deemed  com- 
plicated in  the  matter  of  your  first  complaint.  May  God  keep  you  many 
years.— Pueblo  of  San  Nicolas,  October  17th  1806.— JOAO  DE  M.  MENA 
BARROS. — To  the  Captain  in  command,  Don  Jorge  Pacheco. 


I  have  just  received  your  official  noted  dated  the  17th  of  last  October,  in 
which,  after  dilating  on  some  general  observations,  for  the  purpose  of  evad- 
ding  the  answer  to  my  arguments  and  complaints  upon  the  unwarrantable  oc- 
cupation of  lands  and  territories  that  belong  to  the  Crown  of  Spain,  you  in- 
form me  you  are  estabHshing  a  ffcrmal  guard  on  the  Nandui,  a  point  that  is 
included  within  the  same  grounds  which  gives  us  the  indisputable  right,  in 
virtue  of  which  we  have  been  obliged  frequently  to  protest  against  your 
coudut. 

Such  arbitrary  and  irregular  proceedings  prove  more  and  more  the  little 
regard  with  the  solemn  treaties  sign  at  Badajoz  in  1804,  are  regarded  in  these 
parts,  and  the  many  reiterated  orders  addressed  to  these  dominions  by  both 
Courts;  and  they  render  an  impossibility  all  sort  of  good  faith  and  harmony 


—  441   — 

which  are  necessary  in  order  to  maintain  a  firm  and  lasting  peace,  such  as 
our  Sovereigns  desire.  In  compliance  with  the  duties  incumbent  upon  me, 
in  my  position,  I  recommend  to  you,  and  notify  you,  that  you  should  cease 
that  unlawful  operation;  to  which  end,  I  inclose  the  accompanying  docu- 
ment, that  you  my  foward  it  to  his  illustrious  Sir,  the  Brigadier,  in  the  which 
I  make  the  same  demand;  insisting  besides,  on  a  categorical  reply  to  the 
departure  from  these  fields  where  you  wish  to  establish  the  said  guard,  thus 
claiming  a  right  of  possession  that  does  not  correspond  and  has  never  corres- 
ponded to  the  Portuguese  power,  on  which  subject  I  have  ,  ong  ago,  written 
to  you  ^s  the  Commander  on  your  frontier,  without  having  yet  received  the 
satisfactory  answer,  which  my  request  is  entitled  to,  in  which  I  protested 
with  the  greatest  moderation,  that  if  the  work  of  establishing  the  aforemen- 
tioned settlement  were  continued,  my  Government  would  look  upon  it  with 
that  severity  which  is  due  to  a  known  infraction  of  the  agreements  and  fede- 
rations, settled  upon  at  Badajoz,  and  sacredly  ratified  by  the  Cabinets  of 
Madrid  and  Lisbon.  ' 

With  much  pleasure  do  I  read  the  information  you  give  me  of  the  im- 
prisonment of  the  four  Christians  and  the  two  unbelievers  Indians,  as  the  prin- 
cipal authors  of  the  multitude  of  thefts  daily  suffered  by  the  vassals  of  the 
King,  my  Master,  on  their  property.  Certainly,  the  news  conveyed  to  me 
leads  me  to  consider  the  course  that  has  been  taken  in  a  far  different  light 
from  that  which  I  had  imagined  would  be  the  result  of  these  hostilities;  for 
either  the  Portuguese  nation  has  dominion  and  power  over  this  tribe,  or  it 
has  not  ?  If  she  has,  why  does  she  not  repress  and  chastise  those  who  are 
constantly  committing  excesses,  employing  the  most  active  measures  to  cut 
at  the  very  root  the  abuses  which  give  rise  to  our  just  complaints,  banishing 
from  the  territory,  if  it  be  necessary,  the  agents  and  instruments  of  those 
guilty  actions  ? 

*  And  if  she  has  not  the  power,  how  is  it  tTiat  you  could  arrest  those  six 
individuals;  who  were  not  made  prisoners  in  open  war,  as  those  that  I  have 
in  prison  ?  The  imprisonment  which  you  speak  of  in  your  note  is  incontes- 
table proof  that  you  have  acted  so  with  the  authority  excercised  over  legiti- 
mate vassals  of  your  Sovereign,  because  were  they  a  free  people,  as  it  was 
attempted  to  convince  me  of,  they  would  not  have  bowed  to  your  laws,  nor 
would  you  be  able  to  exercise  the  power  of  dominion,  which  is  indicated  by 
ordering  them  to  prison  which  has  already  been  carried  into  effect. 

Should  this  logic  appear  to  you  diffuse  or  obscure,  the  wise  Ministers  of 
Lisbon  will  decide  the  question,  when  the  copies  of  my  letters  and  their  ori- 
ginal documents,  be  presented  to  them.  May  God  guard  you  many  years. 
Villa  de  Belen  del  Uruguay,  November  3th  1806.— JORGE  PACHECO.— 
First  Captain  of  Dragoons,  Juan  de  Dios  Mena  Barreto. — This  is  a  copy. — 
JORGE  PACHECO. 


I  have  been  very  much  pleased  to  learn  that   you  and  your  party  have 
witnessed  the  union  and  close  alliance  maintained  by  the  Portuguese  detach- 


—  44^   — 

merit  occupying  the  fields  of  Yarau  with  the  unfaithful  Indians,  our  enemies, 
violating  in  such  a  manner  those  solemn'treaties  of  peace  which  are  the  basis 
of  good  understanding  recommended  by  the  Courts  of  Madrid  and  Lisbon. 
You  have  seen  if  my  suspicions  were  unfounded  about  the  attack  which  Lieu- 
tenant Carlos  de  los  Santos  Barreto  intended  upon  my  party :  You  heard 
this  officer  confess  that  he  brought  with  him  fifty-five  of  the  heathen  barbar- 
ians, and  you  heard  him  assure  that  with  two  of  them  and  as  many  dragoons 
he  sent  the  guide  Eusebio  to  penetrate  at  night  in  the  woods  to  watch  my 
forces,  and  that  if  these  had  been  small,  the  result  would  have  been  just  the 
one  I  anticipated.  I  now  ask  you  :  Are  these  operations  in  conformity  with 
those  which  you  have  observed  on  my  side  ever  since  I  joined  the  army  in 
the  fields  ?  Do  they  agree  with  those  rules  which  I  have  adopted  to  treat 
your  nation  ?  You  are  aware  that  all  the  audacity  of  the  dragoon  Felipe  Luis, 
who  in  sight  of  the  people  of  Belen  which  accompanies  me  stripped  the  ad- 
vance guard  of  the  best  horses  which  he  took  to  the  guard  of  La  Concepcion 
of  Bacacay  ;  was  not  enough  to  excite  me,  but  on  the  contrary  ignoring  his 
unlawful  operation  I  ordered  the  proprietors  who  claimed  their  animals  to 
keep  silent,  moved  only  by  the  desire  of  doing  my  duty  in  obedience  to  the 
precepts  of  my  August  Sovereign,  to  whom  I  owe  so  much  reverence.  What 
satisfaction  can  be  sufficient  to  soothe  my  feelings  when  I  have  noticed  that  1 
have  not  obtained  credit  for  that  careful  determination  which  compelled  me 
to  inform  the  Major  of  the  Portuguese  frontiers  about  my  entrance  in  these 
fields  occupied  by  the  Portuguese  troops  in  the  latter  part  of  eight  hundred 
and  four  amidst  the  most  complete  peace,  advising  him,  almost  asking  him 
for  permission  to  persecute  in  the  said  fields  the  Pagans,  our  enemies,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  they  legally  belong  to  the  King  my  master  ?  That 
satisfaction,  I  repeat,  will  be  sufficient,  when  the  operation  above  referred  to 
could  not  save  me  from  a  precipice  which  I  would  have  easily  encountered  if 
my  party  had  not  been  reinforced  ?  How  is  it  that  the  Lieutenant  Carlos,  after 
having  shown  so  much  indignation  at  my  attack  upon  the  heathens,  opens  the 
way  to  me,  promising  his  aid  ?  You  know  very  well  the  motives  of  such  a 
change,  and  I  blushingly  abstain  from  mentioning  it,  because  my  aspiration, 
as  I  have  said  before,  is  to  observe  faithfully  those  sovereign  precepts, 
which  are  all  relative  under  the  good  faith  to  the  best  harmony.  I  make 
the  foregoing  reflextions  to  convince  your  Government  of  the  injustice  of  the 
proceedings  to  which  we  have  been  exposed,  jwhich  are  the  principal  causes  of 
our  complaints  which  we  are  making  every  day  without  redress.  Arroyo  de 
los  Sauces,  May  3rd.,  1806.— JORGE  PACHECO.— To  The  Captain 
Adolfo  Charaon. 


Most  Illustrious  Sir: — It  is  very  unfortunate  that  I  always  meet  with  some 
difficulty  to  find  a  genuine  explanation  to  make  myself  understood.  In  my 
notes  of  June  the  loth.  and  July  4th.  about  demarcations  of  territories,  I  did 
not  mean  to  treat  this  question,  for  it  is  neither  incumbent  upon  my  charge, 
»or  appropriate  for   the  Viceroys  of   Brazil   and    River   Plate,    as  you  say. 


—    443   — 

Such  step,  in  my  own  estimation,  is  purely  incumbent  of  sovereigns,  who  in 
their  agreements  or  treaties  stipulate  these  resolutions  as  necessary  for  the 
safety  oi"  their  domininions  and  states.  This  principle  being  well  settled,  I 
could  not  very  well  inculcate  it  in  a  matter  independent  from  your  functions, 
and  from  my  very  hmited  powers.  I  certainly  was  under  the  impression  that 
it  was  not  the  same  to  say  that  the  eastern  fields  of  Santa  Maria  and  the 
northern  one  of  the  Ibicui  have  been  occupied  by  the  Portuguese  troops  in 
the  year  1804,  (that  is  to  say,  thirty  five  months  after  the  peace  had  been 
published )  than  to  ask  for  the  real  division  of  the  territory.  It  is  true  that 
my  Government  is  urging  me  to  demand  and  remosntrate  and  protest  about 
the  restitution  of  the  said  fields  ordering  me  that  as  soon  as  you  shall  have 
quitted  the  same,  as  you  ought  to,  1  shall  place  the  provisional  guards  on  the 
said  bank  of  Santa  Maria  and  the  Ibicui,  until  some  ulterior  resolution  of  the 
Courts,  which  have  the  power  to  interfere  with  the  real  demarcation,  as  I 
have  said  before.  The  Governor  of  that  main  land  has  informed  lately  His 
Excellency  the  Marquis  de  Sobre  Monte  that  he  was  working  in  earnest  with 
regard  to  the  restitution,  promising  that  the  pending  reply  would  be  satisfac- 
tory ;  and  you  advised  me  in  your  note  of  May  the  8th.  the  order  of  your 
Government  in  reference  to  the  expulsion  of  the  residents  who  were  occupying 
the  field  of  which  we  considered  ourselves  dispossessed.  I  firmly  beleived 
that  with  such  a  warrant  the  time  has  arrived  to  do  away,  radically,  with 
the  abuse,  for  my  guards  one  established,  and  through  their  zeal  and  watch- 
fulness on  the  fields,  the  heathens  would  not  molest  the  vassals  of  my  August 
Sovereign  neither  there  would  be  a  clandestine  introduction  and  extraction 
as  I  observe  it  daily  without  being  able  to  remedy  it,  for  want  of  means  to 
cover  the  points,  while  there  is  not  disturbance  between  the  two  nations.  I 
find  it  difficult  to  beleive  it  that  that  chief  should  order  the  expulsion  of  the 
settlers,  without  touching  the  guard  and  encampment  which  are  owners  of 
the  ground  that  is  our  property,  which  was  reecognized  as  such  since  the 
latter  part  of  1801  when  the  war  ended,  till  November  of  1804,  when  you,  in 
order  to  give  the  improper  operation  of  Mayor  Saldaiia  an  honest  appear- 
ance, placed  the  said  guard  and  set  up  the  said  encampament.  I  shall  im- 
mediately make  a  statement  of  the  occurrence,  so  that  it  be  known  in 
Madrid  and  Lisbon  when  your  communications  and  my  rephes  shall  ap- 
pear, with  this  warning,  that  my  expositions  are  legalized  and  confirmed  by 
the  vassals  of  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty  who  have  acted  as  witnesses  in  the 
various  suits  that  have  been  brought  here.  Adjudtant  Jose  Artigas  having 
captured  a  cow-farm  of  the  pueblo  of  San  Borja  headed  by  its  Council,  with 
passport  from  Saldaiia  to  take  from  us  the  cattle  which  was  pasturing  in  the 
meadows  of  the  Ouareim  and  Santana  in  vengance  of  this  just  operation  of 
of  Artigas,  Saldaiia  ( calling  the  heathen  Indians)  ordered  Ensign  Barreto 
to  go  out  with  a  party,  to  attack  the  encampment  of  Colonel  Don  Tomas  de 
Rocamora,  which  was  at  Rincon  del  Arecungua.  This  thought,  or  delibera- 
tion is  not  strange  when  it  is  considered  that  a  few  days  before  a  detachment 
of  the  above  named  encampment  had  been  destroyed  by  surprise  by  another 
Portuguese  party.      Barreto  left    for  his  mission,   and  he  met   on   the   way 


—  444  — 

Liutenant  Jose  Rondeau,  sucessor  to  Rocamora  in  charge  of  the  campaign. 
What  there  happened  is  better  known  to  you  than  to  me  by  the  investigation 
made  by  Captain  Joaquin  Severe  about  this  scandalous  fact.  You,  as  an  able 
diplomat,  noticing  the  predicament  in  which  your  nation  was  placed,  through 
the  arbitrary  act  of  one  of  its  subjects,  adopted  the  plan  of  putting  up  that 
guard  of  La  Concepcion  and  encampment  of  Yarau,  as  means  to  prove  that 
the  grounds  upon  which  the  blunder  had  been  committed,  were  duly  patrolled 
by  the  Portuguese  troops  ;  but  truly,  it  ought  liot  to  have  occurred  to  you  at 
the  time  at  which  the  Court  had  been  already  informed  by  the  reports  of  the 
late  Brigadier  Francisco  Juan  Roxio,  about  the  terms  of  the  legitimate  con- 
quests. It  is  true  that,  for  lack  of  thoughtfulness  on  the  part  of  Saldafia,  we 
are  still  in  an  altercation  which,  but  for  the  prudence  mutually  maintained  by 
both  Governments,  would  have  had  consequences  must  serious  and  lament- 
able to  mankind  :  I  do  not  know,  Most  Illustrious  Sir,  I  do  not  know 
indeed,  that  there  are  men  capable  of  sacrificing  lo  a  pure  whim  the  precious 
lives  of  their  fellow  beings.  When  that  Governor  intimated  the  expulsion  of 
the  Portuguese  residents,  it  is  not  presumable  that  he  did  it  with  the  intention 
that  the  guard  and  the  encampment  should  remain,  because,  so  God  help 
me,  what  was  the  use  of  disturbing  so  many  residents,  when  these  were 
settled  on  the  states  and  territories  of  the  Prince  Regent,  their  Sovereign  ? 
To  break  up  the  trade  which  they  had  with  the  heathens,  it  was  not  neces- 
sary to  create  such  confusion  and  such  wholesale  ruination  in  that  great 
number  of  poor  families  which  have  begun  to  insure,  with  their  labor,  a  fair 
sustenance.  The  strict  orders  and  severe  punishments  would  have  impeded 
the  illegitimate  contract  with  which  they  pretend  to  palliate  that  rightful 
provision  in  addition  to  the  fact  that  the  settlers  of  the  Puntas  de  Santa  Ma- 
ria did  not,  and  could  do  not  trade  with  the  heathens,  in  spite  of  all  which 
they  were,  nevertheless,  expelled ;  it  is,  therefore,  to  be  supposed  that  His 
Lordship  did  know,  and  does  know,  that  our  pretension  upon  the  grounds 
is  the  fairest  and  most  appropriate  that  can  be  described.  In  view  of  the 
tenor  of  my  argument,  I  am  inclined  to  expect  that  you  will  kindly  give  me 
a  definitive  reply  about  the  withdrawal  of  the  guard  and  encapment,  in  order 
that  may  inform  my  Government,  in  discharge  of  the  precepts  imposed  upon 
me;  for,  acquiescing,  as  is  probable,  in  my  request,  the  continuous  complaints 
with  regard  to  the  inroads  of  the  barbarians,  with  which  I  trouble  you,  will 
come  to  an  end  ;  which  complaints  I  have  made  only  because  I  could  not 
persecute  them  without  striking  the  detachament  of  the  Yarau  under  whose 
shelter  they  live  protected  by  the  law  of  nations,  which  you  so  much  respect. 
Captain  Juan  de  Dios  Mena  Barreto,  Commander  of  the  Siete  Pueblos 
Guaranis  Orientales  del  Uruguay,  having  informed  me,  by  his  note  of  Agust 
the  2d.  last,  that  he  has  ordered  the  Lieutenant  in  the  campaign  to  occupy, 
with  his  encampment,  the  southern  coast  of  the  Quarim  Grande,  I  have 
requested  him  under  date  of  September  30th.  last,  to  suspend  such  operation, 
as  it  would  be  considered  by  me  as  a  grave  hostility,  and  I  would  complain 
of  it  to  the  Governor,  of  whose  honorability  I  shall  never  doubt,  to  obtain 
satisfaction  which  I  beg  to  notify  to  you  as   Commander   of  the  frontier,  so 


—  445  — 

that  you  may  warn  the  said  Barreto  against  that  violence,  incompatible  with 
the  well  known  good  faith  of  the  Spaniards.  Villa  de  Belen  del  Uruguay, 
October  6th.,  i8o6,~JORGE  PACHECO.— To  The  Most  Illustrious  Briga- 
dier Patricio  Jose  Correa  de  la  Camara. 

Most  Illustrious  Sir :  When  I  was  anxiously  looking  for  your  reply  to 
my  last  note,  dated  October  6th,  which  I  supposed  to  be  favorable  to  the  le- 
gitimacy of  my  demand  with  regard  to  the  fields  of  which  you  deprived  us 
in  the  latter  part  of  November,  1804  ;  when  this  reply,  I  repeat  it,  flattered 
my  expectations  to  see  that  immensity  of  land  restored  to  the  domain  of  my 
sovereign,  of  which  he  has  been  dispossessed  upon  an  unjust  principle  so 
much  at  variance  with  the  precepts  of  public  right  which  governs  society  in 
civiHzed  nations  ;  and  when  finally,  I  supposed  that  in  view  of  the  strength 
of  my  arguments,  you  would  express  your  conviction  by  which  our  territories 
should  be  evacuated,  so  that  I  could  estabUsh  the  guards  on  the  frontier,  in 
compliance  with  the  orders  of  my  Government,  I  received  a  letter  from  the 
Captain  of  Dragoons,  Juan  de  Dios  Mena  Barreto,  Commander  of  the  Siete 
Pueblos  Orientales  del  Uruguay,  in  which  he  notifies  me  that  he  has  ordered 
the  movable  encampment  of  the  northern  side  of  the  Ibicui  to  establish  a 
permanent  guard  on  the  branch  of  this  river,  known  by  the  name  Nandui 
which  operation  I  cannot  accept  without  first  having  orders  to  that  effect 
from  the  Viceroy  of  these  provinces;  for  I  ask  you:  what  has  been  the  ques- 
tion since  the  latter  part  of  1 804  to  the  present  time,  other  than  the  existence 
of  the  guard  of  La  Concepcion  in  the  eastern  part  of  Santa  Maria,  and  the 
stay  of  that  encampment  patrolling  in  the  south  of  the  Ibicui  ?  Who  has 
defined  our  competency.  Illustrious  Sir,  so  that  you  can  establish  guards  upon 
the  same,  as  if  the  case  had  been  decided  in  favor  of  the  Crown  of  Portugal  ? 
Have  you  not  said  to  me,  in  your  last  communication  that  these  matters  are 
awaiting  the  conformity  of  the  Viceroy  of  Brazil  and  River  Plate .''  Why 
then,  put  new  posseesion's  right  in  the  centre  of  the  unquestionable  proper- 
ty of  my  August  Sovereign  ? 

The  treaties  made  at  Badajoz,  and  sacredly  ratified  by  the  Courts  of 
Madrid  and  Lisbon,  have  not  been  duly  accomplished  by  the  Portuguese, 
because  the  conquests  have  not  been  restored,  as  was  stipulated,  and  the  vas- 
sals of  His  Catholic  Majesty  have  not  been  indemnified  for  the  damages  sus- 
tained in  that  war,  this  being  also  a  fundamental  condition  for  the  peace. 
The  vassals  of  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty,  very  far  from  obeying  his  Royal 
wish,  in  reference  to  the  restitution  they  had  to  make  to  us  here,  have 
occupied  a  large  portion  of  land,  and  this,  thirty-five  months  after  the  peace 
had  been  published  in  all  the  dominions  of  both  Crowns,  as  I  have  commu- 
nicated to  you  in  various  notes,  although  I  have  noticed  that  you  have  con- 
tinually evaded  this  chapter.  Who  had  said  that  the  parties  can  dispose  of 
a  disputed  thing  pending  the  final  resolution  of  the  suit  ?  This  is  the  incon- 
trovertible rule  in  our  legislation.  I  do  not  know  whether  yours,  or  that  of 
your  dominions,  is  subject  to  the  same  principles.  And  if  such  thing  hap- 
pens when  the  question  is  discussed  by  the  parties  rightfully,  what  then, 
when  one  of  the  said  parties  disputes  the  things  by  mere  caprice  ?     Such   is 


—  446  — 

our  case  :  the  Portuguese  deprived  us  of  that  ground  arbitrarily  ;  we  have 
insisted  upon  its  restoration  to  us  ;  they  have  refused  to  evacuate  it,  and 
tried  to  submit  it  to  Utigation,  and  after  prudence  resolved  to  hear  their  alle- 
gations which,  being  imaginary,  should  be  rejected  as  false,  they  run  away 
from  this  road,  and  reply  only  by  adjudging  the  property  to  themselves,  pre- 
suming to  legalize  the  adjudication.  I  am  a  Commissioner,  Most  Illustrious 
Sir,  and  as  an  obedient  subject  and  faithful  servant,  I  cannot  view  with  indif- 
ference an  operation  so  peculiar,  or  rather,  so  contrary  to  the  rights  of  my 
Prince.  If  I  have  not  ceased  to  repeat  my  claims  and  requests  that  you  shall 
withdraw  that  guard  of  La  Concepcion  and  the  movable  encampment  of  San 
Juan  de  Dios,  Guirancay  or  the  Yarau,  and  bring  them  to  the  limits  which 
belong  to  them,  how  could  I  ignore  a  formal  establishment  which  they  tr)-^  to 
impose  upon  me,  and  which  is  probably  made  already,  upon  the  property  of 
my  monarch  ?  I  hope  that  these  reflections,  so  judiciously  exposed,  will  cause 
you  to  meditate,  and  induce  you  to  distribute  the  justice  I  demand;  contrary- 
wise  I  humbly  protest  that  I  shall  inform  my  Government,  which  will  not  fail 
to  view  with  the  uimost  severity  a  transgression  which  violates  the  sovereign 
dispositions  of  both  Cabinets,  relative  to  the  sincerity  and  good  faith  with 
which  they  proceed,  and  this  Government  can  justify  itself  of  any  result 
emanating  from  such  irregular  conduct ;  for  it  has  no  more  important  duties 
in  these  provinces  than  that  of  preserving  intact  the  rights  and  possessions 
with  which  it  is  intrusted  by  the  King,  my  Master. 

The  arbitrary  conduct  of  Senor  Mena  Barreto  compels,me  to  address  you 
in  these  plain  terms,  and  though  he  says  to  me  that  the  establishment  he  is 
putting  up  is  in  conformity  with  your  order,  I  have  positive  proofs  to  the 
contrary,  to  accept  his  exposition  as  sincere :  as  for  instance,  your  note  of 
May  the  8th,  in  which  you  assure  me  of  the  expulsion  of  the  residents  by  order 
of  Vice  Admiral  Paulo  Jose  da  Silva  Gama,  Governor  of  this  Continent;  such 
is  your  last  assertion,  in  which  you  state  that  you  are  not  determined  to  take 
any  resolution  upon  my  claim,  pending  'the  decisions  of  the  Viceroys,  and 
such,  furthermore,  is  the  satisfactory  reply  which  said  Silva  Gama  has  prom- 
ised to  His  Excellency  Marquis  de  Sobre  Monte,  relative  to  the  evacuation 
of  the  grounds  occupied,  as  you  know,  three  years  after  the  publication  of 
the  peace,  which  scandalous  operations  has  been  viewed  by  my  Government 
with  the  most  praiseworthy  prudence,  in  order  not-to  provoke  a  'greater  mo- 
vement in  Europe  which  is  furiously  shaken  by  a  series  of  continuous  wars  : 
but  that  precious  virtue  would  easily  have  an  end,  in  accordance  with  policy, 
justice  and  reason,  when  all  the  means  that  have  been  resorted  to  with  the 
utmost  moderation  should  be  found  to  be  of  no  avail.  It  seems  to  me  impos- 
sible to  find  a  sensible  man,  no  matter  how  peaceful  he  may  be,  that  would 
consent  to  be  dispossessed  of  his  property  and  interests  by  an  unjust  exercise 
of  power. 

I  am  anxiously  looking  for  your  reply,  in  which  I  expect  to  see  not  only 
the  prohibition  of  the  intended  establishment  of  Captain  Juan  de  Dios,  but 
also  the  definitive  reply,  which  I  have  asked  for,  about  the  evacuation  of  our 
fields,  as  I  earnestly  desire  to  go   immediately  to  the  northern  border  of  the 


—  447  — 

Ibicui  and  found  there  the  provisional  guards  of  the  frontier  which  must  stay 
there  until  the  final  decision  of  the  Courts,  according  to  the  order  of  His 
Excellency  the  Viceroy,  Governor  and  Captain  Central  of  these  provinces. 
Villa  de  Belen  del  Uruguay,  November  3d,  1806,— JORGE  PACHECO.— 
To  the  Most  Illustrious  Patricio  Jose  Correa  de  la  Camara. 


FOURTH    FART 


1810-1893 


ACTS 

of  Possession   and  Argentine  Jurisdiction 

on  the  Territory 

submitted  to  Arbitration. 


1810 


Recog-nition  of  the  Junta,    the   new  independent  G-overnment 
of  the  River  Plate,  by  the  pueblos  of  IMIisiones.  ( * ) 

(group   c,    no.    I.) 

I  have  received  the  official  communication  of  Your  Excellency,  of  the 
twenty-seventh  of  last  month,  including  the  printed  documents  which  explain 
the  motives  and  ends  of  the  constitution  of  that  most  respectable  body,  and 
after  duly  considering  them,  I  think  that  the  corporations  and  authorities,  in 
recognizing  it,  solemnly,  have  but  done  their  duty  as  good  patriots.  I,  also, 
inspired  with  the  same  zeal,  solemnized  my  recognition  of  Your  Excellency 
and  will  contribute  in  every  thing  within  my  power  to  propagate  and  main- 
tain the  uniformity  of  the  same  sentiments,  as  it  is  at  present  what  upholds 
our  territorial  safety,  and  for  the  future  will  be  the  fundamental  basis  for  the 
great  work  of  sovereign  representation  to  which  Your  Excellency  directs  and 
consecrates  all  efforts.  May  God  grant  that  Your  Excellency  live  many 
years.  Yapeyu,  eighteenth  of  June,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ten. — 
Your  Excellency  :  TOMAs  DE  ROCAMORA.— Most  Honorable  President 
of  the  Provisional  Junta. 


Separating'  the  pueblos  of  Misiones  from  the  Jurisdiction  of  Paraguay. 

(group    C,     no.     2.) 

Whereas,  the  Junta  is  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  separating  those 
pueblos  from  the  pernicious  influence  of  the  Governor  of  Paraguay,   who,   in 


(*)  All  the  translated  documents  concerning  this  part,  have  been  taken  either  from 
the  book  previously  referred  to  :  "  Collection  of  Facts  and  Documents,  etc.,  etc.,"  printed  by 
the  Government  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes,  or  from  the  original  documents  which,  in 
copies  duly  legalfzed,  form  part  of  group  C  of  manuscripts  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 
In  the  beginning  of  each  translation  the  number  of  the  page,  in  the  first  case,  and  in  the 
second,  the  designation  of  the  group  and  the  number  of  order,  will  be  printed. 


—  452  — 

conspiracy  with  the  rebel  chiefs  of  Montevideo,  strives  to  keep  up  the  division 
of  opinions  so  prejudicial  and  contrary  to  the  interests  of  the  State,  as  well 
as  to  the  justice  of  the  cause  of  the  people,  it  is  resolved  that  they  be  totally 
separated,  from  this  date  forth,  from  its  jurisdiction,  and  that  they  consider 
themselves  in  no  way  under  the  dependence  of  Paraguay,  according  to  which 
Your  Honor  will  act  by  himself  in  their  government,  without  any  other  de- 
pendence, nor  obeying  any  other  orders  but  those  of  the  Superior  Govern- 
ment; and  you  will  inform  those  residents  of  this  resolution,  and  at  the  same 
time  give  them  to  understand  the  desires  of  this  Government  for  the  accom- 
plishment, by  all  means,  of  their  happiness  and  prosperity,  rescuing  them 
from  the  condition  of  debasement  and  misery  to  which  they  have  been 
reduced  by  the  avarice  and  laziness  of  their  inactive  chiefs.  May  God  grant 
that  you  live  many  years. — September,  eleventh  of  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  ten. — To  Colonel  Tomas  Rocamora. 


1812 

Ratificatioix  of  the  Rademaker's  Armistice. 

(group    C.  ,     NO.     3.) 

{Letter  of  the  Clerk  of  the  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  Pri?tce  Regent.) 

Honorable  Sirs  :  Several  days  ago,  and  through  the  medium  of  an 
English  man-of-war,  I  had  the  honor  to  receive  the  answer  of  Your  Excel- 
lencies, of  July  twenty-seventh  last,  to  the  proposition  made  by  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Juan  Rademaker  ;  and  having  had  occasion  to  show  to  my  master. 
His  Royal  Highness,  the  Prince  Regent  of  Portugal,  the  convention  of 
armistice  agreed  upon  by  that  Government  and  the  said  Portuguese  negotia- 
tor, on  May  twenty-sixth.  His  Royal  Highness  deigned  to  approve  the  terms 
of  said  convention,  which  has  already  produced  so  many  good  results,  because 
the  hostilities  between  the  two  armies  having  ceased,  the  Portuguese  troops 
immediately  retreated  within  their  own  limits,  in  the  best  manner  they  could, 
considering  the  rigor  of  the  season  and  the  trouble  of  carrying  the  transports. 
His  Royal  Highness,  hoping  that  this  step  will  be  followed  by  all  the  benefi- 
cial results  which  were  insured  by  said  convention  to  both  countries,  and 
having  in  mind  the  good  faith  in  which  it  was  made,  being  desirous,  also, 
of  renewing  the  friendly  relations  which  should  always  exist  betwieen  two 
neighboring  nations,  united  by  such  sacred  bonds,  has  resolved  to  recall  the 
Portuguese  negotiator,  considering  that  his  presence  there  is  no  longer  neces- 
sary, and  orders  me  to  inform  Your  Excellencies  of  this  step.  1  avail 
myself  of  this  agreeable  opportunity  to  renew  to  Your  Excellencies  the  as- 
surances of  my  highest  consideration. — COUNT  DAS  CALVE  AS — To  Their 
Excellencies  the  President  and  Members  of  the  Junta  of  Buenos  Ayres. — 
Palace  of  Rio  Janeiro,  September  thirteenth,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  twelve. 


—  453  — 
Artigras'   Letters. 

(pages     519    AND     520.) 

In  confirmation  of  my  enclosed  despatch  of  yesterday,  I  am  just  in 
receipt  of  a  despatch  from  Captain  Bias  Basualdo,  in  which  he  assures  me 
that  there  are  in  Paysandu  two  armed  boats  from  Montevideo,  with  Portu- 
guese soldiers  on  board,  waiting  for  the  launches  from  Buenos  Ayres,  which 
are  bringing  assistance  to  this  army.  I  have  ordered  to  have  brought  to 
these  General  Headquarters  all  the  horses  to  be  found  along  the  coast  of 
Uruguay,  on  this  side  of  the  brook  de  la  Chica,  and  even  have  the  village 
attacked  by  my  men,  who  are  found  in  large  numbers  on  that  coast.  I  have 
taken  a  similar  determination  in  regard  to  the  coast  of  Parana,  and  there  is 
no  doubt  that  I  shall  frustrate  the  designs  of  the  enemy.  It  is,  I  think,  of 
the  greatest  importance  that  you  send  immediately  regular  troops  to  camp  out 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Yapeyu  to  protect  those  pueblos  of  Misiones  in  case  of 
their  being  attacked.  God  keep  you  for  many  years. — General  Head- 
quarters, Salto  Chico  Oriental,  January  twentieth,  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  twelve. — ^J0S6  ARTIGAS. — To  Seiior  E.  Galvan,  Lieutenant 
Colonel  of  Corrientes. 


(page  520.) 

(  Confidential^ — Being  absolutely  necessary  to  act  with  prudence,  so  as 
to  insure  the  success  of  our  cause,  and  bearing  in  mind  your  noble  qualities 
and  the  exact  knowledge  you  possess  of  this  region  of  the  country,  I  have 
decided  to  consult  with  you  as  to  the  best  place  where  I  could  establish  my 
General  Headquarters. 

The  first  measures  for  the  security  of  my  army  having  been  taken,  and 
having  ordered  my  men  to  search  the  borders  of  the  Uruguay  and  bring  to 
these  Headquarters  all  horses  to  be  found  near  the  borders,  and  a  similar 
operation  having  been  ordered  in  regard  to  the  Parana,  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  these  operations  once  accomplished,  and  in  the  possibility  of  my  being 
informed  of  an  attack  by  the  enemy,  it  would  be  expedient  for  me  to  change 
my  present  Headquarters  and  retreat  1 5  or  20  leagues  from  the  shore,  to  a  good 
military  position,  which  should  reconcile  the  security  of  the  army  with  the 
facility  of  establishing  easy  communications  between  the  different  points  of 
the  Bajada,  the  territory  under  your  jurisdiction  and  the  pueblos  of  Misiones, 
there  being  between  these  different  points  just  enough  distance  to  easily  make 
a  union  of  troops  in  case  of  necessity,  and  to  gain  an  advantage,  or  to  defend 
ourselves  in  the  event  of  being  attacked  by  the  entire  Portuguese  army  ( *  ) 
which,  after  having  been  routed  by  us,  would  have  no  means  of  reembarking. 
You  understand  then  the  great  importance  of  this  movement,  and  I  rely 
upon  you  to  advice  me  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  what  point   to   select 


( * )  Lieutenant  Governor  Galvan  had  the  Government  also  of  the  pueblos  of  Misio- 
nes, and  had  charge  of  their  defense,  his  army  consisting  of  native  mixed  troops  from 
Corrientes  and  Misiones. 


—  454  — 

for  my  future  Headquarters.  I  regret  very  much  having  to  retire  from  the 
borders,  but  I  see  it  will  be  necessary  if  we  are  attacked  and  no  assistance 
reaches  us.      Otherwise,  finding  myself  with  no  other  but  voluntary  help,    I 

would  cross  to  the  other  side  of  the  river,  meet   the    enemy what  then 

could  remain  undone  by  the  army  of  liberty  ?  They,  covered  with  glory, 
would  extend  their  triumphs  to  our  whole  continent. 

I  wish,  also,  to  consult  you  in  regard  to  some  place  of  destination  for  the 
families  of  the  men,  as  it  is  necessary  for  the  success  of  our  operations  that 
one  should  be  left  free  from  their  care.  Every  thing  accomplished,  victory 
will  surely  smile  upon  us,  and  we  will  have  the  inefable  pleasure  of  contempla- 
ting the  citizen  of  Corrientes  distributing  the  fruits  of  victory  to  his  country- 
men. If  the  cause  of  liberty  could  be  intimidated  upon  viewing  the  new 
league  of  our  enemies,  how  gratified  it  must  feel  with  the  league  which  we 
new  form.  The  iron  scepter  of  our  enemies  will  fall,  and  the  year  one  thous- 
and eight  hundred  and  twelve  will  see  their  total  extermination.  God  keep 
you  for  many  years. — General  Headquarters,  Salto  Chico,  on  the  western 
border  of  the  Uruguay,  January  twenty  third,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  twelve.  —  JOSE  ARTIGAS. — To  Lieutenant  Governor  Don  E.  Gal- 
van,   Corrientes. 


1813 

Artig°as'    Letter. 

(page  524.) 

I  am  just  in  receipt  of  a  despatch  from  Your  Honor  in  which  I  am 
ordered  to  send  to  Santa  Barbara,  the  necessary  horses  and  cattle  for  the  use 
of  the  three  hundred  young  men  who  are  coming  from  Misiones.  I  have 
ordered  my  subalterns  to  proceed  immediately  to  execute  Your  Honor's 
command,  and  I  am  only  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  Provincial  Alcalde^  to 
consult  with  him  what  is  best  to  be  done.  I  shall  execute  this  order  with  the 
greatest  care  and  diligence,  and  Your  Honor  can  rely  upon  my  entire  obe- 
dience. God  keep  Your  Honor  for  many  years,  Yaguarete-Cora,  January 
twenty-fifth,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirteen. — JOSE  VICTO- 
RINO  PEREZ. — To  the  Illustrious  Council  and  Governor  of  Corrientes. 


Representation  of  the  pueblos  of  Misiones. 

(group  c,  no,  4.) 
{^Session   of  Saturday,    November   i^th    iSij.) 

The  General  Assembly  orders  that  the  ten  pueblos  of  Misiones,   under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  Provinces,  shall  appoint  a  Deputy  to  represent 


—  455  — 

them  in  this  General  Assembly,  and  to  this  effect  the  necessary  orders  are  to 
be  issued  by  the  Supreme  Executive  Power. — J0S6  MOLDES,  President. — 
HIPOLITO  VIEYTES,  Secretary. 


1816 

Artig°as'    Letter. 

(page  525.) 

....  I  enclose  at  the  same  time  the  reports  received  from  the  Com- 
mander of  Misiones,  and  from  his  Captain  Miilo.  By  said  reports  Your 
Honor  will  see  the  origin  of  the  movement  which  took  place  on  the  frontier, 
inaugurated  by  Lengues  and  other  residents,  and  about  which  Your  Honor 
will  take  the  necessary  measures,  and  will  also  see  about  the  cattle  which 
was  taken  away  from  said  residents  which,  if  rightly  owned,  shall  be  distri- 
buted among  the  captors,  and,  if  taken  from  others,  shall  be  returned  to 
their  owners. 

By  the  despatch  of  December  twenty-seventh  ultimo,  Your  Honor  tells 
me  that  the  troops  of  San  Roque  advanced  upon  Itati,  and  that  the  direction 
taken  by  the  troops  of  Saladas  is  unknown,  because  no  ofificial  information 
has  been  received  as  yet  by  Your  Honor.  My  order  was  imperative  regard- 
ing the  reunion  of  all  those  troops  at  Salados,  at  which  point  they  were  to  be 
placed  at  Your  Honor's  disposition,  and  render  the  immediate  orders  of 
Commander  Mendez,  who  should  have  been  there  first  to  execute  this  order. 

I  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  to  renew  to  Your  Honor  the  assurances 
of  my  highest  consideration.  Headquarters,  January  second,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  sixteen. — JOSE  ARTIGAS. — To  the  Illustrious  Council 
and  Governor  of  Corrientes.      (*) 


(page  526.) 

To-day  1  received  a  despatch  informing  me  that  the  Indians  who  in- 
terrupted the  exploitation  of  the  ((Yerbales,»  had  been  surprised.  (**)  Captain 
Pablo  Gomez  writes  me  that  many  Indians  made  good  their  escape,  but  that 
measures  have  been  taken  for  their  capture.     Health  and  happiness.     Ge- 


(■*■)  There  are  many  more  letters  of  the  same  tenor  as  the  one  quoted  above,  which 
show  the  assistance  rendered  by  Corrientes  to  the  army  of  Artigas  operating  against  the 
Portuguese  on  the  frontier  of  Uruguay  and  Misiones. 

(''*)  Proof  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  «  Yerbales  »  Misiones  were  protected  by  troops 
from  Corrientes. 


—  456  — 

neral  Headquarters,  San  Roque,  May  twenty-eighth,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  twenty  one.— RICARDO  LOPEZ  JORDAN.— To  the  Military 
Commander  of  Corrientes. 


(page  527.) 

I  have  been  informed  of  them  and  in   reply   must  say  that  the 

General  has  left  for  the  field,  and  I  presume  is  now  on  the  Portuguese  fron- 
tier, consequently  he  cannot  deliberate  upon  Your  Honor's  despatch.  It 
lies  with  Your  Honor  to  take  the  necessary  measures  for  the  protection  of  our 
rights  of  freedom,  and  Your  Honor  can  well  believe  that  if  the  Commander 
of  those  troops  should  report  to  the  Commander  in  Chief,  he  would  gladly 
receive  their  assistance,  if  they  are  composed  of  volunteers,  as  he  will  not 
have,  even  among  his  own  men,  others  than  those  going  of  their  free  will. — 
Your  obedient  servant. — Purification,  September  third,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixteen, — GREGORIO  AGUIAR. — To  the  Illustrious  Council 
and  Governor  of  Corrientes. 


The  day  has  arrived  when  it  becomes  necessary  for  the  Ameri- 
cans engaged  in  the  defense  of  the  rights  of  freedom,  to  unite  their  forces  and 
make  a  last  effort  in  behalf  of  this  cause.  The  Portuguese  menace  us  on 
every  side,  and  although  they  have  not  succeeded  as  yet  in  making  any  head- 
way, still  they  are  a  nation  liable  to  gather,  should  we  give  them  time, 
resources  that  we  do  not  have  :  for  these  reasons  the  General  has  decided 
that  the  patriot  shall  unite  on  this  point,  and  he  has  ordered  me  to  write 
asking  Your  Honor  to  send  as  many  soldiers  as  possible,  with  all  the  arms 
and  horses  available. — Purificacion,  November  seventh,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixteen. — GREGORIO  AGUIAR. — To  the  Illustrious  Council 
and  Governor  of  Corrientes. 


No.  708.— Creation  of  the  Provinces  of  Entre  Rios  and  Corrientes. 

(GROUP   C,   NO.    5.) 

The  Supreme  Director  of  the  United  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate. — 
To  repair  the  injury  done  to  the  commerce,  industry  and  population  of  fhe 
country,  by  reason  of  the  last  war,  constitutes  to-day  my  highest  ambition. 
Of  httle  benefit  could  it  have  been  to  have  defeated  the  enemies  of  the 
country,  if  the  advantages  of  victory  should  not  favor  the  inhabitants  of  the 
same. 

The  great  territory  of  Entre  Rios,  and  that  comprised  within  the  juris- 
dictions of  Corrientes  and  Misiones,  are  in  the  same  conditions  which  ori- 


—  457  — 

ginated  the  establishment  of  an  Intendency  and  Government  in  the  oriental 
border  of  the  Uruguay.  Both  regions,  possessing  great  rivers,  being  rich  in 
natural  products,  and  capable  of  the  greatest  development,  demand,  for  the 
defense  of  their  prosperity,  the  establishment  of  an  immediate  authority 
responsible  to  the  Supreme  Government  of  the  country,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  and  system  of  unity  adopted  by  the  Provinces.  Bearing  these 
principles  in  mind,  and  after  hearing  the  opinion  of  my  Council  of  State,  I 
have  decreed  as  follows  : 

I  Article. — The  territoiy  of  Entre  Rios,  with  all  its  centres  of  popula- 
tion, will  from  this  date  constitute  a  Province  of  the  nation,  bearing  the 
name  of  Province  of  Entre  Rios.  The  said  Province  will  be  bounded  on  the 
North,  by  the  line  formed  between  the  Uruguay  and  Parana  rivers,  by  the 
river  Corrientes,  from  its  confluence  with  the  Parana  until  its  confluence  with 
the  brook  Aguarachi,  and  by  this  brook  onwards  as  far  as  its  confluence  with 
the  Curuzu-Cuatia,  until  its  confluence  with  the  Miriiiay,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Uruguay  river  ;  on  the  East,  by  the  Uruguay,  and  on  the  South 
and  West  by  the  Parana. 

II  Article. — The  city  of  Corrientes  and  the  pueblos  of  Misiones  with  the 
territories  under  their  respective  jurisdiction,  will  constitute  from  this  date  a 
Province  of  the  nation,  bearing  the  name  of  Province  of  Corrientes.  It  will 
be  bounded  on  the  North  and  West  by  the  Parana  river,  as  far  as  the  diyi- 
ding  line  of  the  Portuguese  dominions  ;  on  the  East  by  the  Uruguay  river, 
and  on  the  South  by  the  same  line  designated  as  the  Northern  boundary  for 
the  Province  of  Entre  Rios. 

III  Article. — Both  territories  created  into  Provinces  are  now  separated 
from  the  Government  of  Buenos  Ayres,  and  will  be  ruled  by  Intendant 
Governors  having  the  same  faculties,  rights  and  prerogatives  as  the  other 
Governors  of  Provinces. 

IV  Article. — The  Villa  de  la  Concepcion  del  Uruguay  will  be  the  capital 
of  the  Province  of  Entre  Rios,  and  the  city  of  Corrientes  will  be  the  capital 
of  the  Province  of  the  same  name.  The  Governors  will  reside  ordinarily  in 
their  respective  capitals;  but  in  time  of  war,  and  whenever  circumstances  my 
demand  it,  the  Governor  of  Corrientes  will  reside  in  the  pueblo  of  Cande- 
laria. 

V  Article. — Both  Provinces  will  appoint  Representatives  to  sit  in  the 
General  Constituent  Assembly  in  the  form  prescribed  by  the  national  law 
regarding  the  United  Provinces. 

VI  Articles. — The  present  decree  will  be  endorsed  by  my  Secretary  of 
State  and  published  in  the  «  Gaceta  Ministerial,  »  and  will  also  be  presented 
to  the  approval  of  the  General  Constituent  Assembly  of  these  United 
Provinces.  Given  at  Buenos  Ayres,  on  September  tenth,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  fourteen.— GERVASIO  ANTONIO  DE  POSADAS.— 
Nicolas  de  Herrera,  Secretary. 


—  458  — 
(page  325.) 

I  send  you  the  two  pounds  of  gun-powder  which  you  requested  in  your 
favor  of  the  twenty-eighth  of  last  month.  I  need  not  ask  you  to  use  it  with 
economy  as  you  know  its  value. 

I  return  the  bill  in  favor  of  Don  Valentin  Chas,  in  order  that  it  may  be 
endorsed  by  Commander  Don  Jose  Maria  Segovia  when  there  may  be  funds 
at  Goya. 

As  to  the  affairs  of  Misiones,  it  is  necessary  that  you  shall  adopt  con- 
ciliatory measures  towards  the  Indians.  Present  emergencies  require  it. 
Commander  Esquivel  will  speak  with  you  on  this  subject. 

I  suppose  that  Aid-de-Camp  Urdinarrain  has  informed  you  of  the  base 
proyects  of  the  Governments  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  Santa  Fe.  Their  one 
desire  is  that  we  may  have  a  civil  war  that  will  annihilate  us.  To  avoid 
such  a  state  of  affairs,  it  is  necessary  to  sacrifice  any  conspirators  who  may 
arise  in  that  part  of  the  country.  We  cannot  be  merciful  to  them.  Health 
and  Liberty.  General  Headquarters,  Parana,  September  fifth,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  twenty  one.— RICARDO  LOPEZ  JORDAN.— To  Seiior 
Evaristo  Carriego,  Military  Commander  of  Corrientes. 


(PAGE  326.) 

No  doubt  you  have  some  ye7-ba  which  you  can  send  me  for  the  use  of  the 
troops,  which  j/<?r(5<j:  you  shall  please  to  remit  immediately,  and  I  also  need 
all  you  can  get  from  Misiones. 

Please  send  a  Priest  to  Misiones  with  Don  Amadeo  Bomplan.  The 
services  of  the  priest  are  needed  there  under  the  present  circumstances. 
Bomplan  writes  me  that  he  has  decided  to  make  another  trip,  and  that  he 
will  try  to  calm  the  feelings  of  the  inhabitants.  I  think  the  idea  is  a  good 
one,  and  you  shall  please  to  consult  with  him  in  regard  to  this  important 
subject.  Health  and  Liberty.  General  Headquarters,  Parana,  September 
eleventh,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-one. — RICARDO  LO- 
PEZ JORDAN. — To  Seiior  Evaristo  Carriego,  Military  Comhiander  of 
Corrientes. 


(PAGE   188.) 

At  this  village  of  San  Roquito,  on  the  sixth  of  February,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  twenty  two,  I,  Commander  Don  Juan  Francisco  Tabocu- 
ya,  the  First  Alcalde  Don  Francisco  Solano  Aripe,  the  Provincial  Alcalde 
Manuel  Tabaceu,  and  the  other  inhabitants  of  this  village,  have  gathered 
together  in  General  Assembly  to  deliberate  upon  our  future  political  destiny, 
as  we  find  ourselves  without  any  protection  from  the  authorities  and  chiefs 


—  459  — 

of  Misiones  of  whom  we  have  depended  heretofore,  and  we  consider  our- 
selves, in  consequence,  free  to  act  independently  of  the  Misiones  government 
and  in  such  a  manner  as  will  permit  us  to  support  our  country's  cause  and 
place  ourselves  at  the  same  time  under  the  protection  of  a  legitimate  govern- 
ment. After  a  mature  deliberation  upon  the  subject,  we  have  unanimously 
agreed  to  unite  ourselves  to  the  Province  of  Corrientes,  declaring  our  obe- 
dience to  its  government  and  to  the  Supreme  Government  of  the  country, 
forming  with  the  Correntinos  but  one  family,  and  recognizing  as  our 
Governor,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Juan  Jose  Blanco,  present  Governor  of 
Corrientes,  and  in  the  future  recognizing  all  those  that  may  succeed  him. 
And  further  we  agree  that  this  original  act  be  forwarded  to  the  Supreme 
Government  with  the  respectful  request  that  we  may  be  recognized  as  true 
citizens  of  Corrientes,  obeying  its  constitution  and  laws. 

As  a  proof  thereof,  we  have  signed  the  present  act  on  the  above- 
mentioned  date.  At  the  request  of  Commander  DON  JUAN  FRANCISCO 
TABACAYU,  Miguel  Chau ;  at  the  request  of  the  Provincial  Alderman 
DON  MANUEL  TABOCUABE,  Damasio  Ibarove ;  FRANCISCO  SOLA- 
NO ARIPE,  Alderman  ;  at  the  request  .of  the  Judge  Commissioner  DON 
]OSt  BARICUYE,  Sebastian  Cabral  ;  MIGUEL  CHAU,  CALISTO  MBO- 
YA,  DAMASIO  IBAROVfe  ;  at  the  request  of  Lieutenant  ANDRES  NON- 
GOI,  Mariano  Tacaca  ;  at  the  request  of  Lieutenant  DON  JOSE  MBORORI, 
and  of  the  Alderman  DON  PEDRO  TAPIRAYU,  Miguel  Chau,  etc. 


I  enclose  the  documents  showing  what  I  have  accomplished  in  this 
village  of  San  Miguel,  whose  inhabitants,  Spaniards  and  natives,  voluntarily 
and  unanimously  have  agreed  to  be  incorporated  in  and  depend  of  the 
Province  of  Corrientes.  God  keep  Your  Honor  for  many  years.  San 
Miguel,  January  twenty-second,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty 
two. — SATURNINO  BLANCO. — To  Lieutenant  Colonel  Don  Juan  Jose 
Blanco,   Acting  Governor  of  Corrientes. 


Convention  of  peace,  friendship  and  alliance  between  Misiones  and  Entre  Rios. 

(  GROUP   C,    NO.    6.) 

Convention  agreed  upon,  on  one  side,  by  Lieutenant  Colonel  and  Gen- 
eral Commissioner  of  War,  Don  Evaristo  Carriego.  with  full  powers  from  the 
Government  of  Entre  Rios,  and  on  the  other  side,  by  the  General  Com- 
mander of  the  province  of  Misiones,  with  full  powers  from  the  civil  and  mili- 
tary authorities  of  the  village  of  San  Miguel. 

I  Article. — From  this  date,  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  is  estab- 
lished between  the  two  provinces. 

II  Article. — The  mutual  obligation   is  established   of  rendering  aid,  in 


—  460  — 

preference  to  all  other  object,  when  either  of  the  provinces  should  be  attacked 
by  enemies,  the  Government  of  Entre  Rios  being  obliged,  at  such  times,  to 
procure  arms,  ammunitions  and  implements  of  war  for  the  province  of  Mi- 
siones. 

III  Article. — If  the  latter  province  should  be  attacked,  its  authorities  are 
to  immediately  inform  those  of  Entre  Rios,  and  are  to  retreat  to  the  right 
bank  of  the  Mocoreta. 

IV  Article. — The  Government  of  Entre  Rios  offers  in  behalf  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Misiones  :  First,  to  request  from  the  Government  of  Buenos  Ayres 
all  possible  protection  to  the  agriculture,  industry  and  commerce  of  Misio- 
nes ;  Second,  to  request  the  proper  authorities  to  recognize  the  boundaries  of 
said  province ;  Third,  to  protect  its  freedom  of  general  prosperity  ;  Fourth, 
that  all  the  products  of  Misiones  imported  into  Entre  Rios  by  way  of  the  vil- 
lages of  Parana  and  Uruguay,  are  to  pay  no  duty  ;  Fifth,  to  solicit  the  ser- 
vices of  a  priest,  or  as  many  as  may  be  necessary,  from  the  diocese  of  Bue- 
nos Ayres,  for  the  pueblos  of  Misiones,  it  being  the  special  duty  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  attend  to  the  fulfilment  of  these  articles. 

V  Article. — It  being  impossible,  by  the  treaty  between  the  four  pro- 
vinces, for  any  of  them  to  make  war  without  the  consent  of  the  other  three, 
and  the  province  of  Misiones  being  allied  to  the  province  of  Entre  Rios,  the 
former  cannot  enter  into  any  covenant  of  war  without  the  consent  of  the 
latter. 

VI  Article. — Both  contracting  parties  agree  that  all  troops  entering  their 
respective  territories  without  their  consent,  will  be  considered  as  enemies  and 
invaders. 

VII  Article. — All  treaties,  conventions  and  agreements  previously 
entered  into  by  both  contracting  parties,  are  now  declared  null  and  void  in 
so  much  as  they  may  be  opposed  to  the  present  Contention. 

VIII  Article. — The  Government  of  Misiones  declares  free  of  duty  all 
articles  imported  from  the  province  of  Entre  Rios. 

IX  Article. — The  above  clauses  will  have  no  value  until  this  Convention 
is  ratified  by  the  Governments  of  Entre  Rios  and  Misiones. 

In  proof  thereof,  we  sign  two  documents  of  even  tenor  at  the  village  of 
San  Miguel,  on  the  twelth  day  of  the  month  of  America,  in  the  year  of  Our 
Lord,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-three,  and  in  the  thirteenth 
year  of  America's  independence. — Felix  de  Aguirre,  Evaristo  Carriego, 
Jose  Ignacio  Bayai,  Mayor ;  Jose  Ignacio  Garaye,  First  Alderman  ;  Juan 
Guayar,  Second  Alderman ;  Donaio  Chevy,  Provincial  Alderman  ;  Jose  Ra- 
mon de  Rodas,Ch.\Q.i  A6.]\xl2ir\X.;  Captain  Daniel  Jimenez ;  Jose  Ramon  Ira, 
Secretary  of  Government  and  Comptroller. 


—  4^1  — 

Anthorizing-  the  Executive  Power,  in  view  of  the  persistent  efforts  of  the  Em- 
peror of  Brazil  to  occupy  the  Oriental  Province,  to  put  in  operation  in  En- 
tre  Rios,  Corrientes,  Misiones  and  Montevideo,  VI  Article,  VII 
Treatise  and  first  Title  of  the  General  Army  Ordinances. 

(group  c,  no.  7.) 

Buenos  Ayres,  December  24th,  1825. 
The  General  Constituent  Congress  of  the  United  Provinces  of  the 
River  Plate,  being  informed  of  the  new  efforts  made  by  the  Emperor 
of  Brazil  to  establish  his  dominion  over  the  province  of  Uruguay,  so  glori- 
ously reconquered  by  the  valour  of  its  free  citizens,  and  considering  that  the 
war  waged  against  said  province  is  waged  against  the  Argentine  Nation,  and 
that  all  the  provinces  are  under  the  obligation  of  assisting  in»the  work  begun 
by  the  brave  Uruguayans,  and  that  said  province  will  not  be  the  only  theatre 
of  war,  but  that  it  may  be  carried  into  Entre  Rios,  Corrientes  and  Misiones : 
Considering  all  this,  and  besides,  that  under  such  delicate  circumstances  it 
is  not  only  the  duty  of  the  national  authorities  to  act  with  the  greatest  dili- 
gence and  zeal,  but  also  that  the  citizens  should  willingly  submit  to  the  sa- 
crifices demanded  of  them  for  the  defense  and  safety  of  the  national  territoi-y; 
the  Congress,  using  the  faculty  reserved  to  it  in  IV  and  V  Articles  of  the  law 
approved  on  January  twenty  third,  while  agreeing  upon  further  measures  to 
force  the  Emperor  of  Brazil  to  do  justice  to  the  Argentine  people,  now  de- 
crees: Sole  Article. — The  National  Executive  Power  is  herein  authorized  to 
put  into  practise  in  the  provinces  of  Entre  Rios,  Corrientes,  Misiones  and 
Montevideo,  VI  Article,  VII  Treatise  and  Title  first  of  the  General  Army 
Ordinances. — Manuel  de  Arroyo  y  Pinedo,  President  ;  Jose  C.  Lagos, 
Acting  Secretary.  To  the  Government  in  charge  of  the  Executive  Power, 
Buenos  Ayres,  December  twenty-fourth,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
twenty-five.  Let  it  be  executed,  published  and  communicated  to  all  whom 
it  may  concern. — HERAS — Marcos  Balcarce. 


(page  470.) 

Circular.     Department  of  War. 

Buenos  Ayres,  December  i6th,  1825. 
The  undersigned  Minister  has  the  honor  to  present  his  compliments 
to  the  Governor  of  Corrientes,  and  to  inform  him,  in  the  name  of 
the  National  Executive  Power,  that  through  news  leceived  to-day,  it  is  known 
that  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  in  his  desire  to  retain  his  usurpation  of  the  pro- 
vince of  Uruguay,  redoubled  his  efforts  in  that  direction  upon  receiving  news 
of  the  defeat  of  his  troops  at  Sarande.  It  is  known  also  that  he  contemplates 
the  occupation  of  the  Patagonia  establishment  with  two  thousand  of  his  men, 
and  that  he  will  enlist  the  Indians  and  invade  all  our  frontiers  ;  this  informa- 
tion will  be  laid  before  Congress  in  order  to  obtain  its  consent  to  dictate  the 


4^2    

necessary  measures  of  defense.  In  the  meantime,  Your  Excellency  is  now 
urged  to  thoroughly  organize  the  mihtia  and  have  it  in  readiness  to  be  sent 
to  the  frontier  or  to  any  other  point  where  it  may  be  needed.  The  army  of 
the  Uruguay  has  been  ordered  on  this  date  to  cross  over  to  the  province  of 
Uruguay. — Signed,  Marcos  Balcarce.  To  His  Excellency  the  Governor  of 
Corrientes. 


(page  471.) 

Buenos  Ayres,  March  i6th,  1825. 
The  Government  in  charge  of  the  National  Executive,  having  in  view 
the  defense  of  the  Republic,  notwithstanding  further  measures  that  will  be 
taken  at  the  pr9per  time,  has  considered  it  his  duty  not  to  look  with  indif- 
ference upon  the  present  condition  of  the  province  of  Corrientes,  invaded  as 
it  is  by  the  savages  of  the  North  and  the  troops  of  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  and 
threatened  also  by  the  Government  of  Paraguay  ;  and  being  mindful  of  the 
fact  that  such  a  state  of  affairs  cannot  but  be  prejudicial  to  the  country  at 
large,  and  to  the  province  of  Corrientes  in  particular,  the  general  Govern- 
ment has,  for  these  reasons,  resolved  that  without  loss  of  time  there  are  to 
be  formed  in  said  province  one  or  more  regiments  of  cavalry  to  belong  to  the 
regular  army,  the  formation  of  which  has  already  been  proposed  to  the  Gen- 
eral Congress.— Signed,  FRANCISCO  DE  LA  CRUZ.  To  His  Excellency 
the  Governor  of  Corrientes. 


(page  500.) 

Corrientes,  November  22d,  1825. 
To  His  Excellency  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs : 

The  undersigned,  in  accordance  with  his  previous  promises,  has  now 
the  honor  to  forward  to  Your  Excellency  the  three  enclosed  and  endorsed 
copies,  numbering  from  i  to  3,  relating  to  the  territory  of  Misiones  and  con- 
taining information  that  can  be  used  against  the  ridiculous  pretentions  of 
the  Frenchman  Don  Bias  Despouy,  who  claims  the  ownership  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  land  in  Misiones.  These  and  other  decuments  which  have  been  pre- 
viously forwarded  to  Your  Excellency  prove  the  bad  habits  and  predatory 
customs  of  the  Indians  who  occupied  Misiones,  the  illegal  politicul  existence 
of  that  so  called  province  and  its  authorities,  who  never  constituted  any  form 
of  Government,  and  the  critical  condition  and  roughness  of  the  so-called 
Governor,  of  whom  Despouy  pretended  to  have  bought  an  immense  tract  of 
land  in  payment  of  his  insignificant  country  tavern,  which  was  sacked  by  the 
Indians.  The  undersigned  return  the  copies  sent  him  for  the  better  under- 
standing of  this  question,  availing  himself  of  the  opportunity  to  offer  to 
Your  Excellency  the  assurances  of  his  highest  consideration. — JUAN  PUJOL, 
Wenceslao  D.  Colodrero. 


—  4^3  — 

(group  c,  no.  8.) 

The  Honorable  House  of  Representatives  of  this  province,  having  re- 
ceived the  communication  of  the  Executive  Power  dated  to-day,  enclosing 
the  official  communications  received  by  the  last  mail  from  the  Government 
of  Entre  Rios,  relating  to  the  events  which  have  taken  place  in  Misiones, 
and  wishing,  in  view  of  their  contents,  to  strengthen  by  every  means  the  sin- 
cerity and  tranquillity  of  the  province,    decrees : 

I  Article. — The  Executive  Power  of  the  province  is  hereby  authorized, 
without  prejudice  to  the  national  agreement  between  all  the  provinces,  shortly 
to  be  signed,  to  make  a  special  treaty  with  the  province  of  Entre  Rios,  estab- 
lishing an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  with  said  province,  with  the  ob- 
ject of  repelling  any  attack  made  against  any  of  the  provinces,  to  preserve 
peace  and  public  order  in  them,  and  repel  all  attacks  against  their  legitimate 
anthorities,  adopting,  for  these  purposes,  all  measures  which  prudence  may 
suggest,  and  which  may  be  conducive  to  the  fulfilment  of  such  a  desirable 
end. 

II  Article. — Let  this  be  communicated  to  the  Executive  Power  for  its 
execution. 

And  obeying  orders  from  the  same  Honorable  Hall,  I  now  have  the 
honor  to  communicate  to  Your  Excellency  the  above  decree. — Hall  of  Con- 
greess,  Corrientes,  September  3d,  1827.— JOSE  JOAQUIN  GOYTIA,  Vice 
President;  FRANCISCO  MEABE,  Secretary.  To  the  Governor  and  Cap- 
tain General  of  the  province  of  Corrientes. 

Corrientes,  September  4th,  2827. 

Let  the  preceding  Honorable  resolution  be  executed,  and  let  it  be  com- 
municated to  all  whom  it  may  concern. — FERRE. 


(  GROUP  c,    NO.    8.) 

Convention  made  between  the  Governments  of  Entre  Rios  and  Corrientes. 

The  Governments  of  Corrientes  and  Entre  Rios,  fully^  reahzing  the  dan- 
gerous condition  of  their  respective  provinces,  owing  to  their  proximity  to 
their  common  enemy,  as  well  as  to  the  acephalous  state  of  the  Government 
of  the  Confederation,  and  desirous  of  establishing  upon  an  indestructible 
basis  the  peace,  friendship  and  harmonious  relations  cemented  between  the 
people  of  the  two  provinces  by  many  acts  of  confraternity,  and  in  view  of  the 
necessity  of  uniting  their  efforts  in  an  efficacious  manner  to  repel  any  attack, 
to  sustain  the  public  order  and  to  secure  obedience  to  their  institutions,  said 
Governments  having  also  decided  to  take  part  in  the  heroic  struggle  waged 
by  the  province  of  Uruguay  against  the  Brazilian  usurper,  have  finally  re- 
solved, after  a  careful  study  of  the  question,  and  with  the  full  consent  of 
their  respective  Legislatures,  to  agree  upon  a  treaty  by  which  they  can  carry 
out  such  sacred  objects,  appointing  for  this  purpose,  on  the  part  of  Corrientes, 
Don  Juan  Mateo  Arriola,  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  of  Corrientes,  and  on  the 


—  464  — 

part  of  Entre  Rios,  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  same  province,  Don  Jos6 
Maria  Echeandia,  who,  after  exchanging  their  full  powers,  which  were  found 
to  be  in  good  form,  agreed  upon  the  following  articles: 

I  Article. — From  the  date  of  ratification  of  this  treaty,  there  will  be 
established  a  defensive  and  ofensive  alliance  between  the  provinces  of  Entre 
Rios  and  Corrientes,  without  prejudice  to  the  national  agreement  soon  to  be 
reached  between  all  the  provinces  of  the  Confederation. 

II  Article. — It  is  a  sacred  duty  of  each  contracting  party,  to  render  as- 
sistance to  the  other,  without  sparing  any  sacrifice : 

First. — To  maintain  the  public  order  in  any  one  of  them. 

Second. — To  sustain  their  legitimate  authorities. 

Third. — To  repulse  any  attack  made  against  any  one  ot  them. 

III  Article. — If  the  common  enemy  should  again  invade  the  Oriental 
province  before  the  National  Executive  is  re-established,  the  two  contracting 
parties  are  under  obligations : 

First. — To  raise  their  military  forces  and  place  them  on  their  respective 
frontier. 

Second. — To  cross  over  to  the  assistance  of  Uruguay,  by  common  agree- 
ment, if  found  necessary. 

IV  Article. — Being  a  notorious  fact  that  owing  to  the  state  of  anarchy 
reigning  in  the  territory  of  Misiones,  not  only  the  province  of  Corrientes  suf- 
fers continued  invasions  by  the  inhabitants  of  Misiones,  who  are  exclusively 
devoted  to  acts  of  pillage,  but  that  said  territory  serves  as  an  asylum  to  all 
the  criminals  of  the  adjoining  provinces,  the  Government  of  Corrientes  has 
full  power  from  the  Government  of  Entre  Rios,  to  take  all  necessary  measures 
to  eradicate  such  evils,  an  undertaking  to  which  both  Governments  formally 
pledge  themselves. 

V  Article. — This  treaty  will  be  ratified  two  days  from  their  date,  by  the 
Government  of  Entre  Rios,  and  twenty  days  from  date  by  the  Government  of 
Corrientes,  when  the  customary  copies  will  be  exchanged. 

And  as  a  proof  thereof,  we  sign,  by  virtue  of  the  powers  granted  to  us, 
the  present  treaty,  and  affix  the  seal  of  our  respective  provinces. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Rosario,  capital  of  Entre  Rios,  on  September  twenty- 
fourth,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-seven. — JUAN  M.  ARRIO- 
LA,   [L.S.]  JOSE  MARIA  ECHEANDIA. 


Parana,  October  2d,  1827. 

In  conformity  with  powers  granted  to  the  Executive  of  this  province  by 
the  Law  approved  on  this  date  by  the  Honorable  Congress,  the  preceding 
treaty  is  now  ratified  in  all  its  ports,  from  I  Article  to  V  Article. — VICENTE 
ZAPATA, — ^JuAN  Bautista  Alvarez,  Chief  Clerk. — By  order  of  His  Excel- 
lency Jose  Maria  Marquez,  Official  Attorney. 


—  465  — 

The  Honorable  Permanent  Congress  of  the  Province  is  in  receipt  of  the 
communication  of  Your  Excellency  of  this  date,  enclosing  the  original  treaty 
made  with  the  province  of  Entre  Rios  on  September  twenty-fourth  past, by  the 
respective  Commissioners,  to  wit  :  on  the  part  of  the  Government  of  this  pro- 
vince, the  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  Don  Juan  M.  Arriola,  and  on  the 
part  of  Entre  Rios,  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  same  province,  Senor  Echean- 
dia.  This  treaty  has  been  considered  in  this  evening's  session,  being  un- 
animously ratified  by  their  Honorable  Congress,  giving  it  all  the  force  of  the 
law. 

Obeying  orders  from  the  Honorable  Congress  I  have  the  honor  to  inform 
Your  Excellency  of  this  result,  and  to  return  to  Your  Excellency  the  original 
treaty. — Chamber  of  Sessions,  Corrientes,  October  15th,  1827,- Dr.  JUAN 
FRANCISCO  CABRAL,  President;  Francisco  Meabe,  Secretary. — 
To  the  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the  province  of  Corrientes,  October 
i6th,  1827.  Let  it  be  executed  and  filed. — FERRE.  It  agrees:  Martin 
Blanco,  Chief  Clerk. 


Constitution  of  the  Argfentine  Republic,  sanctioned  in  the  Hall  of  the  General 
Constituent  Congress,  at  Buenos  Ayres,  on  December  24th,  1826. 

(group  c,  no.  9.) 

Section  Fourth. — Chapter  First. 

Of   the    House    of  Representatives. 

X  Article. — The  House  of  Representatives  will  be  composed  of  Deputies 
elected  directly  by  the  people,  on  a  plurality  of  votes,  in  the  proportion  of 
one  for  every  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants,  or  a  portion  thereof  exceeding 
eight  thousand. 

XI  Article. — The  Deputies  of  the  first  Legislature  will  be  elected  in  the 
following  proportion:  For  the  capital,  five  ;  for  the  adjacent  territory,  four  ; 
for  the  province  of  Cordoba,  six  ;  for  the  province  of  Catamarca,  three  ;  for 
the  province  of  Corrientes,  three;  for  the  province  of  Entre  Rios,  two;  for 
the  province  of  Montevideo,  four;  for  the  province  of  Mendoza,  two;  for  the 
province  of  Misiones,  one  ;  for  the  province  of  La  Rioja,  two  ;  for  the  pro- 
vince of  Salta  and  Jujuy,  three  ;  for  the  province  of  Santiago  del  Estero, 
four  ;  for  the  province  of  San  Juan,  two  ;  for  the  province  of  San  Luis,  two  ; 
for  the  province  of  Santa  Fe,  one  ;  for  the  province  of  Tucuman,  three  ; 
and  for  the  province  of  Tarija,  two. 

The  Deputies  who  signed  this  constitution  were  the  following,  in  the 
order  in  which  they  signed : 

Deputies  for  the  Capital :  Jose  Maria  Rojas,  President ;  Manuel  Antonio 
Castro,  Juan  Jose  Passo,  Pedro  Somellera,  Joaquin  Belgrano,  Ildefonso  Ra- 
mos Mexia,  Valentin  San  Martin,  Juan  Alagon,  Cornelio  Zelaya,  Miguel  Rig- 
los.  Y ox  \}nt  Adjacent  Territory:  Mariano  Andrade,  Diego  EstanislaoZabaleta, 
Valentin  Gomez,  Manuel  Bonifacio  Gallardo,  Alejo  Castex,  Jose  Luis  Busta- 
mante,  Francisco  Piiieyro,  Manuel  de  Arroyo  y  Pinedo.      For  the  province  of 


—  466  — 

Cordoba :  Eduardo  Perez  Bulnes,  Elias  Bedoya,  Mariano  Lozano,  Salvador 
Maldonado,  Miguel  Villanueva,  Jose  Eugenio  del  Portillo.  For  the  province 
of  Com'enUs :  Francisco  Acosta,  Pedro  Cavia  y  Caviedes,  Francisco  Igarza- 
bal,  Pedro  Feliciano  Cavia,  Jose  Ocantos.  For  the  province  of  Catamarca  : 
Inocencio  Gonzalez,  Miguel  Diaz  de  Peiia,  Nicolas  de  Avellaneda  y  Tula, 
Jose  Antonio  Barros.  For  the  province  of  Entre  Rios  :  Evaristo  Carriego, 
Casiano  Calderoon,  Cipriano  Urquiza,  Enrique  Nunez.  For  the  province  of 
Mendoza :  Pedro  Nolasco  Videla,  Juan  de  Vargas,  Jose  Cabero,  Manuel 
Corbalan.  For  the  province  of  MISIONES:  Manuel  Pinto,  Vicente  Ignacio 
Martinez.  For  the  province  of  Montevideo  :  Manuel  Moreno,  Mateo  Vidal, 
Silvestre  Blanco,  Cayetano  Campana.  For  the  province  of  La  Rioja  :  San- 
tiago Vasquez,  Eusebio  Gregorio  Ruzo.  For  the  province  of  Sa/ta  and  Ju- 
juy :  Juan  Ignacio  de  Gorriti,  Francisco  Remigio  Castellanos,  Jose  Arenales, 
Alejandro  Heredia,  Jose  Miguel  Zegada,  Manuel  de  Tezanos  Pinto.  For  the 
province  of  Santiago  del  Estero  :  Felix  Ignacio  Frias,  Vicente  Mena,  Manuel 
Dorrego,  Antonio  Maria  Taboada,  Jose  Francisco  Ugarteche,  Juan  Antonio 
Neyrot.  For  the  province  of  Santa  Fe  :  Francisco  de  la  Torre,  Pedro  Pablo 
Vidal.  For  the  province  of  San  Juan  :  Narciso  Laprida.  For  the  province 
of  San  Luis  :  Dalmacio  Velez,  Calixto  Gonzalez,  Santiago  Funes.  For  the 
province  of  Tucuman  :  Jose  Ignacio  Garmendia,  Geronimo  Helguera,  Jose 
Antonio  Medina,  Juan  Bautista  Paz.  For  the  province  of  Tarija:  Jose  Feli- 
pe Echazu.  —  Alejo  Villegas,  Secretary.  —  Juan  C.  Varela,  Sec- 
retary. 


(group  c,  no.    id.) 

The  Honorable  House  of  Representatives  of  this  province  is  in  receipt 
of  the  communication  of  to-day,  from  His  Excellency  the  Governor,  enclos- 
ing official  communications  from  the  Governments  of  Entre  Rios  and  Misio- 
nes,  whose  evils  extend  to  this  province,  and  being  necessary  to  strengthen 
the  security  and  peace  of  the  same,  after  a  careful  study  of  the  question,  it 
decrees  as  follows  : 

.  I  Article. — The  Executive  Power  is  hereby  authorized  to  take  all  prudent 
measures  in  order  to  suppress  the  state  of  anarchy  which  reigns  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Misiones,  and  to  avoid  in  that  manner  all  evils  which  threaten  this 
province  and  that  of  Entre  Rios. 

II  Article. —  Let  this  be  communicated  to  the  Executive  Power  for  its 
execution. 

And  obeying  orders  from  the  same  Honorable  Hall,  I  have  the  honor  to 
communicate  to  Your  Excellency  the  above  decree. 

Hall  of  Congress,  Corrientes,  August  28th,  1822.— JOSfe  JOAQUIN 
DE  GOYTIA,  Vice-President. — Francisco  Meabe,  Secretary. 

To  the  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes. 

Corrientes,  August  29th,  1827,  Let  the  preceding  Honorable  resolu- 
tion be  executed. — FERR£. 


—  467  — 

Treaty  between  the  Province  of  Buenos  A3rres  and  Corrientes- 

(page  461.) 

I  Article. — The  Government  of  the  provinces  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  Cor- 
rientes, enjoying  the  same  rights  and  prerogatives,  enter  from  this  date, 
upon  a  solemn  compact,  to  reciprocally  help  each  other,  to  support  their 
actual  and  legitimate  institutions,  and  to  defend  the  integrity  of  their  respect- 
ive territories,  against  all  foreign  agression,  coming  from  the  enemies  of 
American  freedom,  or  from  anarchists  fighting  against  public  order.  (  * ) 


(PAGE  459.) 

The  Honorable  House  of  Representatives  of  the  province  of  Corrientes, 
having  studied  with  patriotic  interest  the  events  which  have  lately  occurred  in 
Buenos  Ayres,  and  which  are  narrated  in  the  official  documents  placed  at  its 
disposal  by  the  Executive  Power,  has  decreed  as  follows : 

I  Article. — Consistent  with  previous  declarations  made  by  this  Province, 
especially  those  relating  to  the  recall  of  its  deputies  from  the  Congress  of 
Buenos  Ayres,  the  resolution  of  December  i6th,  1826,  is  now  ratified. 

n  Article. — For  the  present,  it  abstains  from  giving  its  accessit  to  the 
law  of  July  3d,  and  to  any  other  law  emanating  from  the  same  ministry,  and 
it  acts  in  this  case,  without  the  consent  of  those  provinces,  with  which  this 
province    has  sanctioned  compacts  of  union  and  confederation. 

in  Article. — The  province  of  Corrientes  cordially  desires  to  maintain  its 
union  with  the  province  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  with  the  others  to  which  it  is 
allied, 

IV  Article. — The  province  of  Corrientes  will  not  spare  any  effort  to  con- 
tinue the  war  against  Brazil. 

V  Article. — This  Legislature  will  elect,  in  its  coming  session,  a  Deputy 
to  represent  the  province  in  the  Constituent  Congress,  which  will  convene  in 
the  city  of  Santa  Fe,  during  the  coming  month  of  September. 

VI  Article. — Let  this  be  communicated  to  all  whom  it  may  concern. 
And  obeying  orders  from  the  same  Honorable  House,  I  have  the  honor 

to  communicate  to  Your  Excellency  the  above  decree,  for  its  execution.  Hall 
of  Congress,  Corrientes,  August  nth,  1827.— DR.  JUAN  FRANCISCO  CA- 
BRAL,  President. — Francisco  Meabe,  Secretary. — To  the  Governor  and 
Captain  General  of  the  province  of  Corrientes. — Corrientes,  August  13th, 
1827. — Let  the  foregoing  decree  be  executed.- — FERRE. 


(* )  Buenos  Ayres  was  aware  that  at  the  time  Corrientes  had  just  triumphed,  (in  the  12th 
and  20th  of  November)  carrying  the  war  into  Misiones,  to  purge  the  territory  of  Aguirre's 
rebellion. 


—  468  — 

(PAGE    326.) 

August  1 8th,  1828. 
Department  of  Government. 

The  re-estabhshment  of  the  Oriental  Pueblos  of  Misiones  by  the  power 
of  the  Argentine  Republic  on  its  incorporation  being  so  laudable  and  con- 
ducive to  the  general  welfare,  and  the  Government  being  desirous  of  straight- 
ening immediately  the  relations  of  fraternal  friendship  and  reciprocal  under- 
standing with  the  people  of  that  province,  in  all  that  may  tend  to  the  pro- 
motion of  the  happiness  of  the  inhabitants  of  both  territories,  now  decrees: 

I  Article. — The  inhabitants  of  the  province  of  Misiones  will  be  respected 
by  those  of  Corrientes,  not  only  in  their  persons  and  property  rights,  but  in 
every  other  capacity,  they  being  henceforth  considered  as  members  of  the 
common  Argentine  family. 

II  Article. — It  is  accordingly  prohibited  to  the  inhabitants  of  Corrientes 
to  cross  the  Uruguay  in  search  of  cattle  or  on  any  other  business,  liable  to 
disturb  the  tranquility  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  province  of  Misiones. 

III  Article. — The  cattle  which,  contrary  to  the  preceding  article,  should 
be  brought  to  this  side  of  the  Uruguay,  vnW  be  confiscated,  and  all  cattle 
robbers  will  be  punished  with  all  the  rigor  of  the  law. 

IV  Article, — All  persons  helping  others  to  cross  the  Uruguay  with  the 
purpose  of  buying  cattle  or  doing  any  other  thing  calculated  to  injure  the  in- 
habitants of  said  province,  are  included  in  the  prescription  of  the  preceding 
article. 

V  Article. — There  are  included  also  all  persons  who  may  cross  the  Uru- 
guay with  an  evil  intention,  if  said  intention  be  proven,  although  unable  to 
execute  such  intentions. 

VI  Article, — The  Government  authorities  of  the  province  of  Misiones, 
are  requested  to  pursue  and  capture  all  inhabitants  of  the  province  of  Cor- 
rientes, who  may  be  found  committing,  or  with  the  intention  of  committing 
any  acts  of  depredations,  and  they  are  requested  to  forward  such  offenders 
to  this  province,  to  be  punished  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  Article  III. 

VII  Article. — The  Military  Commander  of  Curuzu  Cuatia,  as  well  as 
the  chief  of  the  force  situated  on  that  frontier,  are  especially  charged  with 
the  execution  of  this  decree,  being  held  responsible  for  any  failures  in  the 
capture  of  cattle  robbers  and  other  offenders. 

VIII  Article. — Let  this  decree  be  communicated  to  General  Fructuoso 
Rivera,  and  to  the  other  Military  Commanders  of  the  province,  for  its  exe- 
oution.— PEDRO  FERR£. 


Pact  of  allegiance  bet^xreen  the  Commissioners  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes 
and  those  of  a  portion  of  the  remainder  of  the  old  Occidental  Misiones. 

■I;  (PAGE     199.) 

The  remaining  part  of  the  population  of  the  Occidental  territory  of  Mi- 
siones, tired  of  livjng  in  a  wandering  state,  and  at  the  mercy  of  unscrupulous 


_  469  — 

leaders  who  have  caused  them  great  misfortunes  in  lieu  of  the  happiness  to 
which  they  unanimously  aspire,  and  wishing  to  live  in  peace  and  security, 
being  sure  they  can  obtain  all  the  good  they  desire  by  uniting  themselves  to 
the  province  of  Corrientes,  the  geographical  situation  of  which  they  prefer 
for  many  reasons,  they  have  authorized  Don  Juan  Baltazar  Acosta,  and  Don 
Fernando  Argiiello,  to  negotiate  with  the  Government  of  said  province,  as 
to  the  best  manner  of  reaching  such  a  desirable  end. 

Said  Government  (having  pity  on  these  people,  who  are  Argentines  and 
have  rendered  services  to  the  country),  wishing  to  place  them  in  a  condition 
to  resist  the  attacks  to  which  they  might  be  subjected  from  those  dealing  in 
revolts  and  uneasiness,  has  empowered  Don  Manuel  Serapio  Mantilla,  and 
Don  Juan  Mateo  Arriola,  to  treat  with  said  Commissioners  regarding  such  a 
desirable  settlement  of  this  question. 

Consequently  said  citizens  have  come  together  and  have  agreed  upon  the 
following  points  : 

In  the  name  of  the  Holy  and  Indivisible  Trinity: 

I  Article. — The  inhabitants,  constituting  a  remainder  of  the  Occidental 
Misiones,  now  residing  in  the  ruins  of  the  old  village  of  La  Cruz,  by  virtue 
of  their  liberty  of  action,  and  wishing  to  form  part  of  the  province  of  Corrien- 
tes, they  now  submit  themselves  to  the  authorities  which  emanate  from  the 
laws  in  existence  in  the  province  of  Corrientes. 

II  Article. — The  province  of  Corrientes,  considering  them  as  members 
of  the  Argentine  family,  accepts  said  proposition,  and  regards  said  inhabi- 
tants henceforth,  as  citizens  of  Corrientes,  enjoying  the  same  rights  and  priv- 
ileges as  other  citizens  of  Corrientes. 

III  Article. — In  their  turn,  highly  appreciating  this  favor,  they  promise 
to  fulfil  all  the  obligations  which  they  assume,  sustaining  the  authorities  and 
laws  of  the  province. 

IV  Article. — The  territory  of  the  old  Occidental  Missiones  will  remain  in 
statu  quo  until  the  national  Congress  shall  resolve  the  point. 

V  Article. — Notwithstanding  what  is  said  in  the  preceding  article,  the 
Argentine  inhabitants  of  Misrones,  deposit  their  rights  to  the  territory,  in  the 
Government  of  Corrientes,  which  will  protect  it  until  action  shall  be  taken 
by  .the  national  Government. 

VI  Article. — This  convention  shall  be  submitted  to  the  Government  for 
its  approval,  and  will  have  no  value  until  ratified  by  said  Government. 

VII  Article. — Both  contracting  parties  promise  to  fulfil  in  every  part  what 
has  been  agreed  upon,  and  in  virtue  of  which,  and  of  the  authority  granted 
to  the  undersigned,  they  now  solemnly  promise  that  it  will  be  fulfiled,  sign- 
ing two  copies  of  even  tenor  at  the  city  of  Corrientes,  on  April  19th,  1830, 
and  on  the  twentieth  year  of  the  Argentine  Repubhc. — MANUEL  SERA- 
PIO MANTILLA. —JUAN  BALTAZAR  ACOSTA. —JUAN  MATEO 
ARIOLA.— FERNANDO  ARGUELLO.  I,  the  Governor  and  Captain 
General  of  the  province  of  Corrientes,  by  virtue  of  the  extraordinary  powers 
granted  me  by  the  Honorable  Permanent  CJiamber  do  ratify  in  every  part, 
the  preceding  treaty,  witness  my  hand  and  seal   of  my   Secretary  of  State  : 


—   470  — 

done  at  the  capital  of  Corrientes,  on  May  5th,  1830.— PEDRO    DIONISIO 
CABRAL. — Jose  Garrido. 

I,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Don  Juan  Cabafias,  Commander  in  Chief  of  the 
village  of  La  Cruz,  do  ratify  in  every  part  the  preceding  treaty,  remaining 
under  the  obligation  of  executing  it  in  every  respect,  witness  my  hand  and 
seal.  Done  at  the  village  of  La  Cruz,  on  May  28th,  1830. — JUAN  CA- 
BANAS. 


(page  20 1.) 

The  Honorable  Permanent  Chamber  of  the  province,  having  taken  into 
consideration  the  treaty  made  by  the  Commissioners  of  this  province  and 
those  of  the  remainder  of  the  old  Occidental  Misiones  on  the  19th  of  this 
month,  in  an  extraordinary  session  has  sanctioned  the  following: 

I  Article. — The  Executive  Power  is  hereby  authorized  to  ratify  the  treaty 
made  between  this  province  and  the  remainder  of  the  Occidental  Misiones 
on  the  19th  instant,  by  the  following  Commissioners  :  On  the  part  of  the 
Government  of  this"  province,  Don  Juan  Mateo  Arriola  and  Don  Serapio 
Mantilla,  and  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  Don  Juan  Baltazar  Acosta  and  Don 
Fernando  Arguello. 

II  Article. — Let  this  be  communicated  to  the  Executive  Power  for  its 
execution. 

And  obeying  orders  from  the  same  Honorable  Permanent  Chamber,  I 
now  have  the  honor  of  communicating  the  above  resolution  to  Your  Excel- 
lency. Hall  of  Congress,  Corrientes,  April  20th,  1830. — DR.  JUAN  FRAN- 
CISCO CABRAL,  President. — Pbro.  Manel  Antonio  Maciel,  Secretary. 
To  the  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the  province  of  Corrientes. — Cor- 
rientes, April  30th,  1830.  Let  the  preceding  Honorable  resolution  be  exe- 
cuted.—CABRAL. 


(PAGE   353.) 

Corrientes,,  November  9th,  1830. 
For  the  better  execution  of  the  law  of  October  29th,   the  Government 
decrees : 

I  Article. — All  the  citizens  and  inhabitants  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes, 
and  of  all  the  other  provinces  of  the  Republic,  are  allowed  to  go  and  exploit 
Xh^  yerba-inate,  and  all  kinds  of  wood,  in  the  forest  of  old  Misiones,  subject 
to  the  prescriptions  of  said  law,  and  to  those  of  the  present  decree. 

II  Article. — Parties  wishing  to  exploit  yerba  or  wood,  shall  solicit  from 
this  Government  the  necessary  license,  expressing  the  quantity  oi yerba  they 
intend  to  extract,  as  well  as  the  number  of  workingmen,  arms  and  ammuni- 
tions which  they  will  take,  a  requisite  without  which  they  will  not  be  allowed 
to  pass  through  the  gateway  of  Loreto. 

III  Article. — The  arms  referred  to  in  the  preceding  article,  must  be  all 
marked  by  engraving  the  letter  Z  in  the  middle  of  the  box,  when   fire-arms. 


—  471   — 

on  the  hand-guard  when  sabres,  and  in  the  point  when  spears,  which  the 
blacksmiths  can  do  at  the  time  of  working  them,  while  the  latter  shall  be 
marked  at  the  workshop  of  Don  Luis  Goet,  at  the  cost  of  the  owners. 

IV  Article. — The  arms  found  without  the  above  mentioned  mark,  will 
be  confiscated  by  any  of  the  Government  officials,  and  placed  by  them  at  the 
dis|)osal  of  the  Government. 

V  Article. — The  foremen  of  the  parties  who  are  to  work  in  the  already 
mentioned  forests,  will  be  held  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the  men  under 
their  orders,  and  whose  conduct  must  be  the  very  best. 

VI  Article. — With  the  Hcenses,  of  which  mention  is  made  in  Article  II, 
the  foremen  shall  present  themselves  to  the  Commander  of  the  frontier,  who 
after  noting  the  number  of  men,  arms  and  ammunition,  and  animals  which 
they  shall  carry,  will  allow  them  to  pass,  after  writing  the  above  information 
in  a  book  which  he  shall  have  for  this  purpose. 

VII  Article. — The  foreman  of  each  party  shall  immediately  report  to  the 
Inspector  of  the  Establishment,  showing  him  his  license,  and  receiving  from 
him  orders  regarding  the  manner  of  proceeding  with  his  work. 

VIII  Article. — The  foremen  and  men  will  be  underthe  military  authority 
of  the  Commander  of  the  frontier,  and  under  the  authority  of  the  Inspector, 
for  all  subjects,  concerning  their  work. 

IX  Article. — It  is  prohibitted  to  cut  up  yerba-mate  trees  by  the  root, 
which  are  to  be  benefited  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  Inspector. 

X  Article. — Any  one  who  may  act  in  contradiction  to  the  preceding 
stipulation,  shall  be  deprived  of  all  \(\?,  yerba,  half  of  which  will  belong  to  the 
State,  and  the  other  half  to  the  Inspector. 

XI  Article. — All  foremen,  after  finishing  his  task,  shall  give  advice  of 
it  to  the  Inspector,  who  must  examine  the  worked  plot ;  and  in  case  of  any 
infringement  of  the  regulations,  he  shall  hold  the  foreman  of  the  party  res- 
ponsible, and  turn  him  over  to  the  Commander  of  the  frontier,  after  seizing 
all  \h^ yerba  worked  by  him;  but  if  all  the  regulations  and  provisions  of  this 
decree  have  been  observed,  the  Inspector  shall  record  it  at  the  foot  of  the 
license  they  brought  in,  to  be  afterwards  presented  by  the  foreman  present  to 
the  chief  of  the  foice,  who,  after  ascertaining  the  return  of  his  men  and  arms 
by  him  registered  on  their  arrival,  shall  authorize  the  return,  following  the  Ins- 
pector's notice,  and  should  he  detect  any  fault,  he  shall  investigate  its  reasons. 

XII  Article. — The  duty  imposed  by  this  law  shall  be  paid  at  the  Tranque- 
ra  of  Loreto's,  to  the  Collector  stationed  on  that  point,  who  shall 
notice  the  amount  paid,  at  the  end  of  the  license. 

XIII  Article. — Said  Collector  will  receive  his  instructions  from  the  Gen- 
eral Collectorship  of  the  province  about  the  discharge  of  his  duties. 

XIV. — The  passage  to  and  from  the  forest  will  necessarily  be  that  of  the 
Tranquera  of  Loreto. 

XV  Article, — Those  infringing  the  preceding  article,  to  and  from  the 
forest  shall  lose  all  \\\€\x  yerba-mate,  and  everything  to  be  found  with  them, 
half  of  it  to  belong  to  the  State,  and  the  other  half,  to  those  who  may  de- 
nounce and  seize  them. 


—  472  — 

XVI  Article. — The  Inspector  will  see  that  only  the  first  class  yerba  is 
worked,  and  will  not  allow  the  extraction  of  ^Viy  yerba  of  inferior  quality. 

XVII  Article. — T\\^ yerba  plantations  of  the  villages  are  the  property  of 
the  Government,  and  the  exploitation  of  them  is  prohibited  to  any  one  not 
especially  authorized. 

XVIII  Article. — Let  this  be  published  and  made  known  to  all  whom  it 
may  concern,  and  let  it  be  inserted  in  the  official  Register. — PEDRO 
FERRE. 


Treaty  of  Peace  and  Friendship  and  a  Temporary  treaty  of  limits,  between 
the  province  of  Entre  Rios  and  Corrientes. 

(  GROUP    C    NO.     I  I .  ) 

The  Gov.ernments  of  Entre  Rios  and  Corrientes,  desiring  to  reestablish 
the  bonds  of  true  friendship  which  had  always  united  said  governments, 
until  political  events  came  to  disturb  their  cordial  relations^  and  it  being  also 
necessary  to  settle  some  pending  questions  for  the  happiness  of  the  inha- 
bitants of  each  Province,  they  have  appointed  for  this  purpose,  the  following 
Commissioners;  On  the  part  of  Entre  Rios,  Captain  Don  Manuel  Basalvilba- 
so,  and  citizen  Don  Martin  Ramos,  and  on  the  part  of  Corrientes  Dr.  Teo- 
doro  Gauna  and  Don  Domingo  Latorre,  who,  having  exchanged  their  respec- 
tive full  powers,  and  found  them  to  be  in  due  form,  agreed  to  the  following: 

I  Article. — The  limits  of  the  Provinces  of  Entre  Rios  and  Corrientes, 
will  be  for  the  present,  and  until  a  general  agreement  is  reached,  the  rivers 
Guayquiraro  and  Mocoreta,  drawing  a  straight  line  from  the  extremes  of  the 
former  to  the  extremes  of  the  latter  river,  a  line  which  shall  be  marked  by 
means  of  posts  as  a  sure  sign  of  recognition. 

II  Article. —  The  Government  of  Corrientes,  to  reward  the  important 
services  rendered  by  the  brave  army  of  Entre  Rios,  will  give  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  latter,  320.000  heads  of  cattle,  and,  20.000  horses  whenever  they 
shall  be  demanded. 

III  Article. — The  Government  of  Entre  Rios  renounces  its  rights  to  the 
25.000  silver  dollars,  80.000  heads  of  cattle  and  50.000  horses,  which,  by  the 
treaty  of  April,  1839,  the  Province  of  Corrientes  undertook  to  pay  to  the 
Province  of  Entre  Rios. 

IV  Article. — The  Government  of  Entre  Rios  and  Corrientes  in  order  to 
strengthen  the  bonds  of  friendship  which  unite  them,  allow  the  citizens  of 
the  River  Plate  Republic,  to  transact  business  freely  on  their  respective 
frontiers,  without  paying  any  more  duties  that  the  duty  paid  at  their  respect- 
ive ports. 

V  Article. — The  free  entrance  of  live  cattle  from  one  Province  into  the 
other  is  also  permissible,  and  this  cattle  shall  pay  no  duty  but  the  one  impos- 
ed on  their  hides,  the  suckling,  not  yet  in  a  condition  to  be  marked,  being 
exempted  from  said  duty. 


—  473  — 

VI.  Article. — The  free  introduction  of  all  commercial  articles  going  in 
bond  from  one  Province  to  the  other,  is  also  declared  permissible. 

VII.  Article. — In  the  territory  of  Misiones  will  be  stationed  a  military 
force  from  the  Province  of  Entre    Rios    under   the   command    of  an   officer 

'appointed  by  said  Government,  until  the  National  Congress  shall  convene 
and  decide  as  to  the  rights  of  the  people  of  Misiones  to  be  considered  as 
constituting  a  Province. 

VIII.  Article. — Until  that  time,  the  people  of  Misiones  w^iH  be  represent- 
ed by  two  Deputies  in  the  Congress  of  Corrientes. 

IX.  Article. — The  administration  of  the  territory  of  Misiones,  will 
continue  to  be  exercised,  as  up  to  this  time,  by  the  Government  of  Corrientes 
until  the  time  specified  in  the  VII  Article  or  until  it  shall  contain  a  suf- 
ficient population  to  become  a  Province,  The  military  force  of  Entre  Rios 
which  shall  occupy  it  until  then,  will  be  paid  by  the  Government  of  Corrientes. 

In  witness  thereof,  we  have  signed  two  copies  of  even  tenor,  at  Villanue- 
va,  on  February  9th.,  1843,  '^he  thirty  fourth  year  of  our  Freedom,  the  twenty 
eighth  year  of  our  Independence  and  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  Argentine 
Confederation. — Manuel  Basavilhaso — Martin  Ramos — Teodoro  Gauxa. 
— Domingo  Latorre. 

I,  the  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes,  by 
virtue  of  the  extraordinary  powers  which  have  been  granted  to  me,  do  hereby 
ratify  in  every  part,  the  preceeding  treaty  made  with  the  Province  of  Entre 
Rios,  ordering  that  it  may  be  executed.  In  witness  thereof,  I  sign  this  at 
Villanueva,  on  February  loth,  1843,  the  thirty  fourth  year  of  our  Freedom, 
thetwenty-eighth.year  of  our  Independence,  and  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  Ar- 
gentine Confederation. — PEDRO  D.   CABRAL.— JusTO  D.   de  Vivar. 

I,  the  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the  Province  of  Entre  Rios,  by 
virtue  of  the  extraordinary  powers  which  has  been  granted  to  me,  do  hereby 
ratify  every  part  the  preceding  treaty  made  with  the  Province  of  Corrientes 
ordering  to  have  it  executed.  In  witness  thereof  I  sign  this  at  Villlanueva  on 
on  Februay  loth,  1843,  the  thirty  fourth  year  of  our  Freedom,  the  twenty 
eighth  year  of  our  Independence  and  the  fourtenth  year  of  the  Argentine 
Confederation.— .JUSTO  J.   DE  URQUIZA. — Martin  Ramos. 


Constitution  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes. 

(Page    218.  ) 

Sanctioned  by  the  Constituent  Convention,  on  October  12th.,  1855, 
and  approved  by  the  National  Congress  on  September  25th.,  1856. 

In  the  name  of  God,  and  invoking  his  advice  and  assistance. 

We,  the  representatives  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes,  who  have  gathered 
together  in  Constituent  Assembly,  and  in  the  exercise  of  the  rights  not  dele- 
gated to  the  National  Government,  decree  and  sanction  the  following  Cons- 
titution : 


—  474  — 

Given  at  the  Capital  of  Corrientes,  in  the  Hall  of  the  Constituent  Assem- 
bly, on  October  12th.,  1855. 

TIBURCIO  G.  FONSECA,  Deputy  from  the  Capital,  President.— 
Jose  M.  Rolon,  Deputy  from  Curuzu  Cuatia  and  Mercedes,  Vice-President, 
— Ma7iuel  A.  Ferre,  Deputy  from  the  Capital, — Jose  L.  Garrido,  Deputy 
from  San  Roque, — Jose  N.  de  Elcoro,  Deputy  from  San  Miguel. — Martin 
Blanco,  Deputy  from  Bella-Vista. — Exeqiiiel Silva,  Deputyfrom  Curuzu  Cuatia 
and  Mercedes. — Francisco  C.  Meabe,  Deputyfrom  Restauracion  (*). — Martin 
M.  Zelaya,  Deputyfrom  Ensenadas. — Alejo  Ceballos,  Deputy  from  Yate  Cora. 
Jose  F.  de  los  Santos,  Deputy  from  the  Capital  and  Lomas. — Manuel  S.  Man- 
tilla, Deputy  from  the  Capital. — Juan  Rivera,  Deputy  from  Caa-Cati, — Juan 
M.  Fz7/ar,  Deputy  from  Itati. — Pedro  L.  Cabral,  Deputy  from  San  Luis. — 
Juan  F.  Poisson,  Deputy  from  Saladas. — Silvano  Blanchart,  Deputy  from 
Mburucuya. — Manuel  F.  Fernandez,  Deputy  from  Goya,  Secretary.  —  Teodo- 
ro  Gauna,  Deputy  from  San  Roque. — Meliton  Qitiroz,  Deputy  from  La  Es- 
quina. — Manuel  J.  7?«</d:.  Deputy  from  Caa-Coti. — Antonio  D.  de  Vivar,  De- 
puty from  Goya. — Francisco  Fournier,  Deputy  from  San  Luis. — Sebastian 
Alegre. —  Deputy  from  Empedrado. —  Ladislao  D'Aubauch,  Deputy  from 
Bella-Vista,  Secretary. 


(Page   316.) 

Corrientes,  May  28th.  1856. 
To  Major  Lino  Martinez : 

The  Government,  desiring  to  establish  in  the  Yerbales  of  Misiones  a  public 
force  to  protect  the  workingmen  and  public  interests,  has  appointed  you  Mi- 
litary Chief  of  Misiones,  and  in  charge  of  the  public  inspection  of  that  ter- 
ritory. 

In  making  this  appointment,  the  Government  has  relied  upon  your 
well  known  integrity  of  character,  which  is  a  guaranty  that  you  will  display 
your  accustomed  energy  in  the  fulfilment  of  your  new  duties,  acting  in  unison 
with  the  Justice  of  the  Peace  of  the  Department,  so  that  the  efforts  made  to 
avoid  the  frauds  which  are  continually  made  upon  the  public  treasury  by  the 
Brazilians  who  occupy  themselves  in  the  exploitation  of  yerba-mate,  may 
always  be  successful. 

The  Justice  of  the  Peace  Don  Waldo  Zarate  has  been  notified  on  this  date 
to  offer  you  every  assistance  you  may  request  from  him. 

God  guard  you. — JUAN  PUJOL. — Wenceslao  D.  Colodrero. 


(*)  This  Constitution  was  signed  by  Representatives  of  the  Departament  oi  Restau- 
racion, which  included  all  the  inhabitants  who  then  peopled  Misiones,  as  far  as  the  Brazilian 
frontier. 


—  475  — 
(page  502.) 

CORRIENTES,  April   14th    1 863. 

To  His  Excellency  the  Minister  of  the  Interior. — I  have  the  honor  to 
acknowledge  the  receipt  of  November  5th  of  last  year,  enclosing  a  copy  of  the 
Law  of  October  17th  of  the  same  year,  and  requesting,  in  order  to  comply 
with  article  III  of  said  Law,  that  this  Government  forward  to  that  Depart- 
ment a  circumstantial  report  covering  the  following  point. 

I. — The  orignal  Hmits  of  this  province. 

II. — The  furthest  hmit  to  which  the  territory  of  the  province  has  been 
settled,  and  over  which  territory  the  Government  has  had  possession. 

III. — The  actual  limits  of  the  province. 

IV. — The  transfer,  by  sale  or  donation  of  lands  adjoining  the  frontiers, 
or  on  the  frontiers  themselves,  since  the  sanction  of  the  National  Consti- 
tution. 

The  undersigned  has  the  honor  of  replying  to  Your  Excellency's  note, 
giving  all  the  information  at  his  command,  which  information  is  taking  from 
the  records  of  this  Government. 

This  province  is  bounded  on  the  South  by  the  Cuchilla  Larga  or  Cana- 
da de  Basualdo,  and  by  the  rivers  Mocoreta  and  Guaiquiraro,  at  their  res- 
pective confluence  with  the  rivers  Uruguay  and  Parana;  on  the  West  and 
North  it  is  bounded  by  the  Parana  river,  from  the  mouth  cf  the  Guaiquiraro, 
as  far  as  the  confluence  of  Iguazu,  or  river  Curitiba,  with  the  Parana;  on  the 
north-east  it  is  bounded  by  the  river  Curitiba  and  by  the  rivers  of  San  An- 
tonio Guazu  and  Pequiri  Guazu,  as  far  as  the  confluence  of  the  latter  with  the 
Uruguay  river;  on  the  East  it  is  bounded  by  the  Uruguay  river  from  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Mocoreta  with  the  Uruguay. 

These  limits  are  those  that  the  province  has  had  since  its  foundation, 
with  the  single  exception  that  the  dividing  line  with  the  province  of  Entre 
Rios,  was  so  vaguely  expressed  by  the  Decree  of  the  Directory  of  September  1 8th 
1 8 14,  between  the  rivers  Guaiquiraro,  Corrientes  and  Curuzu  Cuatia,  that 
that  demarcation  had  to  be -abandoned,  and  bylaws  enacted  afterwards  by  the 
two  provinces  the  limits  have  been  marked  by  the  Mocoreta  and  Guaiqui- 
raro in  the  manner  that  I  have  already  explained. 

The  Constitutional  statute  of  Entre  Rios,  which  has  been  in  operation 
in  said  province  since  the  year  1822,  and  several  Legislative  resolutions  of 
this  province,  have  established  the  limits  between  them,  by  means  of  the  al- 
ready mentioned  rivers  Mocoreta  and  Guaiquiraro  and  of  the  highest  points  of 
the  Cuchilla  Larga  which  divides  them.] 

All  the  geographical  maps  of  the  two  provinces  that  exist,  give  them 
these  same  limits. 

The  boundary  treaty  made  by  the  Confederation,  with  the  Empire  of  Bra- 
zil, on  December  4th,  1856,  recognizes  the  north-east  limits  of  this  province, 
marked  by  the  rivers  Pequiri  Guazu  and  by  the  Iguazu  or  river  Curitiba,  in 
the  same  manner  as  was  stipulated  by  the  treaties  of  1750  and  1777,  between 
the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  Crowns. 


—  476  — 

This  province  has  always  been,  and  is  now  in  possession  of  the  territory 
within  the  Umitis  designated  above.  But  from  the  year  1849  the  Govern- 
ment of  Paraguay  has  unlawfully  retained  a  vast  extension  of  territory  be- 
longing to  this  province,  on  the  banks  of  the  Parana  river,  until  passing  the 
last  settlements  of  the  old  Misiones  of  Corrientes.  This  valuable  territory, 
situated  on  the  north-east  of  Tranquera  of  Loreto  embraces  a  vast  area  of  the 
lands  that  divides  the  waters  of  the  river  Parana  and  Uruguay,  and  contains 
several  important  pastoral  establishments  of  this  province.  By  the  treaty 
made  by  the  Government  of  the  Confederation  and  by  the  Government  of 
Paraguay,  the  restitution  of  this  territory  to  the  province  was  stipulaled,  and 
I  hope  that  the  national  Government  will  not  abate  its  efforts  to  secure  the 
restitution  of  said  territory,  which  is  at  present  under  the  militaiy  occupation 
of  the  Government  of  Paraguay,  having  now  terminated  the  difficulties  be- 
tween the  two  Governments  which  gave  rise  to  unjustifiable  occupation  of 
said  territory. 

As  the  proceeds  coming  from  the  rent  and  sale  of  public  lands,  consti- 
tute the  principal  revenue  of  the  province,  sales  are  always  made,  but  those 
sales  made  of  lands  adjoining  the  frontier  lines,  can  never  give  rise  to  any 
dispute  from  neighboring  States,  as  the  boundary  line  of  this  province  has 
been  clearly  marked  out. 

On  the  western  bank  of  the  Parana  river  this  province  is  also  in  posses- 
sion of  a  vast  area  of  land,  where  many  establisments  for  the  cutting  and 
working  of  wood  are  to  be  found,  establishments  which  are  disseminated 
throughout  the  territory  of  El  Chaco,  from  the  Fall  of  Izo,  near  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Bermejo  with  the  Parana  river,  as  far  as  San  Geronimo,  op- 
posite the  City  of  Goya. 

In  some  places  the  cutting  of  wood  is  effected  at  a  distance  of  more  than 
forty  leagues  from  the  said  bank  of  the  Parana,  but  this  province  has  always 
exercised  its  jurisdiction  over  those  establishments,  expending  considerable 
sums  to  maintain  friendly  relations  with  the  Indians,  and  to  repel  their  at- 
tacks upon  the  men  working  on  them. 

The  jurisdiction  of  this  province  over  the  said" lands  of  EI  Chaco,  dates 
from  the  years  1595  and  1598,  when  Governor  Fernando  Arias  de  Saavedra 
and  the  Lieutenant  Governor  of  this  city,  Don  Bartolome  de  Sandoval,  dis- 
tributed said  lands  to  the  founders  and  settlers  of  this  city,  as  is  proven  by 
the  registration  books  showing  the  distribution  of  lands  which  are  found  in 
the  Archives  of  this  Government. 

Afterwards  were  founded  in  those  lands  the  villages  of  San  Fernando  and 
San  Geronimo,  which  were  for  a  long  time  under  the  jurisdiction  of  this  pro- 
vince, until  they  began  to  be  abandoned  by  their  Lieutenants,  who  came 
over  to  this  side  of  the  river. 

The  province  of  Corrientes  has  also  exercised  its  jurisdiction  over  a  con- 
siderable area  of  land  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Paragua  river,  to  the 
extent  that  since  the  year  1779,  this  province  has  defended  that  vast  ternto- 
ry  from  the  atacks  of  the  Indians,  by  means  of  military  forces  stationed  at 
Curupaiti,  which  point  was  captured  by  Don  Juan  Benitez  de  Arriola,  citizen 


—  477  — 

and  resident  of  this  province,  and  whose  forces  went  also  from  this  province. 
The  village  Pedro  Gonzalez  formed  an  integral  part  of  this  province  and  was 
the  seat  of  an  ecclesiastical  authority,  dependent  of  the  superior  ecclesiastical 
authority  stationed  at  this  Capital;  and  afterwards  the  Parish  of  San  Cosme, 
department  of  Ensenadas,  was  annexed. 

All  this  territory,  which  belongs  to  this  province  by  the  right  of  incon- 
testable title  deeds,  Paraguay  has  taken  possession  of,  since  1811,  exercising 
its  jurisdiction  over  the  same. 

The  detailed  information  which  I  have  conveyed  to  Your  Excellency, 
shows  the  indisputable  right  of  this  province  over  all  the  land  which  I  have 
mentioned,  and  I  entertain  the  hope  that  when  the  Argentine  Congress  shall 
deterrnined  definitely  the  limits  of  this  province,  it  will  not  forget  the  sacri- 
fices made  by  the  same  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  territory  that  it  em- 
braces, and  that  it  will  not  be  deprived  of  a  single  foot  of  land. 

Having  thus  answered  the  already  mentioned  note  of  Your  Excellency  I 
have  the  honor  to  renew  to  Your  Excellency  the  assurances  of  my  highest 
consideration.  —  MANUEL  I.  LAGRANA.  —  Gonzalo  Figueroa,  Chief 
Clerk. 


A  Decree,  authorizing-  the  Government  of  Corrientes  to  make  contracts  for 
the  building-  of  roads  to  the  Yerbales  of  Missiones. 

(  PAGE  358.) 

The  Representatives  of  the  province  of  Corrientes,  assembled  in  Gene- 
ral Congress,  decree : 

I  Article. — The  Executive  Power  is  herein  authorized  to  make  contracts 
with  private  persons  to  build  roads  in  the  Yerbales  of  Misiones,  for  the  trans- 
portatidn  oi yerba.  Said  contracts  are  to  be  sumitted  to  this  Body,  for  their 
approval. 

II  Article. — Let  this  be  communicated  to  the  Executive  Power. 

Hall  of  Congress,  Corrientes,  July  20th  1863.— MANUEL  A.  FERRE. 
— President. — Axgel  Acuna,   Secretary. 

Corrientes,  July  22nd  1863.  Let  this  decree  be  executed,  pubHshed  and 
inserted  in  the  official  Register. — LAGRANA. — Juan  Jose  Cameling. 


1863 


Protest  of  the  Argentine   XMEinister  of  Foreign   Affairs,   Don 

Rufino  de  Zllizalde,  against  Brazilian  occupation  of 

Argentine  Territory. 

(group    C    no.     12.) 

Department  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

Buenos  Ayres,  February  13th  1893. 

The  undersigned  Minister  of  Foreign  Aflairs  has  received  instructions 
from  His  Excellency  the  President  of  the  Republic,  to  address  himself  to  the 
Government  of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  declaring  that  the  deter- 
mination of  the  boundaiy  line  which  must  be  drawn  in  accordance  with  exist- 
ing treaties,  not  having  been  made  between  the  Argentine  Republic  and  Bra- 
zil, the  Argentine  Government  cannot  authorize  by  remaining  silent,  acts  of 
possession  of  Argentine  territory,  or  of  any  territory  that  may  belong  to  the 
Argentine  Republic  after  the  final  determination  of  the  boundary  line.  The  un- 
dersigned is  in  consequence  compelled  to  express  to  the  Government  of  His  Ma- 
jesty the  Emperor  of  Brazil, the  convenience  of  making  no  alterations  whatso- 
ever regarding  the  possession  of  the  lands  in  question,  as  such  alterations, 
not  being  based  upon  any  legitimate  right,  can  only  serve  to  produce  similar 
acts  of  possession  on  the  part  of  the  Argentine  Government,  a  result  which 
this  Government  desires  by  all  means  to  avoid. 

■  The  Government  of  the  undersigned  is  in  possession  of  authentic  informa- 
tion regarding  acts  of  occupation  of  Argentine  territory  which  the  Government 
of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  pretends  to  produce,  and  in  virtue  of  this  infor- 
mation said  Government  has  thought  it  necessary  to  take  this  measure  in  dr^- 
fense  of  its  rights. 


—  48o  — 

The  undersigned  avails  himself  of  this  opportunity  to  ofTer  to  Your  Ex- 
cellency the  renewed  assurances  of  his  highest  consideration. — RUFINO  DE 
ELIZALDE. — To  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  His  Majesty  the  Em- 
peror of  Brazil. 

(On  the  same  date  the  Argentine  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  sent  a 
note  to  the  Minister  of  War  requesting  him  to  take  measures  for  the  expulsion 
of  the  Brazilians  from  the  territory  unlawfully  occupied). 


Lavr  fizmgr  the  duty  of  the  "  yerba-mate." 

(group  c.  no.    13). 

The  representatives  of  the  province  of  Corrientes,  assembled  in  General 
Congress,  sanction  with  force  of  law: 

I  Article. — For  each  arroba  oi  yerba-mate  extracted  from  \}n.Q.  yerba  plan- 
tations of  this  province  a  duty  of  half  a  real  of  metalic  currency  will  be 
paid  henceforth. 

II  Article. — The  Law  of  April  4th,  1863,  is  hereby  repealed. 

III  Article. — Let  this  be  communicated  to  the  Executive  Power. — MA- 
NUEL FERNANDEZ.— Angel  Acuxa.  Secretary. 

Corrientes,  March  2nd,  1864.  —  Let  the  preceding  Law  be  executed,  pu- 
blished and  inserted  in  the  Oflficial  Register. — LAGRANA. — Juan  Josk 
Camelino. 


Article  n  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes,  Sanctioned  on  May 

25th  1864. 

(group  c.  no.  14.) 

II  Article. — The  limits  of  its  territory  are  the  following:  on  the  South, 
the  river  Guayquiraro,  at  its  confluence  with  the  Parana  river,  and  the  brook 
Mocoreta,  at  its  confluence  with  the  Uruguay  river;  on  the  East,  the  Uru- 
guay river;  on  the  North,  the  Parana  river  as  far  as  the  Pepiri-guazu  and 
San  Antonio  Guazu;  on  the  West,  the  same  river  Parana,  and  all  the  lands 
now  possessed  by  the  province,  without  prejudice  as  to  what  the  National 
Congress  might  resolve  acting  according  to  the  attribute  conferred  by  article 
VI,  item  14th,  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Republic. 

Corrientes,  Aguust  12th  1892.  I  certify  that  the  preceding  publication 
exactly  corresponds  with  the  Constitution  sanctioned  on  May  25th,  1864,  to 
be  found  in  the  Minutes  of  the  Honorable  Constituent  Convention. — PABLO 
GUASTAVINO.  Chief  Clerk. 


A  Decree,  reserving  certain  lands  in  Misiones,  to  favor  the  development  of  the 

industry. 

(group  c,   no.   15.) 

The  Government  of  the  province,  considering  that  special  favors  should  be 
granted  to  the  industry  of  j^r^a-Wrt/*?,  destined  to  become  one  of  the  principal 
sources  of  wealth  of  the  province,  that  the  freedom  to  work  is  a  condition  in- 


— .  48i  — 

separable  from  the  aggrandizement  of  the  territory,  making  the  forest  acces- 
ible  to  all  those  willing  to  work  it  under  the  regulations,  and  that  proper 
measures  should  be  taken  to  secure  those  franchises,  having  in  view  the 
special  nature  of  those  lands  and  the  divers  circumstances  attending  their 
working,  and  preventing  in  time  the  abuse  of  land  speculation,  which  may 
end  in  the  monopolization  of  the  work  or  may  hinder  it,  barring  it,  by  oner- 
ous pretences,  from  the  laboring  class  or  men  of  lesser  wealth ;  after  hearing 
the  opinions  of  practised  persons,  and  having  studied  the  facts  on  the  spot, 
decrees  as  follows : 

I  Article. — All  the  area  of  land  in  Misiones  between  Tunas  Stream  and 
San  Javier,  the  Uruguay  and  the  Cordillera  to  the  East,  which  divides  the  lands 
adjacent  to  the  Parana,  not  yet  disposed  of  by  sale  or  feud,  will  be  reserved, 
far  the  present,  for  the  breeding  of  animals  suitable  for  the  transportation  of 
yerba-mate  from  the  interior  of  the  Sierras,  and  for  the  establishment  of  sugar 
estates  and  farm  work. 

II  Article. — The  average  area  of  land  which  may  be  granted  to  each 
applicant,  after  ascertaining  the  nature  of  the  establishment  he  proposes  to 
start,  w^ill  be  half  a  square  league,  but  it  may  be  augmented  or  diminished 
according  to  the  accidents  and  natural  boundaries  of  the  ground. 

III  Article. — In  these  lots,  no  cattle  or  sheep  will,  as  an  industry,  be 
bred,  and  no  more  than  300  head  of  cattle  can  be  kept  on  each  lot,  for  the 
use  of  the  workingmen  of  the  establishment. 

IV  Article. — No  individual  or  corporation  will  possess  more  than  one  lot 
of  land,  and  only  on  very  exceptional  cases  will  the  Government  accede  to  any 
application  for  more  land. 

V  Article. — Whenever  there  shall  be  a  demonstration  made  that  parties 
are  unlawfully  exploiting  more  land  than  that  assigned  them  upon  specified 
conditions,  said  lot  shall  be  granted  to  the  first  applicant  for  the  same. 

VI  Article. — In  the  concession  of  lands,  the  Government  will  take  into 
consideration  the  claims  of  those  who  have  already  made  application  for 
them,  and  shall  concede  them  to  the  parties  offering  the  best  guaranty  of 
fulfiling  the  contract. 

VII  Article. — The  Justice  of  the  Peace  of  the  Department,  associated 
with  two  more  experienced  residents  of  the  place,  who  will  be  designated  by 
the  Government,  will,  without  loss  of  time,  select  a  town  site  of  sufficient  ex- 
tension, to  be  situated  in  preference  along  the  side  of  the  Cordillera  men- 
tioned in  I  Article,  and  which  will  be  reserved  for  the  houses  of  the  poorer 
classes,  and  for  the  breeding  of  their  animals. 

VIII  Article. — The  lots  wherein  are  found  the  ruined  villages.will  also  be 
reserved,  in  an  area  embracing  half  a  square  league  of  land,  which  shall  be 
given  in  farm  lots  as  in  Santo  Tome,  and  upon  the  same  conditions,  unless 
otherwise  agreed  by  the  Government. 

IX  Article. — This  decree  will  be  submitted  to  the  approval  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  province. 


—  482  — 

X  Article. — Let  this  decfee  be  communicated  to  all  whom  it  may  con- 
cern, published,  and  inserted  in  the  official  Register. — Corrientes,  March  12th, 
1864. — LAGRANA. — Juan  Jose  Camelixo. 

(The  specified  regulations  for  the  protection  and  working  of  the^ yerbales 
of  Misiones,  signed  by  Lagrana  and  Camehno,  form  part  as  No.  16,  group  C, 
of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence.") 


Decree  by  the  Governor  of  Corrientes  appointing'  a  political  Chief  in  Misiones. 

(group  c,  no.   17.) 

The  Governor  of  the  province,  decrees : 

I  Article. — The  citizen  Don  Manuel  B.  de  Rocha  is  hereby  appointed 
Political  Chief  of  Misiones. 

II  Article. — Let  this  be  communicated  to  all  whom  it  may  concern, 
published  and  inserted  in  the  official  Register. — Corrientes,  February  20th, 
1866. — LOPEZ. — ^JuAN  Lagrana. 


(PAGE  319.) 

Corrientes,  May  27th,  1871. 

It  being  necessary  to  divide  the  vast  Department  of  Santo  Tome  into  dif- 
ferent sections,  their  boundaries  being  marked  for  the  exercise  of  their  auth- 
orities, and  considering  that  the  new  Department  of  Candelaria  embraces 
lands  previously  belonging  to  the  Department  of  Santo  Tome,  an  alteration 
that  demands  a  new  demarcation ; 

The  second  Vice  President  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  exercising 
the  Executive  Power,  decrees  : 

I  Article, — The  territory  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Department  of 
Santo  Tome  is  hereby  divided  into  eight  Sections,  with  the  denomination  of 
ist,  2d,  3d,  4th,  5th,  6th,  7th  and  8th  Sections,  which  shall  be  administered 
by  a  Judge  and  the  corresponding  officers  of  justice.  , 

II  Article. — The  jurisdictional  boundaries  of  the  7th  Section  are  on  the 
North,  the  Periquero-g^rande ;  on  the  South,  the  Chimirain ;  on  the 
East,  the  Uruguay  River,  and  on  the  West  the  Sierra  General,  from 
the  peak  of  San  Jose,  as  far  as  the  peak  of  Concepcion.  The  8th  Section  is 
bounded  on  the  North,  by  the  Pepiri-guazu ;  on  the  South,  by  the  Periquero- 
grande ;  on  the  East,  by  the  Uruguay  River,  and  on  the  West,  by  the  Sierra 
General. 

III  Article. — ^Judges  are  hereby  appointed  for  the  foregoing  Sections  : 
for  the  7th,  Don  Santiago  Messano,  and  for  the  8th  Don  Jose  Fernandez  de 
los  Santos. — CEBALLOS. — Juan  LagraNa, 


—  483  — 

Report  of  the  Boundary  Committee  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represent- 
atives of  the  Arg-entine  Republic,  specifying*  the  boundaries  of  the  territory 

of  misiones. 

(page  282.) 

Honorable  Sir :  The  Boundary  Committee,  having  held  many  meetings 
in  which  the  interprovincial  boundaries  were  discussed,  has  arrived  at  the 
conclusion  that  for  want  of  a  map  covering  the  whole  territory  of  the  Nation, 
it  is  now  impossible  to  mark  said  boundaries  with  any  degree  of  accuracy, 
and  the  Committee  recommend  that  the  statuo  quo  relating  to  said  bound- 
aries, be  left  in  operation,  and  a  law  passed  defining  the  boundaries  of  the 
National  Territories.  Therefore,  said  Committee  has  the  honor  to  recom- 
mend the  passage  of  the  following  bill : 

The  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  etc. 

I  Article. — The  following  Argentine  territories  are  hereby  declared  to 
be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  National  Government,  for  purposes  of  defense, 
colonization,  administration,  sale  of  lands,  etc. 

I. — On  the  North,  the  National  territory  bounded  by  the  Pilcomayo 
River  

IV. — On  the  East,  the  territory  bounded  by  the  58°  Meridian  West  of 
Paris,  which  territory  must  be  previously  ceded  by  the  province  of  Corrientes, 
bounded  also  by  the  Parana  River  on  the  North  West ;  by  the  Yguazu.  River 
on  the  North ;  by  the  Brazilian  frontier  on  the  East,  and  by  the  Uruguay 
River  on  the  South  and  South  East ;  said  territory  to  be  named  Territory  of 
Misiones. 

V  Article. — Let  it  be  communicated  to  the  Executive  Power. 
Room  of  the   Committee,    September  21st,    1871.     B.   Mitre,  B.    Va- 
LLEjo,  Juan  Llerena,  Jose  Manuel  Arias,  J.  E.  Torrent. 


The  Committee  has  the  honor  to  enclose  with  the  present  Bill  a  Geo- 
graphical Map  of  the  Republic,  wherein  are  marked  in  red  lines  the  bound- 
aries of  the  different  National  territories  w^hich  are  recommended  to  be 
created. — Mitre,  Vallejo,  Llerena,  Arias,  Torrent. 


(group  c,   18.) 

Department  of  Government. 

Corrientes,  July  15th,  1876. 

The  Governor  of  the  province,  considering  : 

First. — That  \.\v<s.  yerbales  of  Misiones  constitute  an  important  part  of  the 
wealth  of  the  province. 


—  484  — 

Second. — That  the  forests  are  exploited  without  the  least  care,  the  trees 
being  cut  down  and  their  reproduction  prevented. 

Third. — That  the  continuance  of  this  state  of  affairs  will  be  the  ultimate 
destruction  of  such  an  important  industry. 

Fourth. — That  owing  to  the  introduction  of  FavsLguay an  yerda,  the  vend- 
ors pass  one  class  oi  yerba  for  another,  and  thus  defraud  the  State  Treasury. 

Fifth. — And  considering  that  it  is  necessary  to  regulate  the  exploitation 
oi  yerba,  it  decrees : 

I  Article. — Don  Juan  Goicochea  is  hereby  appointed  Commissioner 
General  of  the  yerbales  of  the  Alto  Parana. ' 

II  Article. — Don  Jose  Fernandez  de  los  Santos  is  hereby  appointed  in 
the  same  character  for  the  yerbales  of  the  Alto  Uruguay. 

III  Article. — A  Commission  composed  of  the  Commissioner  General  and 
of  Don  Felipe  Fernandez  and  Don  Inocencio  Godoy,  will  submit  at  the 
earliest  convenience,  a  set  of  rules  directing  the  exploitation  oi  yerba  and  the 
conservation  of  \h&  yei  bales  of  the  Alto  Parana. 

IV  Article. — Another  Commission  composed  of  the  Commissioner  Gen- 
eral and  of  Don  Abelardo  Escalada  and  Don  Otto  Negandank  will  submit 
a  similar  set  of  rules  directing  the  exploitation  and  conservation  of  those  of 
the  Alto  Uruguay. 

V  Article. — The  Commisioners  appointed  are  hereby  authorized  to  take 
all  measures  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  \}s\&  yerbales. 

VI  Article.-^The  authorities  of  Trinchera  de  San  Jose,  and  of  Santo 
Tome,  will  coopeirate  with  the  Commissioners  to  protect  the  yerbales  from 
destruction. 

VII  Article. — The  General  Commissioners  are  hereby  authorized  to  ap- 
point an  experienced  person,  in  case  of  any  resignation  being  presented  by 
the  Commissioners  appointed  by  III  and  IV  Articles. 

VIII  Article.  The  General  Commissioner  and  local  authorities  are 
earnestly  requested  to  have  put  in  operation  the  decree  of  January  seventh, 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  four,  relating  to  the  exploitation  of  \\\t.  yer- 
bales. 

IX  Article.  The  Honorable  House  of  Representaties  will  be  requested 
to  assign  a  salary  to  the  Commissioners  appointed,  who  will  serve  gratis  in 
the  meantime. 

X  Article.  Let  this  decree  be  communicated  to  all  whom  it  may  con- 
cern, published,  and  inserted  in  the  official  Register.  MADARIAGA.  Se- 
bastian Alegre. 


(GROUP   C,    NO.     19.) 

Department  of  Finance  and  Public  Instruction. 

CORRIENTES,  AugUSt  31st,   1 876. 

In  view  of  the  reasons  set  forth  by  the  Commissioner  General  of  the 
yerbales  of  the  Alto  Uruguay,  in  his  letter  of  the  seventeenth  instant,  the 
Governor  of  the  province,  decrees : 


—  485  — 

I  Article. — Don  Estanislao  Lassaga  is  hereby  appointed  Commissioner 
General  for  the  yerbales  of  the  Alto  Uruguay. 

II  Article. — The  Government  tenders  thanks  to  Don  Jose  Fernandez  de 
los  Santos,  for  the  important  services  rendered  to  the  province  during  his 
short  term  of  office. 

III  Article.— The  Commissioner  General  appointed  will  be  ruled  by  the 
instructions  set  forth  in  the  decrees  of  July  fifteenth  ultimo. 

IV  Article. — Let  this  decree  be  communicated  to  all  whom  it  may  con- 
cern, pubHshed  and  inserted  in  the  official  Register. — MADARIAGA.  Se- 
bastian Alegre. 


(  GROUP  c,   NO.    20.) 

The  House  of  Representatives  of  the  province  of  Corrientes  sanctions 
with  force  of  law: 

I  Article. — The  Executive  Power  is  hereby  authorized  to  sell  the  public 
lands  situated  in  the  Departments  of  San  Javier  and  Candelaria  ( including 
Xheyerbales)  at  the  rate  of  from  five  hundred  to  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars per  square  league,  when  the  sale  shall  be  made  payable  in  cash,  and  at 
the  rate  of  from  one  thousand  to  fifteen  hundred  dollars  per  square  league, 
when  the  sales  shall  be  made  according  to  the  prescriptions  of  the  law  of 
1869. 

II  Article. — The  lands  belonging  to  private  individuals,  who  may  have 
lost  their  rights  to  the  same,  by  reason  of  not  having  satisfied  the  annual  pay- 
ments stipulated  in  V  Article  of  said  law,  as  well  as  all  lands  which  are 
found  to  have  been  already  surveyed. 

III  Article. — Those  persons  who  may  possess  sugar  plantations  and 
establishments  for  the  exploitation  of  yerba-mate,  shall  have  primary  choice 
in  the  sale  of  adjoining  land,  and  a  period  of  three  months  is  hereby  granted 
to  them  to  present  their  propositions  in  writing. 

IV  Article. — The  sale  of  lands  authorized  by  this  law,  can  only  be  made 
in  lots  of  one  to  twenty-five  square  leagues,  and  no  single  person  will  be  al- 
lowed to  purchase  more  than  this  number  of  square  leagues. 

V  Article. — The  Executive  Power  may  waive  the  survey  of  certain  lots 
having  national  boundaries,  at  least  on  two  sides  of  them,  showing  with 
clearness  their  location,  but  the  Executive  Power  will  not  entertain  any  other 
applications  for  purchases,  if  said  application  be  not  accompanied  by  the 
report  of  the  Topographical  Department,  where  a  Special  Register  Book  will 
be  carried,  in  which  shall  be  noted  the  date  of  presentation  of  each  applica- 
tion of  purchase,  the  name  of  the  applicant,  the  boundaries  and  area  of  the 
land  applied  for.  the  date  when  the  Executive  Power  shall  grant  the  sale, 
and  the  date  upon  which  said  Executive  Power  shall  deliver  the  respective 
title  deeds,  which  deeds  shall  be  communicated  to  the  applicant  through  the 
medium  of  the  proper  ofiicial.  The  sales  made  in  this  manner  will  all  be 
under  the  condition  that  the  lands  will  be  surveyed,  within  ten  years  after 
granting  the  title  deed.  ■ "    _   -^ 

y^  Of  THE    • 

ftJiriVBRSITT] 


;icfFoi 


—  486  — 

VI  Article. — The  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  said  lands,  will  be  used  to  cover 
the  deficit  in  the  appropriations  for  the  current  years,  and  to  pay  the  outstand- 
ing debts  of  the  province. 

VII  Article. — The  Executive  Power  shall  regulate  the  manner  of  execut- 
ing the  following  article,  taking  as  a  basis  the  law  of  October  2d,  1878. 

VIII  Article. — All  previous  laws  opposing  the  present  one  are  hereby 
repealed. 

IX  Article. — Let  this  decree  be  communicated  to  the  Executive  Power. 
Hall  of  Congress,    Corrientes.  June  21st,  1881. — CLAUDIO  ROLON, 

Manuel  F.  Montenegro,  Secretary. 


Corrientes.  June  22d,  1881. 

Let  this  be  communicated  to  all  whom  it  may  concern,  published  and 
inserted  in  the  official  Remster. — CALLING. — Octavio  Gondra. 


A  Decree,  ordering'  a  chart  of  the  province  of  Corrientes,  with  the  territory  of 
Misiones,  to  be  dravim,  and  appointing  surveyors. 

(  GROUP   C,    NO.    21.) 

Department  of  Finances  and  Public  Instruction. 

Corrientes,  June  9th,  1877. 

In  view  of  the  reasons  advanced  on  this  date  by  the  Commission 
charged  with  the  collection  of  documents  proving  the  rights  of  this  province 
over  the  territory  of  Misiones,  and  in  view  of  the  report  of  the  Topographical 
Department; 

The  Governor  of  the  province  decrees : 

I  Article. — Don  Marcelino  Chapo  and  Don  Juan  Gustavo  Perret,  land 
Surveyors,  are  hereby  appointed  to  fill  the  Topographic  Board  with  the  sole 
purpose  of  drawing  a  Geographic  Map  of  the  regions  of  the  province,  which 
may  be  affected  by  the  question  of  its  territorial  boundaries. 

II  Article.— The  compensation  to  be  received  by  each  of  the  appointees 
will  be  1 50  dollars. 

III  Article. — Let  this  decree  be  communicated  to  all  whom  it  may  con- 
cern, published  and  inserted  in  the  official  Register. — MADARIAGA.  Se- 
ver© Fernandez. 


Jnstice  of  the  Peace. 

( GROUP     C,     NO.      22.  ) 

Santo  ToMife,  July  24th,  1877. 

To  Seiior  Ramon  Contreras,  Member  of  the  Commission  to  collect  documents : 
In  answer  to  your  letter  of  June  thirtieth  ultimo,  I  must  inform  you  that 


—  48?  — 

at  the  earliest  opportunity  I  will  send  you  the  information  regarding  the  ex- 
ploitation o\  yerba-mate,  etc. 

In  regard  to  the  action  of  the  civil  and  police  authorities  of  this  Depart- 
ment, I  can  answer  the  Commission  that  it  makes  itself  felt  as  far  as  the  natural 
boundaries  of  the  province,  that  is  to  say,  as  far  as  the  Pepiri-guazii  on  the 
Eastern  side  of  the  Sierra  of  the  Yerbales,  denominated  Cordillera  Central. 
Into  those  closed  forests  police  patrols  sometimes  enter,  for  the  purpose  of 
capturing  robbers.  These  are  land  pohce,  however,  as  the  fluvial  police  are 
in  the  hands  of  the  National  Inspection,  in  whose  jurisdiction  my  authority 
can  only  be  felt  by  consent  of  the  National  Revenue  Collector  of  this  place. 

Desiring  to  contribute  to  the  defense  of  our  territorial  rights,  I  have  ap- 
pointed an  experienced  person  to  collect  all  documents  relating  to  that  sub- 
ject, which  documents  will  be  remitted  to  that  Commission  at  the  earliest  op- 
portunity. May  God  bless  you,  etc.— CIPRIANO  ROMERO,  Acting 
Justice  of  the  Peace. 


The  House  of  Representatives  ofCorrientes  authorizes  the  Executive  Power 
to  make  a  contract  upon  Colonization  in  the  Territory  of  Misiones. 

(page  376.) 

The  House  of  Reptesentatives  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes,  sanctions 
with  force  of  law : 

I  Article — The  Executive  Power  is  hereby  authorized  to  make  a  coloni- 
zation contract  with  Don  Francisco  Lopez  Lecube,  acting  as  the  agent  of 
Messrs.  Firmat,  Napp  and  Wilcken,  who  reside  at  the  capital  of  the  Repu- 
blic, said  contract  to  be  made  upon  the  following  basis ; 

1st.  The  following  concessions  of  lands  are  granted  to  Messrs,  Firmat,  Napp 
and  Wilcken,  for  the  exclusive  purpose  of  colonizing  them  :  One  and  one 
quarter  of  a  concession,  (each  section  being  of  40  square  kilometers),  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Iguazu  river  bounded  on  thejWest  by  the  Parana  river,  on 
the  South  by  the  Uruguai  stream  and  on  the  East  by  whatever  the  surveyor 
may  determine  in  order  to  complete  the  area  solicited. 

2nd. — One  quarter  of  a  section  (that  is  to  say,  ten  square  kilometers)  at 
the  confluence  of  the  Pepiri-Guazu  with  the  Alto  Parana. 

3rd. — One  quarter  of  a  section  of  equal  dimensions  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Parana  and  Iguazu  with  the  Alto  Parana. 

4th. — One  quarter  of  a  section  at  the  confluence  of  the  river  Carau- 
guaya  or  Icauguazu  with  the  Parana. 

II  Article. — Regarding  the  colonization  of  the  one  and  one  quarter  con- 
cession at  the  Iguazu  river,  the  contractors  shall  abide  by  the  National  Colo- 
nization Law  of  October  i6th  1876. 

In  regard  to  the  three  remaining  fractions  of  one  quarter  of  a  section 
each,  they  are  to  act  in  accordance  with  Article  124th,  Chapter  VII,  of  the 
same  law,  which  says  : 

' '  But  when  they  shall  be  of  an  extension  less  than   that  necessary  |to 


—  488  — 

constitute  a  section,  then  the  survey,  division  and  distribution  of  the  land 
will  be  made  in  the  most  convenient  manner,  according  to  the  circumstances 
of  the  case." 

III  Article. — According  to  said  law,  a  whole  section  must  be  divided  as 
follows : . . . 

IV  Article. — The  contractors  will  give  to  each  settler,  and  head  of  a 
family,  who  may  be  found  in  the  lands  conceded,  a  farm  lot  of  one  hundred 
hectares. 

V  Article. — The  contractors  bind  themselves  to  introduce  at  least  two 
hundred  inmigrant  families,  upon  the  conditions  set  forih  by  the  Article  XII  of 
the  National  Colonization  Law,  within  a  period  of  four  years,  to  commence 
when  this  contract.  Each  family  shall  be  composed  of  at  least,  husband,  wife 
and  two  sons,  or  of  three  working  adults. 

VI  Article. — To  those  colonists  who  may  make  the  request,  shall  be 
given  houses,  implements  of  labor,  domestic  animals,  seeds,  and  a  year  sus- 
tenance, not  charging  for  these  advances  more  that  their  real  value  and  20 
per  cent  additional,  besides  an  interest  of  10  per  cent  per  annum  upon  the 
sums  advanced. 

VII  Article. — All  expenses  for  the  exploitation,  survey  and  division  of 
lands  shall  be  met  by  the  contractors. 

VIII  Article. — The  places  of  the  colonies,  drawn  by  national  or  provin- 
cial surveyors,  will  be  submitted  to  the  topographic  department  of  the  pro- 
vince. 

IX.  The  contractors  bind  themselves  to  erect  proper  buildings  for  the 
use  of  arriving  famillies,  and  for  storage  purposes:  such  buildings  must  also 
be  erected  at  Trinchera  de  San  Jose. 

»  X  Article. — The  lack  of  fulfilment  of  this  contract  will  make  the  con- 
tractors liable  to  pay  a  fine  of  $10,000  dollars,  and  the  breaking  of  the  con- 
tract will  be  dealt  with  according  to  the  prescription  of  the  law. 

XI  Article. — After  the  expiration  of  four  years  when  this  contract  will 
go  into  effect,  the  Government  will  order  an  inspection  to  be  made  of  the  co- 
lonies established  by  the  contractors,  and  if  satisfied  that  their  contract  has 
not  been  violated  in  any  respect,  it  will  grant  definite  title-deeds  to  the  con- 
tractors. 

XII  Article, — The  contractors  will,  on  every  other  respect, act  in  accord- 
ance with  the  National  Colonization  Law,  and  with  the  laws  of  the  Province 
of  Corrientes. 

XIII  Article. — In  case  of  there  being  found  any  plantations  of  yerba  in 
the  lands  conceded,  it  is  understood  that  said  lands,  containing  any  such 
yerba,  are  to  continue  to  belong  to  the  State,  which  may  cede  them  to  con- 
tractors, but  upon  the  ordinary  conditions  set  forth  by  law. 

XIV  Article. — The  contractors  are  exempted  from  the  payment  of  all 
duties  for  the  term  of  six  years,  an  exception  being  made  of  the  duty  paid  on 
the  exploitation  oi  yerba. 

XV  Article. — Messrs.  Firmat,  Napp  and  Wilcken  will  deposit  a  sum  of 
$10,000  dollars  as  a  guaranty  of  their  fulfilment  of  this  contract. 


—  489  — 

XVI  Article. — Said  contractors,  or  the  Company  formed  by  them,  shall 
accredit,  at  this  capital,  a  fully  authorized  representative,  to  deal  with  the 
Executive  Power  in  all  matters  relating  to  the  execution  of  this  contract. 

XVII  Article. — Let  this  decree  be  communicated  to  the  Executive  Power. 
Hall  of  Congress,  November  12th   1877.— AUGUSTO  D.   COLODRE- 

RO,  First  Vice-President. — ^Justing  Solari,   Secretary. 


Department  of  Government. — Corrientes,  May  21st  1881. 

(group  c.   no.   23.) 

The  President  of  the  House  of  Rrepresentatives,  in  the  exercise  of  the 
Executive  Power,  decrees: 

I  Article. — The  citizen  Don  Manuel  Ruda  is  hereby  appointed  Commis- 
sioner General  for  the  yerbales  of  the  Alto  Parana, 

II  Article. — Let  this  be   communicated,   etc. — FERRE. — M.   F.   Man- 
tilla. 


Department  of  Goverment. — Corrientes,  September  26th  1878. 

(group  c.   no.   24.) 

The  President  of   the  Honorable    House  of  Representatives  in  the  exer- 
cise of  the  Executive  Power,  decrees ; 

I  Article. — Don   Francisco  Lezcano  is  hereby  appointed  Commissioner 
for  the  yerbales  of  the  Alto  Uruguay. 

II  Article. — Don  Ezequiel  Romero  is  hereby  appointed  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  Revenue  Collector  of  San  Javier. 

III  Article. — Let  this  decree  be  communicated,  etc. — FERRfl. — M.  J. 
Mantilla. 


(  group  c.  no.  22.  ) 

The  Executive  Power,  in  view  of  the  alarm  caused  by  the  Message  of 
the  President  of  the  Republic  on  the  occasion  of  the  inauguration  of  the  Ses- 
sion of  Congress  for  the  current  year,  and  considering: 

I. — That  in  said  Message  it  is  stated  that  the  territory  of  Misiones  is  un- 
der the  jurisdiction  of  the  National  Power. 

II. — That  said  statement  is  contrary  to  the  incontrovertible  title-deeds, 
and  contrary  to  the  long  possession  that  this  province  has  had  of  those  terri- 
tories. 

III. — That  on  such  an  occasion  as  this  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Goverment 
and  public  authorities  of  Corrientes  to  exert  themselves  to  save  the  integrity 
of  the  territory,  with  due  regard  to  the  authority  of  the  President  of  the  Re- 
public.    It  decrees: 

I  Article. — The  Honorable  House  of  Representatives  is  hereby  called  to 


—  490  —  • 

assemble  in  extraordinary  session,  and  to  adopt  the  necessary  measures  to 
save,  and  guarantee  the  ownership  of  the  territory  of  Misiones,  notwithstand- 
ing the  measures  tending  to  the  same  end,  that  may  be  adopted  by  the  Exe- 
cutive Power  in  the  exercise  of  its  functions. 

II  Article. — Let  this  be  published  and  copied  in  the  book  of  Govern- 
ment resolutions. — GALLINO. — Octavio  Gondra. 


The  follovring-  documents,  belonging'  to  this  part  of  theS'' Arg'entine  Evidence,  " 

are  comprised  in  the  group  C  of  manuscripts,  where  they  are  "  in  extenso,  " 

xnih  the  corresponding  translations  besides  each  one : 

Year  i88i. — Decree  appointing  a  collector  of  revenue  at  San  Javier. 

Decree  appointing  an  Accountant-Appraiser  at  the  Receiver's  Office  at 
San  Javier. 

Resolution  approving  the  contract  for  post  mail  service  between  San 
Javier  and  Santo  Tome. 

Law  fixing  the  boundaries  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes. 

Year  1882. — Decree  appointing  Don  R.  Roca,  Governor  of  the  National 
Territory  of  Misiones. 

Decree  designating  the  Capital  of  the  National  Territory  of  Misiones  and 
dividing  it  in  five  Departments. 

Law  fixing  a  period  for  the  amicable  arrangement  of  any  boundary 
questions  that  the  Provinces  may  have  between  them  sending  to  Congress  the 
results  of  their  negotiations,  etc. 

Resolution  ordering  the  registration  of  the  land  grant  made  by  the 
Province  of  Corrientes  in  favor  of  Don  Jose  M.  Frias,  previous  to  the  law 
about  boundaries  of  Misiones. 

Resolution  recognizing  the  grant  of  two  sections  in  Misiones,  made  by 
the  Government  of  Corrientes  in  favor  of  Don  Daniel  Molina,  previous  to 
the  determination  of  the  boundaries  of  the  said  Territory. 

Resolution  in  regard  to  the  lands  of  Misiones. 

Resolution  recognizing  the  grant  of  two  sections  of  land  in  Misiones 
made  by  the  Government  of  Corrientes  in  favor  of  Don  A.  G.  de  Fontenelle. 

Resolution  recognizing  the  grant  of  two  sections  of  land  in  Misiones  by 
the  Government  of  Corrientes  in  favor  of  Don  Nicasio  Puyol. 

Year  1883. — Resolution  approving  the  contract  for  the  mail  service 
from  San  Javier  to  Santo  Tome. 

Decree  appointing  assistant  curates  and  deacon  in  the  National  Terri- 
tory of  Misiones. 

Decree  ordering  the  contract  for  the  survey  of  two  colonies,  each  of  an 
area  of  one  hundred  square  kilometers  within  the  Territory  of  Misiones. 

Decree  prescribing  that  the  mail  service  shall  be  performed  by  the 
telegraph  offices  named  below. 

Resolution  ordering  the  registration  of  the  concession  of  an  area  of  land 
in  Misiones,  contained  in  the  provisory  title  deed  issued  in  favor  of  Don  Cle- 
mente  Ferreira. 


—  491  — 

Resolution  authorizing  the  investment  of  3,000  dollars,  maximum,  in  the 
construction  of  a  telegraphic  branch  that  shall  connect  the  «  Puerto  Roca » 
with  the  telegraphs  of  Misiones. 

Resolution  cancelling  the  concession  of  an  area  of  land  in  Misiones  made 
in  favor  of  Don  F.  Beiro,  which  he  agreed  to  colonize. 

Resolution  raising  the  amount  of  Rafael  Hernandez's  fee  for  the  survey 
of  each  one  of  two  colonies  in  the  Territory  of  Misiones. 

Decree  appointing  a  clerk  for  the  Office  of  Receiver  and  Justice  of  Peace 
in  San  Javier  and  a  rural  commissioner  for  the  District  of  Concepcion. 

Resolution  approving  the  contract  concluded  with  Don  Pedro  Cernadas 
for  the  colonization  of  two  sections  of  land  in  the  Territory  of  Misiones. 

A  Decree  appointing  inspector  of  forests  in  the  Territories  of  Chaco  and 
Misiones. 

Year  1884. — Decree  ordering  the  registration  of  the  title  deeds  to  land 
in  Misiones,  issued  by  the  Government  of  Corrientes  in  favor  of  Mrs.  Rosa 
Caceres  de  Chaine. 

Law  accepting  the  cession  made  by  the  Province  of  Corrientes  of  the 
town  of  Posadas  together  with  the  area  of  land  granted  by  said  Province. 

Decree  appointing  Postmaster  of  the  town  of  San  Javier. 

Decree  appointing  first  assistant  of  the  surveying  commission  of  the  rail- 
road of  Misiones. 

Year  1885. — Resolution  authorizing  the  sale  to  Mr.  Enrique  Pech  of 
the  lands  he  now  possesses  in  Misiones, 

Decree  naming  Mr.  Vicente  Quiroga  Assistant  Pastor  of  the  Govern- 
ment at  Misiones. 

Resolution  ordering  the  Department  of  Engineers  to  proceed  to  study 
the  two  routes  for  the  continuation  of  the  railroad  to  Posadas. 

Decree  appointing  Collector  of  Duties  at  the  Custom  House  at  Esquiva 
and  another  of  the  same  class  at  San  Javier. 

Resolution  and  Decree  appointing  Governors  to  National  Territories. 

Decree  appointing  Mr.  Jose  F.  Munel,  Inspector  of  Yerbales  in  the 
Territory  of  Misiones. 

Decree  authorizing  the  grantees  of  the  railroad  to  Misiones,  Messrs. 
Clark  &  Co.,  to  commence  the  work  on  said  railroad. 

Decree  ordering  the  final  title  deeds  of  ten  squares  leagues  of  land  in 
Misiones,  granted  by  the  Government  of  Corrientes  to  Don  Ricardo  J. 
Hardy. 

Year  1891. — Decree  appointing  a  Health  Officer  in  the  Territory  of 
Misiones. 

Decree  appointing  Colonel  B.  Moritan  Governor  of  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  rights  of  Don  Jose  Pinto  de  Aguiar  to  acquire 
7189  hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  to  Don  Leonel  de  Freitas  the  right  to  acquire  7, 500 
hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Mrs.  Lucia  Gonzalez  de  Nacimento  to 
acquire  4,750  hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 


—  492  — 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Don  Aman  Viera  Reto  to  acquire  7,500 
hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Don  Salustiano  A.  de  Guimaraes  to 
acquire  7,500  hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Don  Antonio  Caballero  to  acquire  1,500 
hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Don  Luis  M.  Carvalho  to  acquire  7,500 
hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  appointing  a  clerk  in  the  Territory  of  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Don  Nicolas  Pereira  dos  Santos  to 
acquire  7,500  hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Don  Augusto  Obregon  to  acquire  7,500 
hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Mrs.  Luisa  Zimmerman  to  acquire  7.500 
hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Don  Camilo  Valerio  de  Asuncion  to 
acquire  7, 500  hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Mrs.  Maria  A.  de  Marsena  to  acquire 
7, 500  hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Don  Jose  de  Sousa  Sarmento  to  acquire 
7,500  hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Don  Francisco  Portelles  to  acquire 
3,350  hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  declaring  the  settlers  of  the  Territory  of  Misiones  included  in  the 
benefits  of  the  law  of  27th  October,  1884,  and  recognizing  the  rights  of  Don 
Jose  Silveyra  Marques  to  acquire  7, 500  hectares  of  land  in  this  Territory. 

Decree  recognizing  the  right  of  Don  Francisco  J.  de  Paula  to  acquire 
3,800  hectares  of  land  in  Misiones. 

Decree  recognizing  the  title  deeds  of  25  squares  leagues  in  the  Territory 
of  Misiones  in  favor  of  Don  Francisco  Comas. 

Decree  appointing  a  Commissioner  in  the  Department  of  Yerbales  in 
Misiones. 

Decree  appointing  a  Collector  of  revenue  at  San  Javier. 

Law  empowering  the  Executive  Power  to  issue  title  deeds  to  certain 
parties,  of  land  in  the  Territory  of  Misiones. 

Decree  approving  the  contract  made  with  Don  Nicolas  Picasso  by  which 
he  is  authorized  to  sell  a  parcel  of  land  in  Misiones. 


n  FTB    FART 


1750-1777 


DOCUMENTS 

concerning  the  antecedents,  interpretation 

and  execution  of  the  Treaties 

agreed  between  Spain  and  Portugal  in  the 

years  above  mentioned, 

upon  the  boundaries  of  their  dominions 

in  South  America, 

and  of  those  agreed   between  the 

Argentine  Republic  and  Brazil 

upon  the  same  matter   in    the  years 

1885,  1889  and  1890. 


1756 


Paper  of  the  Honorable  Regent  of  Buenos  Ayres  on  the  matter 
of  Boundaries  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Spain  and  Portugal 
( Title  8."  p.  42 of  the  IMEata  Linares'  Collection )  (*) 

Father  Procurator  General  Josef  Pages  : 
On  the  present  occasion,  in  which  I  have  less  to  do  than  usual,  I  will 
partly  satisfy  those  desires  which  at  various  times  Your  Reverence  has 
insinuated,  wishing  to  know,  with  some  order  and  precision,  the  many 
things  that  you  know  already,  either  in  detail  or  in  a  general  way,  to  have 
occurred  far  away  in  my  ever  persecuted  Province  of  Paraguay  at  the  time 
of  the  execution  of  the  treaty  that  the  Court  of  Portugal,  by  those  means  and 
arts  at  present  by  no  one  unknown,  negotiated  and  finally  succeeded  in  ad- 
justing with  our  own  of  Spain,  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
fifty,  which  has  been  followed  by  so  many  libels  on  the  aforesaid  Province, 
always  libelled  since  it  was  founded,  but  never  more  nor  even  as  much  as  at 
the  present  time.  I  will  relate,  then,  with  a  certain  order  those  things  of 
more  importance,  strictly  adhering  to  the  truth  on  every  occasion  ;  they  are 
as  follow : 

SECTION  FIRST. 

Many  years  before  the  aforesaid  Royal  treaty  came  to  light,  there  were 
sufificient  indications  of  it  in  South  America,  not  so  obscure  but  that  it  could 
be  clearly  deduced  from  them,  that  Portugal  had  in  view  some  great  claim  to 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Archives  of  the 
Royal  Academy  ol  History  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at 
Madrid,  forms  part  of  group  D,  No.  i,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine 
Evidence. » 


—  496  — 

I 

those  very  extensive  possessions  of  Spain,  although  the  exact  or  precise 
claim  was  never  apparent  to  any  Spaniard,  notwithstanding  that  one  of  them, 
( it  was  the  Father  Procurator  who  brought  me  from  Europe  when  he  was  a 
Provincial,  while  visiting  the  misiones  of  Father  Antonio  Madroni )  stated 
as  far  back  as  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty,  to  a  number  of  Mis- 
sionaries of  the  Guarani :  that  from  present  indications,  the  result  would  be 
that  the  Portuguese  would  take  possession  of  the  lands,  which  are  now  settled 
by  Indians  who  four  or  five  years  ago  had  taken  possession  of  all  the 
Territory  of  the  Rio  Grande,  without  a  word  to  show  that  our  Court,  which 
could  not  be  in  ignorance  of  the  matter,  had  resented  said  clandestine  usur- 
pation ;  furthermore,  as  the  said  indications,  although  very  suspicious,  were 
always  equivocal,  inasmuch  as  those  aforesaid  parties  ranged  in  other  parts  of 
the  neighboring  Provinces  and  in  still  others  further  away,  as  far  as  the 
Mojos  Indians  and  their  territories,  which  are  situated  about  nine  hundred 
leagues  distant  from  the  Guaranis  or  Tapes  and  their  Misiones,  and  in  those 
of  the  Chiquitos,  which  are  about  as  far  off  ( the  latter  are  only  separated  by 
sixty  leagues  from  the  Mojos),  the  same  attention  was  not  paid  at  the  time 
to  the  Father  Provincial  that  was  paid  ten  years  afterwards  when  at  last  the 
treaty  was  published,  which  made  plain  the  large  claim  of  the  Portuguese  and 
their  crafty  work  in  this  business  of  theirs,  which  they  had  always  kept  in 
the  dark  and  under  cover,  and  thus  secure  through  the  Queen  of  Spain  pos- 
session of  their  conquests  in  America,  (as  they  say  in  Lisbon):  they  give  the 
name  conquest  to  those  furtive  usurpations  of  Spanish  territory,  which  they, 
had  been  effecting  even  before  Spain  had  a  Portuguese  Queen,  in  a  more  or 
less  cautious  manner. 

The  said  indications  resolved  themselves  into  an  earnest  desire,  never 
before  observed  on  the  past,  of  the  Portuguese  to  survey  or  explore  one  by 
one  all  those  territories  and  settlements  of  the  Spanish  Crown.  Whenever 
the  aforesaid  Portuguese  or  their  explorers  and  numerous  spies  were  dis- 
covered within  the  territories  or  settlements  of  the  three  said  misiones  of 
Mojos,  Chiquitos  and  Guaranis,  they  were  immediately  sent  back,  without 
permitting  them  under  any  pretext  ( and  they  had  quite  a  number  )  to  take 
another  step  forward  or  to  enter  another  settlement  besides  the  one  in  which 
they  were  apprehended.  The  alleged  pretexts  for  their  arrival,  their  travels 
and  incursions  into  those  three  countries  were  of  all  kinds,  and  at  times  they 
were  very  ridiculous.  Sometimes  one  came  alone  or  with  a  woman;  another 
time  they  were  two,  three,  four,  or  even  more,  in  a  party  ;  once  a  party  of 
fourteen  came  into  the  Mojos  country  under  the  pretext  that  they  had  gone 
out  of  their  own  lands  (they  might  have  said  ours)  searching  for  some  cocoa 
forests.  At  another  time  a  single  one,  dressed  |as  a  friar,  went  among  the 
Mojos,  stating  that  he  was  a  fugitive  from  his  Province,  Misiones  of 
Maraiion:  it  appears  that  this  was  the  only  thing  that  he  alleged  in  his  own 
behalf,  while  he  demanded  permission  for  a  free  passage  by  that  route,  in 
order  to  reach  the  neighboring  Provinces  of  Peru,  and  from  there  through 
all  the  intermediate  ones  to  that  of  Buenos  Ayres,  and  at  that  port  he  would 
take  a  ship  for  Europe  in  order  to  throw  himself  at  the  feet  of  his  Reverend 


—  497  — 

Father  General.  Others  arrived  with  similar  pretexts  of  a  nature  as  frivolous 
as  the  above,  or  with  crafty  and  unworthy  stories  not  to  say  downright  false- 
hoods and  lies. 

Those  that  went  to  the  lands  and  pueblos  of  the  Chiquitos  were  provided 
with  the  same  or  similar  stratagems.  In  the  aforesaid  year  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  forty,  several  Portuguese  appeared  in  the  lands  of  Chi- 
quitos as  traders  while  in  reality  they  were  explorers  and  spies,  although 
dressed  as  such.  Among  them  there  was  one  who  instead  of  having  a  pass- 
port to  show  to  the  Indians  that  they  met  in  the  country  and  on  the  roads, 
dressed  himself  in  a  Jesuit  cassock,  which  in  truth  served  him  well,  inasmuch 
as  it  saved  him  and  his  companions  from  a  flogging  at  the  hands  of  the 
Indians,  and  it,  furthermore,  served  them  all  as  a  safe-conduct  with  the 
Indians  whom  they  first  met,  who  received  them  with  all  due  respect,  and 
when  the  one  masquerading  as  a  Jesuit  told  them  that  he  was  going  to  see 
the  missionary  Fathers,  his  brethren,  they  took  them  to  their  town  without 
trouble  and  up  to  the  very  house  of  the  Fathers,  upon  seeing  whom  the  mas- 
querading Jesuit  or  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing,  confessed  to  the  priest  his  and  his 
companions  sin,  asking  pardon  for  thus  profaning  the  cassock  and  trying  to 
appear  what  he  was  not,  because  his  motive  in  passing  himself  off  as  an 
ecclesiastic,  and  more  especially  as  a  Jesuit,  was  that  he  might  be  allowed, 
together  with  his  companions,  to  go  through  those  lands  and  reach  the  settle- 
ment of  Saint  Xavier  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  the  Fathers  and  leaving  a  very 
handsome  ornament  for  their  church  to  be  employed  in  saying  mass,  which 
he  had  offered  in  a  promise  to  St.  Francis  Xavier  ;  in  fact,  they  had  it  with 
them,  and  showed  the  said  ornament  to  the  priest,  saying  that  they  both  ex- 
pected his  good  will,  and,  furthermore,  asked  him  to  use  his  influence  among 
his  Indians  to  permit  them  to  continue  their  course  without  danger,  which 
was  to  reach  the  Provinces  of  Peru  and  the  cities  of  the  Spaniards,  on  whom 
they  were  going  to  lay  out  their  goods  of  which  they  had  a  good  supply.  The 
priest,  although  they  insisted,  would  not  receive  their  ornament,  much  less 
would  he  allow  the  Indians  to  give  passage  to  those  gentlemen,  neither  for- 
wards nor  backwards;  he  even  detained  them  in  the  same  settlement  until  he 
had  reported  the  case  and  received  an  answer  from  the  Real  Audiencia  of 
Chuquisaca  leaving  them  to  decide  what  disposition  was  to  be  made  of  those 
smugglers,  as  no  one  yet  suspected  in  those  parts  that  they  were  explorers 
or  spies,  whether  to  allow  them  to  continue  or  to  turn  them  back.  The  Au- 
diencia decreed  the  latter,  and  it  was  accordingly  done  in  spite  of  their  pro- 
tests ;  the  said  gentlemen  were  turned  back  to  the  place  from  which  they 
started,  the  Cuyaba,  which  was  more  than  one  hundred  leagues  away. 

In  spite  of  this  solemn  judicial  and  authoritative  set  back,  the  Portu- 
guese were  not  satisfied  and  they  did  not  desist  for  an  instant  in  their 
headstrong  endeavor  to  completely  and  fully  explore  the  possessions  of  Spain, 
and  to  look  over  and  reconnoitre  with  their  own  eyes  the  cloth  which  they 
were  afterwards  to  cut  with  their  new  boundary  line,  and  thus  they  continually 
employed  new  stratagems  and  new  explorers  by  different  woods  leading 
towards  Chiquitos,   some  of  them  arriving  there  at  the  settlement  of  St. 


—  498  — 

Rafael,  at  which  place  the  Indians,  on  their  own  authority,  flogged  them  in 
the  public  square ;  and  they  were  made  to  return  with  smarting  backs  by  the 
same  way  by  which  they  had  come.  It  fared  no  better  with  others  the  follow- 
ing year  than  it  did  with  the  explorers  of  Jericho,  and  I  say  so  because  the 
Oidor,  who  is  called  Superintendent  of  the  Governor  of  Cuyaba,  bitterly 
complained  in  writing  to  the  Father  Superior  of  Chiquitos,  Bartolome  Mora, 
in  the  year  forty  two,  on  account  of  the  ill  treatment  that  they  had  given  his 
Portuguese  subjects,  simply  because  the  latter  had  been  found  on  the  former's 
lands,  which  is  something  which  under  other  circumstances  and  on  another 
occasion  would  not  be  tolerated,  less  so  at  present  when  there  is  such  a  good 
understanding  between  the  Courts  of  Madrid  and  of  Lisbon,  and  he,  further- 
more, requested  him  that  in  the  future  he  should  give  a  wellcome  and  a  free 
pass  to  their  destination  to  all  those  Portuguese  who  might  reach  his  settle- 
ments. 

The  answer  of  Father  Bartolome  Mora,  ( the  original  is  in  Madrid )  was, 
with  respect  to  the  first  permit,  he  excused  himself  on  the  ground  that  he  did 
not  know  what  the  Indians  were  doing  to  the  Portuguese  in  their  country, 
nor  whether  they  had  ill  treated  them  or  not,  nor  did  he  know  until  after- 
wards of  the  flogging.  The  second  petition  he  roundly  refuses  to  entertain, 
just  as  firmly  as  it  was  asked,  the  good  Castilian  claiming  that  he  was  just  as 
faithful  a  subject  of  the  Catholic  King  as  His  Lordship  was  of  the  Most 
Faithful  King.  And  in  short,  he  made  the  Portuguese  give  up  all  hope  that 
either  he,  his  successor  in  office  or  any  missionary  of  those  misiones  would 
ever  give  in  to  those  pretensions.  The  said  answer  came  in  the  original 
from  Cuyaba  to  the  Court  of  Lisbon,  and  from  there  to  Madrid,  where  I  read 
it.  I  am  well  acquainted  with  the  handwriting  of  the  Father  who  wrote  it, 
and  I  know  that  he  was  a  Superior  at  that  time,  and  he  is  now  a  priest  at 
San  Josef  de  Chiquitos,  unless  he  has  since  died. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  Portuguese  still  persisted  in  their  efforts 
without  losing  hope  of  carrying  them  through,  and  to  that  end  they  added 
gifts  to  their  petitions  and  supplications;  it  appears  that  in  Portugal,  as  else- 
where, this  is  supposed  to  soften  the  heart,  and  thus,  that  which  the  author- 
itative petition  of  a  Governor  and  a  Portuguese,  which  matters  much,  could 
not  obtain,  they  hoped  to  obtain  on  petition  of  a  rich  trader  of  the  same  Cu- 
yaba by  adding  a  liberal  gift  to  the  petition  ;  and  so  they  despatched  not  the 
Superior  but  a  single  priest  of  one  of  the  settlements  with  a  letter  full  of 
affectionate  petitions  and  requests  from  the  said  trader,  at  the  same  time 
sending  to  the  said  priest  a  long  list  of  goods  for  the  adornment  of  the  church, 
as  he  said,  as  an  act  of  piety,  notifiying  him  at  the  same  time  that  with  his 
kind  permission  he  would  soon  send  some  of  his  servants  and  carriers  with 
other  goods  and  merchandise  that  were  destined  for  the  Provinces  of  Peru 
adjacent  to  the  Province  of  Chiquitos.  Finally  the  letter  arrived,  together 
with  the  presents ;  after  a  number  of  adventures,  the  priest,  who  was  no  fool, 
saw  through  the  stratagem  and  he  determined  to  overreach  the  trader  and 
his  Portuguese.  He  accepted  with  a  thousand  expressions  of  gratitude  the 
holy  gifts  for  the  public  worship  and  for  the  ornamentation  of  his  church,  and 


—  499  — 

he  politely  thanked  the  Portuguese  trader  who  presented  them,  but,  as  to  the 
matter  regarding  the  petition  and  request  for  permission  to  let  the  carriers 
pass,  he  wrote  to  him  in  a  polite,  clear  and  concise  form  the  answer  that  had 
been  given  to  the  Oidor,  or  Governor,  by  the  Superior.  I  have  also  seen 
the  original  of  this  letter  in  Madrid,  where  it  arrived  by  the  same  route  as 
the  other  from  Father  Superior  Mora,  I  am  acquainted  with  the  handwriting 
and  also  with  the  missionary  that  wrote  it :  he  is  now  at  the  College  of  Ta- 
rija,  where  I  met  him  and  where  he  frequently  discoursed  with  me  on  various 
matters,  but  never  on  this  particular  subject  of  the  trick  that  he  had  played 
on  the  Portuguese,  perhaps  because  as  an  honest  Castilian  he  never  boasted 
of  it.  A  Portuguese  afterward  hoaxed  the  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres  Don 
Miguel  de  Salcedo,  I  will  speak  of  it  later  on,  and  this  was  known  to  the 
whole  city  of  San  Pablo  ( of  which  I  am  certain  )  and  perhaps,  to  the  whole 
of  Brazil,  I  have  even  heard  of  it  in  Europe  and  God  only  knows  if  it  is 
known  in  Africa  along  its  coasts,  and  may  perhaps  have  reached  Asia  and 
the  city  of  Goa  and  all  the  other  possessions  of  the  Portuguese. 

With  the  two  aforesaid  letters  there  also  came  to  Lisbon  two  other 
papers  which  I  saw  together  in  Madrid.  One  was  a  note  from  a  missionary 
Father  of  the  Mojos,  seiior  Josef  Ruiter,  with  whom  I  had  considerable  inter- 
course in  Spain  before  we  both  went  to  the  Indies,  although  to  tell  the  truth 
to  Your  Reverence,  I  remember  the  Father  as  well  as  his  name  but  not  his 
handwriting,  although  it  may  be  observed  that  it  is  as  foreign  as  the  Father. 
The  object  of  this  paper  is  to  certify  that  some  lazy,  idle  or  vagabond  Portu- 
guese that  had  arrived  at  the  town  of  Magdalena  (wherein  he  is  now  a 
priest,  the  Father  )  at  which  place  they  had  acquitted  themselves  with  the 
church  during  the  year,  and  at  the  end  of  the  certificate,  his  pen  speaking 
(  as  the  tongue  sometimes  does )  from  a  full  heart,  he  prayed  seasonably  and 
unseasonably  that  a  Portuguese  might  never  come  to  it.  I  know  not  if  he 
addressed  this  prayer  to  God  or  to  man,  because  in  truth  the  Spanish  style 
of  the  foreigner  is  not  of  the  most  clear  or  pure.  But  leaving  this  prayer 
aside,  the  fact  is  that  the  certificate  of  the  foreign  Jesuit  was  considered  of 
sufficient  importance  by  the  Portuguese  to  transmit  it  to  their  Court,  where 
it  certainly  did  arrive  and  perhaps  was  even  communicated  to  that  of  London 
as  equally  interested  ;  and  in  order  that  they  might  both  acquaint  them- 
selves with  the  displeasure,  not  to  say  aversion  and  tiredness,  already  felt 
by  the  Jesuit  Missionary  Fathers,  at  these  continuous  Portuguese  incursions, 
carried  on  since  the  very  beginning  of  their  business,  and  the  very  little  hope 
that  they  gave  of  ever  changing  their  conduct  with  respect  to  leaving  a  free 
road  to  the  pueblos  or  for  the  English  freebooters,  as  it  was  hoped  might 
perhaps  be  by  any  other  missionaries  who  might  be  placed  in  charge  of 
those  misiones,  and  the  other  possessions  of  the  Catholic  King,  by  the  Do- 
minicans, for  example,  if  they  were  ever  taken  from  the  Jesuits,  as  it  was  at 
one  time  proposed. 

And  in  further  proof  of  the  little  hope  that  there  was,  the  second  paper 
was  added,  which  was  a  lengthy  and  detailed  list  of  the  presents  of  goods 
given  with  the  hope  of  softening  the  heart  of  the  said  priest  of  Chiquitos,    or 


_  500  — 

of  interesting  him  ;  it  appears  there  could  be  no  other  object  in  sending  this 
paper  to  the  Court  of  Lisbon  (it  was  otherwise  useless)  except  to  make  the 
Lusitanian  and  Anglican  Courts  think  well  of  the  treaty  by  which  it  was 
proposed  to  remove  that  obstruction,  the  Jesuits,  who  were  so  perjudicial  to 
the  future  extension  of  the  Portuguese  possessions  and  to  the  expeditions  of 
the  Elnglish  smugglers,  if  they  were  to  continue  hand  in  hand,  as  they  had 
done  up  to  that  tiine  ;  it  is  to  be  believed  that  those  letters  and  papers  with 
others  from  America  ol  which  I  will  speak  later  on,  were  very  useful  to  the 
Court  of  Portugal  in  better  establishing  its  negotiations  with  that  of  Spain, 
and  for  the  greater  satisfaction  of  the  English,  endeavoring,  before  proceed- 
ing to  the  execution  of  the  treaty,  to  have  them  take  the  pueblos  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  Jesuits ;  to  this  end  they  endeavored  to  render  all  Missionary 
Fathers  suspicious  to  our  Court,  and  especially  so  the  foreign  ones  who 
customarily  leave  Spain  for  the  Indies.  The  Marquis  of  Valdelirios  asserts 
something  of  this  kind  in  a  chapter  of  his  letter  of  August  the  sixth  of  fifty 
five,  which  begins :  « The  Most  Faithful  King  thoroughly  persuaded  Your 
Majesty  that  he  should  mistrust  the  priests,  etc. »:  this  must  have  been  well 
known  to  him  as  he  was  the  first  Commissioner  to  whom  this  business  was 
entrusted. 

And  it  stands  to  reason,  that  if  these  letters  and  papers  were  so  carefully 
guarded  and  sent  to  Lisbon,  with  the  same  if  not  greater  care,  would  that  in- 
formation be  sent,  which  the  explorers  that  were  sent  out  by  the  Portuguese 
would  bring  back  from  their  excursions  and  inroads,  inasmuch  as  on  their 
arrival  they  were  judicially  examined  in  due  legal  form  and  under  oath,  with 
respect  to  everything  observed  by  them  concerning  the  projected  future 
Treaty,  the  consequences  that,  it  would  have,  in  times  of  peace,  clandestine 
or  open  war,  within  those  dominions  which  they  expected  to  wrest  from 
Spain  in  those  parts.  How  to  enter  and  how  to  leave  them,  especially 
those  towards  the  Potosi  and  the  surrounding  country  ?  What  roads  there 
were,  what  security,  what  dangers  both  in  attacking  and  retreating?  How 
to  conquer  de  novo,  those  parts  not  given  up  by  the  Treaty  etc.  But  parti- 
cular stress  was  laid  in  asking  the  said  spies  if  they  had  searched  or  entered 
a  pueblo  or  the  puebios  of  the  Indians.  How  had  they  been  received  by  the 
Missionary  Fathers  of  the  Company  of  Jesus  ?  With  what  degree  of  pleasure  ? 
What  aspect  they  presented  on  their  arrival  1  On  their  departure  .''  What 
had  been  said  to  them,  and  what  had  they  been  asked  about  more  particu- 
larly ?  What  people  there  was,  their  quality  and  number  in  each  pueblo .? 
Their  weapons,  and  they  were  even  asked  if  the  houses  inhabited  by  them 
were  of  straw  or  other  material  easy  to  burn  in  case  of  war  with  them  ? 

All  these  declarations  of  the  spies  were  sent  from  America  to  Lisbon,  of 
these  I  have  seen  a  number  that  passed  from  Lisbon  to  Madrid,  bound  in  a 
folio  volume  two  or  three  fingers  thick,  with  the  back  gilt  in  pretty  good  style; 
I  noticed  at  the  time  that  all  these  declarations  were  only  those  taken  from 
the  explorers  of  the  region  towards  Peru  from  which  I  gathered  that  the  other 
declarations  referring  to  the  part  towards  Paraguay  and  its  Misiones  (towards 
which  many  more  explorers  had  gone)  were  in  some  other  volume  or  volumes 


—  50I  — 

apart,  for  doubtless  Alejandro  Guzman  and  Gomez  Freire  were  not  careless 
at  Rio  Janeiro  in  collecting  them;  the  latter  was  the  principal  promoter  of 
the  Treaty  in  Brazil  in  behalf  of  Portugal,  as  the  former  was  its  principal 
promoter  in  Lisbon,  while  Kenne  did  the  same  thing  in  Lisbon  and  Madrid 
until  it  was  adjusted,  on  England's  behalf. 

But  to  return  to  the  explorers  and  spies,  a  book  as  large  as  the  afore- 
said would  be  insufficient  to  write  down  all  the  ridiculous  reasons  and 
pretexts  they  gave  when  they  happened  to  be  found  out  by  the  Indians, 
generally  Guaranis  or  Tapes  who  usually  did  not  kill  them  if  they  surrendered 
without  resistance  and  allowed  themselves  to  be  taken  to  the  pueblo.  The 
one  stated  that  he  had  discovered  his  wife  in  some  illicit  correspondence  with 
another,  one  had  killed  him,  another  had  killed  her,  and  for  that  reason  had 
run  away  to  the  country  and  cities  of  the  Castilians  ;  another  with  the  same 
disregard  of  the  truth  stated  that  he  had  left  his  house  to  go  into  the  country, 
and  inadvertently  he  had  gone  so  far  in,  that  when  afterward  he  wished  to 
return,  he  did  not  know  the  way,  and  losing  himself  going  here  und  there  he 
had  at  last  arrived  in  the  possessions  of  Spain  without  his  knowing  it  and 
much  less  wishing  it.  There  were  some  among  them  who  accused  them- 
selves of  having  been  counterfeiters  of  money  in  Brazil  and,  afraid  of  being 
discovered  and  accused,  had  saved  themselves,  before  the  authorities  threw 
them  into  jail  and  hung  them.  Others  again  said  (for  there  was  a  little  of 
everything)  that  it  was  through  the  envy  and  ill  will  of  the  Governor  and  his 
peers  who  thoroughly  hated  them,  because  of  their  wealth,  that  they  left 
those  parts,  particularly  on  account  of  the  Governor's  (who  in  reality  sent 
them)  and  for  this  reason  they  would  no  longer  remain  among  those  people, 
nor  did  they  wished  to  remain  subjects  of  the  King  of  Portugal,  they  wanted 
to  become  subjects  of  the  Spanish  King,  this  is  all  that  a  Portuguese  can  say. 

Others  again  said but  the  falsehoods  and  tricks  were  innumerable 

with  which  each  and  every  one  came  provided  in  order  to  cheat  the  foolish 
Indians,  or  to  dazzle  those  who  were  not  so  foolish. 

When  there  were  many  in  the  party  one  of  them,  usually  dressed  as  a 
priest  or  friar  and  the  latter  ready  with  breviary  in  hand  to  begin  to  pray  or 
to  make  out  that  he  was  praying,  on  meeting,  or  being  discovered  by  Indians 
in  the  country  ;  for  it  appears  they  knew  of  the  respect  and  reverence  which 
all  the  Indians  and  especially  these  latter  had  for  all  priests,  and  they  hoped 
that  out  of  respect  for  the  one  they  had  with  them  (whether  true  or  false) 
they  would  all  be  treated  with  courtesy,  and  such  was  the  case  whenever  they 
employ  this  stratagem  ;  for  in  this  case  the  only  thing  that  was  done  to  them 
was  to  take  them  to  the  nearest  pueblo  and  let  its  priest  decide  what  to  do 
with  them,  the  latter  always  decided  to  make  them  turn  back  over  the  same 
road  that  they  had  come,  without  ever  letting  them  go  on  and  examine  or 
search  through  any  other  pueblo,  no  matter  how  much  they  requested  it,  or 
what  pretexts  they  alleged,  although  in  all  other  respects,  during  the  short 
time  that  they  were  permitted  to  rest  in  the  pueblo  they  were  courteously 
treated,  and  they  were  given  food  of  better  quality  than  the  Indians  would 
have  wished;  so  much  so  that  once  or  twice  the  Indians  complained  without 


—    502    — 

bitterness  to  their  priest,  saying,  that  it  was  strange  that  he  should  give  or- 
ders to  treat  the  Portuguese  so  well,  when  he  well  knew  how  innimical  they 
were  and  had  always  been  to  the  Indians  present  and  passed,  and  the  atro- 
cities perpetrated  on  these  by  them.  To  which  the  priest  answered  saying 
that  the  law  of  God  commanded  to  return  good  for  evil,  even  unto  the  great- 
est and  mortal  enemies;  and  so  the  kind  treatment  was  continued  until  they 
were  sent  away. 

The  best  thing  that  these  false  priests  ever  did  in  the  pueblos  to  which 
they  were  taken  was  that  they  never  celebrated  mass,  nor  even  tried  to,  al- 
though perchance  a  feast  day  occurred  while  they  were  there,  but  they  prayed 
from  their  Breviaries,  or  they  appeared  to  do  so ;  to  this  end  they  retired  to 
some  place  where  they  could  be  seen  by  everyone  and  heard  by  nobody, 
doubtless  in  order  that  their  prayers  should  not  be  heard,  or  that  no  one 
should  hear  if  their  prayers  were  in  Latin  or  in  Hebrew,  or  should  notice  if 
they  held  the  book  properly  or  upside  down.  I  have  not  mentioned  other  ri- 
diculous deceits  of  which  they  were  guilty,  and  by  which  they  might  have 
deceived  anybody,  as  in  fact  they  deceived  Don  Miguel  de  Salcedo,  Governor 
of  Buenos  Ayres,  and  so  very  badly  that  he  was  induced  to  order  and  com- 
mand in  the  King's  name  the  seven  pueblos  of  Indians  of  the  Uruguay  to 
give  unto  one  of  these  lying  deceivers  as  many  horses  and  mules  as  he  should 
ask  of  them,  together  with  men,  in  order  to  carry  away  certain  treasures  which 
he  said  he  had  left  behind,  hidden  in  one  of  the  forests  nearest  Brazil  whence 
he  said  he  had  come  to  live  under  the  flag  of  Spain,  and  the  Governor  gave 
him  a  Corporal  and  three  or  four  soldiers,  to  escort  him  up  to  the  very  same 
pueblos,  and  to  help  him  carry  the  treasure  to  Buenos  Ayres. 

This  lying  thief  and  explorer,  native  of  Janeyro  and  resident  of  San  Pa- 
blo, and  by  name  Diego  Laureto,  had  already  tried  to  employ  this  method 
with  the  Indians  of  the  Pueblo  del  Angel  and  with  its  priest,  but  seeing  that 
they  placed  no  confidence  in  his  treasure,  and  much  less  could  they  give 
him.  men  and  beasts  to  fetch  it,  he  endeavored  to  obtain  from  them  at  least 
a  permission  to  go  through  to  Buenos  Ayres  in  order  to  interview  the  Gover- 
nor ;  this  was  also  refused,  and  he  was  made  to  turn  back  with  two  or  three 
others  that  accompanied  him,  who  he  said  were  his  servants.  Nevertheless, 
*in  some  way  he  managed,  by  going  thiough  the  country  and  not  touching  at 
any  of  the  pueblos,  to  reach  Buenos  Ayres,  where  it  was  rumored  that  he  had 
presented  the  said  Governor  with  a  watch  and  a  gold-headed  cane.  At  any 
rate,  the  fact  is  that  he  deceived  him,  making  him  beheve  in  the  treasures  of 
the  forest,  so  thoroughly  that  he  obtained  from  him  the  aforesaid  escort  and 
order,  and  in  consequence  thereof  ample  faculty  to  enter  those  pueblos  with 
the  Spanish  Corporal  and  soldiers  and  the  other  Portuguese  his  servants  who 
were  as  honest  as  their  master. 

He  entered  the  said  pueblos  freely,  and  only  asked  of  them  four  hundred 
mules  and  I  know  not  how  many  hundred  horses,  which  were  given  him  by 
virtue  of  the  positive  orders  of  the  Governor  who  so  commanded  it  in  the 
King's  name.  He  did  not  make  requisition  for  as  many  Indians  to  help 
carry  the  fictitious  treasures,  but  still  he  took  a  sufficient  number  to   drive 


—  503  — 

the  horses  and  mules  as  far  as  Brazil  ;  continuing  the  deception,  he  began  to 
leave  the  Corporal  and  soldiers  given  him  by  the  Governor,  together  with  the 
Indians,  in  the  following  manner :  to-day  he  left  at  this  place  one  Spaniard 
and  60  Indians  to  look  out  for  any  one  coming  from  Brazil  in  his  pursuit, 
and  to  make  them  turn  back  without  letting  them  come  near  the  Misiones. 
The  next  day  he  would  leave  another  Spaniard  with  as  many  Indians  on  this 
or  a  similar  pretext,  another  day  the  Corporal,  and  finally  all  the  Spaniards 
and  Indians,  except  three  or  four  who  were  driving  the  herds  of  mules  and 
horses,  and  finally  when  he  found  himself  ten  or  twelve  leagues  away  from 
the  last  party  that  he  had  left  behind,  awaiting  his  return  with  the  horses 
and  mules  laden  with  gold ;  he  and  his  servants  began  to  shoot  at  the  three 
Indians  with  their  arquebuses.  The  latter  ran  away  at  the  first  shot,  and  he 
and  his  men  continued  on  their  way,  with  the  robbery  of  the  horses  and  mules, 
which  on  reaching  Brazil  were  worth  many  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  Span- 
iards and  Indians,  who  had  remained  behind  awaiting  the  return  of  the  Por- 
tuguese and  his  treasures,  returned  empty  handed  and  without  mules  or  hor- 
ses, the  Indians  to  their  pueblos  and  the  Spaniards  to  Buenos  Ayres,  where 
they  gave  an  account  of  their  expedition  to  the  Governor  who  had  sent  them 
on  it,  which  in  short  was  as  above  related ;  Diego  Laureto  and  his  men  re- 
turned to  San  Pablo,  with  the  property  of  others,  and  they  told  every  one  of 
the  stratagem  employed  by  them  in  cheating  the  Spanish  Governor  and  his 
soldiers  and  in  taking  the  property  of  the  Indians. 

It  was  soon  known  over  the  whole  city  of  San  Pablo,  and  its  Governor, 
Don  Fulano  Mascareiias,  threw  his  great  explorer  and  greater  deceiver  in  jail 
for  a  number  of  days,  but  apparently  he  soon  set  him  at  liberty,  without 
making  him  return  the  plunder,  for  up  to  date  the  Indians  are  without  their 
horses  or  mules,  and  with  their  lands  and  pueblos  thoroughly  searched  and 
explored  by  the  Portuguese  of  Brazil,  who,  notwithstanding  all  this,_ceased 
not  to  explore  by  means  of  this  and  other  stratagems,  from  the  year  40  up  to 
the  year  50,  at  which  time  they  had  received  such  complete  information  of 
all  the  territory  of  the  future  survey  that,  they  made  the  full  map  which  was 
afterward  signed  by  the  Kings  in  the  adjustment;  after  the  map  was  made,  it 
was  observed  that  all  incursions  of  idle  Portuguese  ceased  for  good,  and  almost 
at  the  same  time,  negotiations  with  great  earnestness  were  begun  at  our  Court 
for  adjusting  the  Treaty;  in  this  they  finally  succeeded  about  the  beginning 
of  1750. 

SECOND    SECTION. 

On  the  conclusion  of  this  and  other  preparations  for  the  said  Treaty  to 
the  full  satisfaction  of  the  Portuguese,  who  through  their  spies  had  explored 
all  that  country  making  the  aforesaid  map  of  it,  in  which  they  had  already 
marked  at  their  pleasure,  the  places,  mountains  and  rivers  through  which  the 
new  line  of  demarcation  was  to  take  its  snaky  way,  which  gave  to  Portugal 
more  than  500  leagues  from  East  to  West  and  as  many  more  running  from 
North  to  South,  besides  what  was  furthermore  given  it  by  the  Line  of  Ale- 
xandro  and  the  Treaty  of  Tordesillas,  six  or  eight  days  before  the  signing  of 


—  504  — 

the  Treaty  at  Madrid,  Our  Most  Reverend  Father  General  Francisco  Retz 
wrote  from  Rome  (doubtless  on  request  from  the  Court  of  Spain)  on  the  6th 
of  January,  to  the  Father  Provincial  of  Paraguay  Manuel  Querini  (whose 
secretary  I  happened  to  be),  charging  him  first  with  keeping  an  absolute 
secret  everything  communicated  by  the  said  letter,  which  was  as  follows:  that 
at  Madrid  by  the  two  aforesaid  Courts  of  England  and  Portugal,  all  efforts  were 
being  employed  to  induce  the  Court  of  Spain  to  cede  in  favor  of  Portugal  the 
seven  Guarani  or  Tape  pueblos  that  were  situated  East  of  the  Uruguay  river, 
together  with  all  their  lands  and  jurisdiction  up  to  Brazil  by  which  they  were 
bounded,  and  that  he  communicated  this  to  him  only  in  order  that  he  might 
devise,  together  with  the  other  Jesuit  Missionaries,  some  way  of  palliating  the 
terrible  blow  to  the  Indiaus  which  was  now  so  near  impending,  and  some 
method  to  induce  them  to  cede  without  resistance  their  pueblos  and  lands  to 
the  Portuguese,  while  they  were  to  go  to  some  other  lands  remaining  to 
Spain  nearer  the  sea ;  finally  the  letter  said  that  by  the  Royal  Decree  our 
Catholic  King  only  concerned  himself  (as  in  truth  was  that  fact)  about  the 
spiritual  wellbeing  of  the  Indians,  and  to  prevent  them  from  being  led  astray 
from  the  True  Faith  and  Religion  by  those  heretics  from  Europe  and  its  north- 
ern part,  who  traded  and  do  trade  with  the  said  Indians  in  the  pueblos  by 
them  inhabited  at  present.  The  closing  part  of  this  letter  made  two  things 
perfectly  clear,  one  was  that  the  Father  General  did  not  speak  for  himself,  for 
he  could  not  but  be  well  aware  ot  the  fact  that  the  said  trade  was  entirely 
and  completely  fictitious,  and  that  he  merely  wrote  what  he  was  commanded 
to  write,  the  other,  how  the  Most  Faithful  Court  had  so  misinformed  our  own, 
who  trusted  only  to  that  information  in  so  important  a  matter,  that  might 
have  such  dangerous  results  if  the  information  were  incorrect ;  our  Court  did 
not  request  any  from  anyone  of  her  faithful  vassals  that  it  had  in  America, 
while  in  cases  of  incomparably  less  consequenee  (for  example  to  consent  to 
the  establishment  of  a  poor  Franciscan  convent)  it  usually  asked  not  one  but 
very  many  reports  from  the  cities,  the  Councils,  the  Governors,  the  Bishops 
and  even  from  the  Audiencias,  asking  if  it  was  or  was  not  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Royal  service  and  for  the  welfare  of  His  Majesty's  Royal  possessions; 
advantage  was  taken  of  his  great  piety  by  those  who  gave  him  information, 
setting  forward  this  spiritual  matter  merely  to  obtain  with  greater  certainty 
their  temporal  ends ;  in  fact,  abusing  everything  sacred  and  profane  in  order 
to  obtain  their  ends,  in  the  same  manner  that  over  there  in  the  Indies  they 
masqueraded  with  the  same  object  in  view,  as  friars,  ecclesiastics  or  as  Jesuits, 
as  best  suited  their  purpose  as  aforesaid. 

For  the  purpose  of  giving  this  and  similar  infonnation  to  our  Court,  we 
knew  over  there,  with  certainty,  that  during  many  years  there  was  at  our 
Court  a  certain  Friar,  in  reality  sent  from  Lisbon,  although  in  another  ap- 
parently different  character,  to  the  Queen  by  her  father  Juan  V,  advising 
her  to  receive  him  as  often  as  she  well  could  ;  she  did  so,  and  with  such 
caution,  that  at  the  time  in  Madrid  it  was  merely  noticed  that  he  was  very 
frequently  received  by  the  Minister  Sefior  Carvajal,  but  every  one,  although 
noticing,  never  suspected  thus  that  he  would  deceive  the  Minister  as  well  as 


—  505  — 

the  Queen,  and  both  thus  be  deceived,  they  arranged  matters  so  that  the  King 
yielded  everything  claimed  by  Portugal,  which  he  did,  and  the  Friar  returned 
to  his  own  Court.  In  the  year  48,  while  at  Lisbon,  Father  Ladislao  Oro, 
Procurator  General  of  Paraguay  hearing  of  the  stratagem  of  the  Friar's 
residence,  and  showing  atonishment  thereat,  he  was  answered  by  the  Portu- 
guese who  was  relating  it,  referring  to  this,  saying  :  ((But,  Fathe  r  :  if  now 
that  we  have  a  Portuguese  Queen  in  Spain  we  do  not  secure  our  conquest, 
when  are  we  to  do  so  ?»  The  Portuguese  call  conquests  all  those  lands  which 
they  have  been  clandestinely  taking  from  the  Spanish  Dominions,  which  we 
in  usual  parlance,  term  furtive  usurpations. 

But  to  return  to  the  deception  gf  the  Reverend  and  devout  informing 
Friar,  or  to  any  one  else  who  invented  it  at  our  Court,  even  if  it  were  true, 
and  not  a  falsehood,  that  the  said  Indians  were  in  peril  of  being  led  astray 
by  the  heretics  of  the  North  by  means  of  such  commerce,  even  if  these  did 
exist,  as  the  King,  and  perhaps  the  Queen  and  their  Ministers  believed,  and 
not  really  fictitious  as  was  well  known  to  the  Portuguese  who  gave  the  in- 
formation, even  in  this  case  it  was  evidently  clear  that  the  measuares  taken, 
by  bringing  the  Indians  nearer  to  the  sea,  was  entirely  opposed  to  the  ends  in 
view,  for  they  were  thereby  brought  nearer  to  the  sea  and  to  the  three  ports  of 
Buenos  Ayres,  Colonia  and  Montevideo  where  the  heretics,  and  those  who 
were  not,  must  necessarily  land  those  goods  that  are  taken  from  here,  as 
there  is  no  other  place  to  go  to ;  therefore,  by  the  change  of  residence  decreed, 
the  dangers  to  the  Indians  were  increased,  for  if,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  pueblos  where  1 50  leagues  away  from  the  sea,  the  heretics  still  main- 
tained trade  with  them,  they  would  more  easily  carry  it  on  being  only  half 
as  far  away,  or  perhaps  even  in  the  sea  coast  itself,  inasmuch  as  this  was 
not  prohibited  to  them,  always  providing  they  settled  on  lands  belonging  to 
and  remaining  to  Spain  after  the  execution  of  the  division  of  the  Boundaries 

The  truth  is  that  there  never  had  been  such  commerce,  nor  could  there 
be  in  view  of  the  distance  from  the  sea  and  the  impossibility  of  the  roads 
and  the  obstacles  they  presented,  as  they  were  such  as  could  only  be  over- 
come by  the  great  efforts  of  the  two  Courts  and  their  generals  at  great  expen- 
se, as  was  afterwards  seen  when  their  armies  arrived  at  the  said  pueblos  to 
take  possesion  of  them  and  to  exile  their  inhabitants,  for  on  the  part  of  the 
latter  there  was  another  obstacle,  an  insuperable  one,  for  having,  or  ever 
having  had  the  said  commerce,  it  was  that  neither  those  Indians  in  particular 
not  their  pueblos  in  general  had,  or  ever  had  had,  any  gold  or  silver,  coined 
or  in  bars  nor  of  any  other  coin,  because  there  is  none  current  among  them, 
and  the  same  is  true  of  all  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Governor  of  Paraguay, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  well  known  that  the  heretic  sand  other  merchants  only  go 
to  the  Indies  in  search  of  the  said  metal  or  their  equivalent  that  can  be  sold 
in  Europe,  nor  have  these  Indians  that  equivalent;  their  wealth  consists  merely 
in  what  they  call  caamini  and  the  Spaniards  Yerba  del  Paraguay,  (Paraguay 
grass)  for  which  there  is  no  outlet  or  usd  in  the  the  North  or  in  any  other  part 
of  Europe :  and  so,  what  possible  commerce  could  the  heretics  of  the  north- 
ern Nations    carry  on    with  those  Indians  ?     And  where   is  the  danger  that 


—  So6  — 

the  former  may  lead  these  Indians  from  the  True  Faith  or  Religion  as  claim- 
ed by  the  giver  of  false  information  at  our  Catholic  Court  ? 

To  which  may  be  added  that  if  the  reason  for  taking  the  Indians  away 
from  those  pueblos  was  the  fear  of  their  being  led  stray  from  the  Faith,  the 
same  or  even  greater  peril  threatened  the  other  eight  pueblos  situated  on 
the  western  shore  of  the  Uruguay  which  was  to  serve  as  boundary  in  those 
parts  between  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  and  as  those  that  were  to  re- 
main in  the  seven  pueblos  taken  from  the  Indians,  will  undoubtedly  trade  with 
the  heretics  of  the  North  and  the  heretics  with  them,  exactly  as  they 
trade  in  all  Brazil  fully  and  freely,  whithout  our  never  knowing  that 
it  has  ocurred  to  the  delicate  consciences  of  the  givers  of  information  that  the 
heretic  traders  may  lead  their  Brazilian  Indians  from  the  Faith,  nor  do  I 
think  that  it  will  ever  occurr  to  them,  although  self  evident  to  any  Catholic ; 
and  there  was  then  even  less  danger  to  those  of  the  Uruguay  (as  also  to  those 
on  both  sides  of  Parana  )  on  account  of  the  proximity  of  the  seven  pueblos, 
than  when  once  they  are  peopled  by  the  Portuguese  and  the  heretic  mer- 
chants; and  so  it  ought  to  be  necessary,  for  the  same  reason,  that  all  should 
move  toward  the  sea  or  to  some  other  locality  further  away  not  only  from 
the  heretics  but  from  the  Portuguese  merchants,  and  even  if  they  carried  on 
no  intercourse  with  each  other;  for  it  may  be  doubted  if  the  Portuguese  by 
their  immediate  proximity  and  neihborhood  may  not  be  more  detrimental  to 
their  customs  and  in  their  fidelity  to  the  Catholic  King,  than  the  heretics  to 
their  Faith  and  Religion,  who  now  usually  care  very  little  for  them.  At  any 
rate  they  do  not  care  for  them,  as  much  as  the  Portuguese  care  about  ad- 
ding to  their  own  Brazil  new  vassals  from  the  possession  of  the  Catholic  King, 
as  demonstrated  by  experience  before  and  after  the  war.  But  we  have  better 
leave  the  matter. 

Two  months  after  the  Portuguese  published  the  Royal  Treaty,  and  as 
the  Father  Provincial  was  unaware  of  the  above  and  other  points,  even  before 
he  received  the  letter  from  Rome,  he  thought  the  news  proclaimed  by  the 
Portuguese  of  such  importance,  that  he  sent  from  Cordova  de  Tucuman  to 
our  Court  a  Father  Procurator,  as  Attorney  of  a  lawsuit  which  the  excisemen 
of  Buenos  Ayres  had  against  the  Indians.  The  first  and  especial  instruction 
that  he  gave  him  was  that  he  was  not  even  to  mention  at  Court  one  word 
with  reference  to  the  Treaty  of  Exchanges,  because  it  was  gathered  from  the 
secrecy  observed  in  concluding  it,  and  from  the  tricks  employed  in  adjusting 
it,  that  the  mere  mention  of  the  matter  would  be  the  signal  for  him  to  leave 
the  Court,  thus  preventing  him  from  carrying  out  the  business  on  which  he 
was  bent.  With  these  instructions,  he  left  on  board  a  Portuguese  vessel 
which  landed  him  and  a  number  of  other  Spaniards  at  Rio  Janeyro,  whence 
as  I  will  relate,  he  was  not  permitted  to  go  by  Governor  Freyre,  suspecting  or 
believing  that  he  was  coming  to  Madrid  in  order  to  upset  his  Treaty.  The 
Father  Provincial  about  this  time  left  Buenos  Ayres  for  the  Misiones  with 
the  aforesaid  letter  of  the  Father  General,  to  put  into  execution  his  commands 
wKhout  delay,  for  he  was  told  in  it, that  he  should  immediately  begin  the  en- 
to  deavor  to  soften,  the  Indians  as  much  as  possible,  the  early  coming  terrible 


—  507  —  ' 

blow,  and  from  so  powerful  a  hand;  and  he  went  in  the  moral  certainty  that 
those  givers  of  information  who  had  deceived  our  Court  so  thoroughly,  about 
a  matter  so  evidently  false  as  the  commerce  and  intercourse  with  the  northern 
nations,  must  have  also  deceived  it  in  other  matters,  even  in  those  of  the 
greatest  importance  in  the  Treaty:  for  with  regard  to  the  others,  concerning 
the  Indians  and  the  Misiones,  it  was  to  be  presumed,  and  partly  seen  in  the 
ideas  current  in  Portugal  on  one  and  the  other,  explained  in  the  maxims  and 
axioms  of  its  Relazao  abreviada  da  Republica,  already  qualified  and  declar- 
ed judicially  as  many  false  calumnies,  thoroughly  and  notoriously  known  to  be 
in  opposition  to  the  truth,  as  is  proven  by  the  principal  ecclesiastic  and  secular 
authorities  of  Santa  Fe  de  la  Vera  Cruz,  one  of  the  nearest  cities  and  which 
they  frequently  visit. 

The  Father  Provincial  left  without  making  further  inquiries  and  on  the 
road  he  met  another  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  the  Treaty:  a  letter  over- 
took him  from  Buenos  Ayres,  whereby  he  was  notified  of  how  the  Governor 
of  Janeyro,  Gomez  Freyre,  offered  no  objection  to  the  other  Spaniards  sailing 
for  Spain  on  the  Portuguese  vessel  in  which  they  were,  while  he  had  been  so 
desirious  of  preventing  the  Jesuits  frorri  going  in  it,  that  he  had  made  him 
turn  back  in  another  vessel,  under  a  warrant  which  he  obliged  to  sail  from 
Jeneyro  for  Colonia,  when  only  half  laden,  because  he  said  that  the  Casti- 
lian  Father  was  going  to  Madrid  to  spoil  his  great  Treaty:  for  which  purpose 
he  also  alleged,  he  had  three  million  dollars,  when  in  fact  as  he  could  have 
found  out  for  himself  from  the  papers  of  the  said  Portuguese  vessel,  the  Cas- 
tilian  Father  only  had  for  expenses  both  ways  and  for  the  cost  of  the  lawsuit 
$3,000,  and  this  was  called  $3,000,000  by  the  Governor. 

On  the  day  of  our  Father  Saint  Ignatius,  of  that  same  year  fifty  in  which 
the  Treaty  was  signed,  the  said  Freyre,  while  in  attendance  on  the  Feast  had 
said  in  public  to  the  Portuguese  Fathers  of  Janeyro :  Well,  Fathers:  I  have 
already  concluded  my  great  Treaty  at  Madrid  and  it  is  so  far  advanced,  that 
only  Your  Reverences  could  spoil  it  or  prevent  it.  "  We,  said  the  Fathers, 
spoil  something  so  useful  to  our  Portuguese  nation  ?  Your  Lordship  may 
rest  assured  that  it  will  not  fail  because  of  us;"  hereupon  speaking  more  clear- 
ly he  added:  "  Not  you  here,  but  those  of  you  in  the  province  of  Para- 
guay; but  in  order  to  avoid  it,  the  proper  measures  have  been  taken;" 
which  were  those  herein  after  stated.  To  prevent  the  Castihan  Father  from 
getting  to  Madrid  he  took  those  above  indicated,  and  he  took  them  so  tho- 
roughly that  he  would  not  yield  to  any  one  of  the  many  requests  made  by 
private  parties,  which  have  come  to  my  knowledge,  asking  him  to  give  the 
permission  allowing  him  to  go  to  Bahia,  in  order  to  see  the  Viceroy,  and  an- 
other to  continue  on  his  trip  to  Madrid,  if  the  Viceroy  so  determined  it,  far 
from  paying  attention  to  this  just  request  he  placed  a  fine  of  30,000  cruza- 
dos  on  any  vessel  that  should  carry  away  the  s^id  Father  from  that  port, 
unless  it  was  to  the  province  of  Paraguay,  or  to  the  Colonia,  and  a  like  fine  on 
any  one  taking  him  overland.  On  or  about  this  time  of  the  arrival  of  the 
Castilian  Father,  Freyre  had  already  enlisted  in  Janeyro  two  thousand  sol- 
diers, for  carrying  out  the  execution  of  the  Treaty.     It  is  true  that  they  could 


—  5o8  — 

not  be  very  serviceable,  for  among  them  there  were  many  students  of  our  col- 
leges. Finally  he  ordered  the  vessel  carrying  the  Father  to  sail  immediately, 
even  if  only  partly  laden,  because  he  said  there  was  no  repose  for  him  while 
the  said  Castilian  Father  remained  there,  the  Father  was  left  by  the  vessel  at 
Montevideo. 

With  the  full  knowledge  of  this  Treaty  we  arrived  at  Misiones,  where 
nothing  was  known  concerning  it,  whereupon  the  Provincial  informed  all  the 
Missionaries  (they  were  more  than  70)  of  the  news  that  we  carried,  which 
was  rumored  over  the  whole  province.  He  began  to  consult  with  them  re- 
garding the  immediate  steps  that  should  be  taken  in  order  to  make  the  In- 
dians take  kindly  to  the  aforesaid  change  of  residence  to  whatever  points 
might  be  decreed  by  the  Court,  and  though  the  Father  Provincial  was  suf- 
ficiently experienced  in  the  ways  of  the  Indians,  because  he  had  lived  among 
them  many  years,  after  studying  as  many  more  in  our  University  at  Cordova 
de  Tucuman,  from  the  very  begining  he  was  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  be 
easy  to  persuade  the  Indians,  not  only  then,  to  the  said  change  of  resi- 
dence, but  also  when  the  time  came  to  make  them  leave  their  pueblos  and 
lands  to  the  Portuguese,  while  they  searched  for  others  wherein  to  found  their 
pueblos,  notwithstanding  the  apparent  hardship  involved.  Perhaps  he  said 
this  in  order  to  keep  up  the  courage  of  the  others ;  but,  in  spite  of  the  posi- 
tive assurance  of  the  Father  Provincial,  all  the  others  were  of  a  different 
opinion  and  we  thought  that  it  would  be  absolutely  impossible  to  persuade 
the  Indians,  notwithstanding  that  if  we  could  not  persuade  them  all  to  do  so, 
or  even  the  larger  number  of  them,  which  we  knew  to  be  impossible,  nothing 
would  now  be  gained  by  persuading  one  or  even  a  certain  number,  because 
in  view  of  the  volubility  and  inconstancy  of  the  Indians  and  the  hardship  of 
the  command,  one  and  all  would  say  no  when  the  time  came  for  carrying 
out  the  said  removal,  with  the  same  ease  that  they  had  before  said  yes ;  and 
besides,  although  some  might  not  say  so  independently,  when  they  saw  the 
resistance  offered  by  the  others,  which  would  certainly  be  the  majority,  they 
would  of  course  accomodate  themselves  to  it ;  and  finally,  if  a  number  did 
move,  if  all  did  not  move,  it  would  amount  to  the  same  thing  as  if  none  had 
move,  because  in  this  manner  the  Indians  did  not  move  away  from  their 
lands,  nor  did  they  leave  them  to  the  Portuguese,  but  some  would  and  some 
others  would  not;  and  even  if  we  grant  the  case,  which  we  do  not,  that  they 
all  say  yes,  that  they  would  move  at  the  appointed  time,  when  the  time  arri-. 
ves  for  carrying  it  out  the  majority  will  certainly  have  change  their  minds,  and 
would  say  that  in  spite  of  having  said  yes  time  and  again,  at  the  present  time 
they  did  not  want  to  move.  All  this  could  be  easily  confirmed  by  a  number 
of  experiences,  some  of  them  so  recent  that  all  of  us,  the  Father  Provincial 
himself,  and  another  who  never  followed  but  his  own  opinion,  had  witnessed 
what  took  place  at  the  division  of  the  pueblo  of  Loreto,  and  the  moving  of 
San  Cosme,  of  which  I  will  speak  hereafter. 

The  Father  Provincial  and  the  other  Father  who  agreed  with  him,  who 
was  called  Father  Carlos  Tux,  Priest  of  San  Nicolas,  who  never  succeeded,  in 
spite  of  all  his  efforts,  in  getting  a  single  one  from  that  pueblo  to  move,  re- 


—  509  — 

peated  that  in  spite  of  all  these  difficulties  and  others  which  they  could  see 
and  could  not  deny,  they  still  had  faith  in  God  who  would  cooperate  with 
the  persuasions,  prayers  and  requests  of  the  Missionary  Fathers,  in  changing 
the  minds  of  the  Indians,  and  making  them  move  away,  but  this  hope  was 
grounded  on  nothing  else  besides  their  piety,  they  were  unable  to  give  any 
reasons  or  experiences  for  that  hope;  unless  God  effected  a  miracle  or  a  num- 
ber of  them  totally  changing  the  mind  or  character  of  the  Indians,  and  so  the 
two  remained  in  their  pious  opinion,  and  all  the  others  were  of  opposite  and 
better  founded  opinion;  some  of  them  even  believed  that  it  would  be  easier  to 
persuade  the  Indians  to  remain  in  their  pueblos  and  lands,  if  the  Treaty  per- 
mitted it,  together  with  the  Portuguese,  than  to  make  them  moved  to  others, 
if  there  were  any,  for  this  was  another  and  not  the  smallest  of  the  difficulties, 
which  immediately  occurred  to  us  all,  and  that  was,  are  there  sufficient  un- 
appropriated lands  towards  the  sea,  for  the  Indians  of  the  seven  pueblos  to 
move  into  and  settle  thereupon  ?  It  is  probable  or  almost  certain  that  there 
are  none  such,  and  so  it  was  found  afterwards,  and  it  was  so  asserted  at  the 
time  by  a  number  of  the  more  practical  Missionaries  of  those  territories ;  and 
all  of  us,  including  the  very  same  Father  Provincial,  knew  that  during  the 
last  two  years  search  had  been  made  in  the  direction  towards  the  sea  for 
some  land  on  which  to  settle  a  part  of  the  pueblo  of  Yapeyu  (which  it  was 
found  necessary  to  divide  because  they  numbered  i,6oo  families)  and  none 
had  been  found  in  those  parts,  and  finally  it  had  been  necessary  to  take 
others  that  were  thought  unsuitable,  the  same  thing  occurred  with  regard  to 
the  pueblo  of  San  Francisco  de  Borja:  and  it  is  self  evident,  that  if  it  had 
been  impossible  to  find  suitable  land  for  a  part  of  one  pueblo  much  less  could 
it  be  found  for  the  entire  transportation  and  settlement  of  seven  whole  pue- 
blos so  large  that  they  contained  30,000  souls. 

In  view  of  all  these  obvious  difficulties  the  Father  Provincial  by  an  una- 
nimous vote  of  all,  including  his  own  and  even  the  vote  of  the  Priest  of  San 
Nicolas,  resolved  that  for  the  time  being  nothing  should  be  said  to  the  In- 
dians, until  the  precise  moment  of  the  arrival  of  the  King's  commands,  because 
the  announcement  of  the  fatal  news  woufd  do  no  good,  and  would  only  tend 
to  disturb  and  excite  them  without  benefit  to  anybody,  and  because  there 
was  little  hope  of  inducing  or  persuading  them  to  move  either  at  present  or' 
afterwards,  it  would  be  better  to  make  the  announcement  to  them  suddenly, 
without  giving  them  time  to  think  it  over,  and  it  might  then  be  easier  to 
make  them  execute  the  commands,  without  thinking  of  the  inconvenients 
and  injuries  that  must  inevitably  follow,  for  the  same  reason  the  Father  Pro- 
vincial gave  orders  that  if  by  chance  the  said  news  of  the  Treaty  should  be 
disclosed  to  them  by  some  means,  the  Missionaries  should  endeavor  to  quiet 
them,  assuring  them  that,  although  the  Portuguese  had  spread  the  news 
among  the  Spaniards,  no  decree  had  yet  been  received  from  our  Court :  and 
a  lad  who  had  come  from  Buenos  Ayres  with  us,  was  strictly  charged  to 
say  nothing  of  what  he  had  there  heard  concerning  the  Treaty;  it  was  thus 
kept  entirely  secret  from  the  Indians  until  the  precise  moment  arrived,  when 
they  must  necessarily  be  told  of  it,  and  this  method  met  with  the  success  that 


—  5IO  — 

we    will    see,    because    they    were     not     given     time    to   think    it    over. 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  consultations  held  on  this  temporizing,  and 
in  every  respect  risky  subject,  our  Very  Reverend  Father  General  was  inform- 
ed that  with  regard  to  what  was  expected  of  the  Jesuits,  which  was  merely 
to  persuade  the  Indians  to  be  resigned  to  every  thing,  and  to  obey  promptly 
the  King's  commands,  which  might  arrive  at  any  moment,  the  Most  Reve- 
rend Father  might  rest  assured  that  they  would  do  all  in  their  power  (if  there 
were  any  suitable  lands)  to  make  the  Indians  move  to  the  lands  towards  the 
sea  as  decreed  by  our  Court,  and  they  were  so  notified  through  the  very  Re- 
verend Father,  and  he  was  so  answered  because  we  were  morally  certain, 
that  there  were  no  Government  lands  towards  the  sea,  because  the  good 
lands  were  the  property  of  a  number  of  private  parties  from  Buenos  Ayres, 
Santa  Fe,  Corrientes  and  Montevideo,  who  had  bought  them  or  which  the 
King  had  given  by  grants,  and  the  remaining  were  such  that  not  one  of  those 
Spaniards  or  any  others  would  take  them  even  as  a  gift,  and  to  these  lands  it 
was  proposed  to  send  the  poor  Indians  to  settle  upon  them,  and  to  leave  their 
own  to  the  Portuguese.  The  secret  regarding  the  Treaty  could  not  be  kept, 
because  even  before  the  Father  Provincial  received  the  letter,  it  had  been 
disclosed  in  all  the  Portuguese  cities  of  the  Rio  Grande,  Janeyro  and  of  the 
Colonia. 

The  Father  Provincial  informed  the  Viceroy  of  Peru,  as  a  piece  of  news 
already  public  property,  that  the  matter  of  the  conclusion  of  the  Treaty  be- 
tween the  two  Courts  was  absolutely  certain  and  unavoidable,  at  the  same 
time  insinuating  the  injuries  thereby  ensuing  to  the  possessions  of  Spain,  to 
the  end  that  His  Excellency,  in  view  of  this  information,  should  undertake 
to  undeceive  our  Court;  this  he  really  tried  to  do,  though  to  no  purpose;  in 
fact,  the  Viceroy  rather  injured  than  improved  matters  by  this  report,  for 
whether  it  was  because  of  it,  or  because  the  matter  had  been  decided  before, 
the  Viceroy  was  prohibited  from  interfering  in  any  way  with  the  execution  of 
the  Treaty,  except  in  advancing  to  the  Marquis  de  Valdelirios  whatever  money 
he  might  ask  of  him  for  the  said  execution,  which  is  to  take  precedence  over 
every  thing  else  including  the  Viceroy  himself,  and  which  no  one  was  to 
obstruct  or  delay  in  any  way;  this  shows  how  secure  the  Portuguese  were  at 
.our  Court. 

At  the  time  that  the  Provincial  wrote  to  the  King,  another  Father  Josef 
Quiroga  wrote  to  the  Minister,  setting  forth  15  or  16  inconvenients  or  in- 
juries of  very  grave  character  that  would  result  by  the  said  Treaty  respecting 
only  those  provinces  neighboring  on  Peru.  This  Father  did  not  know  and 
neither  did  we  know  that  the  whole  business  had  passed  through  the  hands 
of  the  Minister ;  in  fact,  we  all  supposed  that  it  had  all  been  done  at  our 
Court  by  very  different  hands,  without  the  knowledge  of  His  Excellency,  be- 
cause no  one  believed,  or  even  suspected,  until  his  signature  was  seen  there- 
on, that  a  Treaty  so  prejudicial  to  Spain  had  heen  adjusted  at  our  Court  with 
the  knowledge  of  the  Minister,  who  received  the  aforesaid  objections  in  such 
a  manner  that,  on  transmitingthem  to  the  Marquis  de  Valdelirios  just  before 
on  the  point  of  embarking  at  Cadiz,  he  wrote :  I  remit  to  Your  Excellency 


—  511  — 

these  fifteen  or  sixteen  objections  which  do  not  amount  to  anything.  This 
show  how  much  the  good  gentleman  was  deceived  and  how  well  the  infor- 
mation of  the  Portuguese  had  deceived  him.  He  did  not  even  answer  the 
Father,  whereas  on  other  occasions  he  had  thought  him  worthy  of  an  answer 
and  even  of  writing  to  him  concerning  other  points  of  interest  to  the  monar- 
chy in  those  possessions,  as  for  example,  when  in  view  of  his  knowledge  of 
mathematics  and  especially  of  geography,  he  entrusted  him  three  years  before 
that,  with  the  expedition  to  Magallanes  and  Puerto  of  San  Julian. 

The  visits  of  the  seven  pueblos  and  the  others  having  thus  ended.  Father 
Querini  also  finished  his  duties  as  Provincial  at  the  unexpected  arrival  of  his 
successor  Father  Josef  Barrera,  of  Lima,  and  not  of  the  Province  of  Para- 
guay. At  the  time  the  mystery  involved  in  that  novelty  did  not  transpire, 
nor  the  reason  why  none  of  the  three  proposed  from  the  Province  had  not 
been  appointed  from  Rome,  nor  any  other  member  thereof.  This  was  a 
strange  occurrence,  especially  in  that  Province  where  the  like  had  never  hap- 
pened before,  nor  was  the  reason  known  why  it  should  then  occur  ;  but  in 
Madrid  there  was  cause  sufficient,  and  for  much  more,  although  we  were 
completely  ignorant  of  it  :  it  was  none  other  that  the  mistrust  that  the  Portu- 
guese had  disseminated,  besides  their  other  false  information,  in  order  to 
obtain  their  treaty  against  all  the  Jesuits  in  Paraguay,  and  more  particularly 
against  the  Missionaries,  and  especially  so,  against  those  of  foreign  birth,  as 
we  found  out  after  the  arrival  over  there  of  the  Royal  Commissioners,  and  it 
is  clearly  insinuated  by  Valdelirios  in  a  letter  of  August  the  sixth,  one  thous- 
and seven  hundred  and  fifty  five,  in  which  he  says  to  Father  Provincial 
Barrera  :  « The  Most  Faithful  King  has  persuaded  our  Sovereign  that  he 
should  mistrust  the  obedience  of  the  priests,  His  Majesty  never  gave  the 
matter  his  attention  in  order  to  save  their  honor,  etc."  But  although  His 
Majesty  did  not,  it  seems  that  those  who  were  near  his  person  did  pay  atten- 
tion thereto,  among  others  senor  Carbajal  in  a  letter  written  in  fifty  three  says 
to  the  Father  Commissioner :  «  The  Crown  of  Portugal  is  already  throwing 
in  the  King's  face,  that  he  would  not  believe  that  the  resistance  therein 
encountered  was  the  result  of  the  Company's  decision." 

The.  fact  is  that  in  carrying  out  the  treaty  the  same  extraordinary  means 
were  employed  that  would  have  been  employed  if  attention  had  been  paid  to 
that  calumny,  for  after  the  treaty  was  concluded  and  signed,  on  the  Minister 
inquiring  who  is  the  present  Provincial  of  Paraguay,  on  being  answered, 
Father  Manuel  Querini,  he  said  with  a  start :  «  Querini  ?  He  is  a  foreigner." 
Accordingly  the  Minister  took  other  and  better  measures,  and  although  it  was 
stipulated  in  the  treaty,  that  it  was  to  be  in  force  in  one  year,  he  delayed  two 
years  in  sending  the  Commissioners  who  were  to  carry  it  out,  or  until  the 
end  of  fifty  one,  or  exactly  until  he  had  finished  his  term  as  Provincial  ; 
meanwhile  he  arranged  matters  in  such  a  way  at  Rome,  that  no  foreigner 
should  be  appointed  Provincial,  nor  any  Spaniard  of  that  Province  ;  this 
was  followed  to  the  letter  at  Rome  by  appointing  Father  Barrera,  strictly 
enjoying  his  holy  obedience  to  accept  the  charge  and  in  case  he  were  dead 
or  unable  for  any  reason  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  office,  a  substitute  wag 


—    512    — 

appointed  from  the  same  Province  of  Lima,  and  no  one  from  Paraguay,  not 
even  in  case  of  death  ;  so  desirous  were  thej^  of  pleasing  and  obeying  the 
Crown  of  Portugal. 

And  as  neither  one  nor  the  other  felt  assured  that  we  of  the  Province  of 
Paragtiay  would  obey,  because  of  the  mistrust  that  the  Portuguese  had  spread 
about  us,  the  Father  General  appointed  as  his  Commissioner  to  that  Expedi- 
tion, Father  Lope  Luis  Altamirano  of  the  province  of  Andalucia,  well  known 
to  the  Prime  Minister  of  Spain  and  having  his  entire  confidence,  because  he 
has  seen  him  and  had  had  intercourse  with  him,  a  number  of  years  before,  at 
Madrid,  to  which  place  I  know  not  if  the  said  Father  went  by  chance  or  on 
purpose,  and  remained  a  certain  time.  I  have  some  reason  for  believing  that 
neither  the  trip  nor  the  residence  thereat  was  the  work  of  chance,  at  least 
so  far  as  concerns  the  Minister,  because  at  that  time  the  treaty  was  already 
spoken  of. 

Our  Father  General  gave  this  Father  Commissioner  all  the  power  neces- 
sary to  deliver  the  seven  pueblos  and  their  lands  which  Spain  ceded  to  Portu- 
gal, and  also  those  necessary  to  deliver  the  other  three  pueblos  to  the 
same  Portugal,  of  the  Mojos  or  Baures  and  Mianas.  And  so  the  said  Father 
ranked  higher  not  only  over  the  missionaries  but  also  above  the  other  Jesuits 
of  Paraguay,  Peru  and  Quito,  and  also  above  the  Provincials  themselves  ; 
and  furthermore,  in  case  the  Father  would  not  or  could  not  go,  two  others 
were  nominated,  also  Andalusians,  Montes  and  Maestre,  in  his  place,  but  it 
was  not  necessary,  he  went  to  discharge  his  duties  and  took  as  a  companion 
another  Andalusian  Father,  and  to  the  latter  were  given  from  Rome  the  same 
power  in  case  of  the  death  or  the  inability  of  the  former,  and  both  v^re  em- 
powered to  appoint  as  substitutes  in  their  place  any  one  they  chose. 

All  this  and  much  more  was  needed  to  satisfy  in  some  way  the  mistrust 
that  the  Most  Faithful  King  had  succeeded  in  raising  in  our  Sovereign  and  his 
Court  about  us  ;  the  Court  would  not  agree  with  that  of  Portugal  regarding 
the  pretensions  of  the  latter  that  we  should  immediatey,  and  instead  of  taking 
the  above  precautions,  be  deprived  of  the  Misiones,  as  Portugal  afterwards 
deprived  its  own  Jesuits  of  the  Misiones  of  the  Maraiion,  but  our  Court  would 
not  agree  to  this  unreasonable  act,  nor  would  it  heed  in  this  matter  tTie  Court 
of  Portugal,  the  English  who  sided  it,  as  equally  interested  in  the  treaty 
through  its  Ambrssador  Keene,  who,  as  it  was  noticed  during  the  time  the 
treaty  was  most  discussed,  was  constantly  going  from  Lisbon  to  Madrid  and 
vice  versa,  although  the  true  motive  of  his  trips  did  not  transpire,  but,  after 
the  secrect  of  the  treaty  was  discovered,  it  is  easily  believed  that  he  was  enga- 
ged in  promoting  it  in  view  of  the  many  advantages  accruing  to  his  Court  by 
extending  its  commerce  to  all  those  southern  Kfngdoms  and  possesions  of 
Spain:  Tucuman,  |Paraguay,  Chile,  Peru,  Quito,  Nuevo  Reino  and  Tierra 
Firme.  But  be  this  matter  of  the  English  Ambassador's  trip  as  it  may.  The 
new  Provincial  of  Lima  entered  on  his  duties  on  the  8th  day  of  December 
1757  and  during  the  begining  of  the  following  year,  a  letter  arrived  from 
Rome  in  which  the  Father  General  said  that  inasmuch  as  the  Royal  Treaty 
on  the  new  boundary   line  had  been   concluded  between   the  two  Courts, 


—  5^3  — 

and  as  the  Royal  Commissioners  of  Spain  were  ready  to  sail  from  Cadiz  who 
were  going  to  put  it  into  practice  :  therefore  he  imposed  on  them  the  precept 
of  holy  obedience  on  each  and  every  one  of  the  Jesuits  of  that  province, 
not  only  that  no  one,  neither  directly  nor  indirectly  should  oppose  the  car- 
rying out  of  the  dehvering  of  the  pueblos  and  lands  that  were  to  be  given  up 
to  Portugal,  but  that  each  and  every  one  should  absolutely  cooperate  in  it, 
and  in  order  to  expedite  its  delivery,  the  Father  Provincial  was  commanded 
to  immediately  go  to  the  aforesaid  pueblos  and  lands  of  the  Indians,  and 
to  promote,  with  as  much  diligence  as  promptness  their  transmigration 
to  the  other  territory  remaining  to  Spain,  and,  if  it  were  possible,  to  make 
the  said  changes  of  residence  so  promptly  that  it  might  be  over  and  done 
with  before  the  arrival  of  the  Royal  Commissioners  of  Spain,  who  were  ready 
to  sail  from  Cadiz,  and  before  the  arrival  of  the  Portuguese  who  were  then  in 
Brazil. 

He  was  also  told  that  in  case  that,  he  could  not  go  himself  to  the  Mi- 
siones  to  execute  his  orders,  he  was  to  send  or  appoint  trustworthy  persons 
whom  he  was  to  empower  to  carry  out  the  business;  and  finally,  as  this  letter 
was  sent  open  to  our  Court  or  to  its  Prime  Minister  although  against  our  usual 
custom,  he  was  very  prudently  offered  the  corresponding  reward  for  the  sus- 
cessful  termination  of  that  which  was  so  earnestly  entrusted  to  him;  there- 
fore the  Father  General  himself  said  that  if  it  were  possible  he  would  like 
him  to  execute  it  all  personally.  But  the  Father  Provincial,  first  arrived  from 
a  trip  of  two  leagues  over  which  he  came  from  Lima  to  Cordoba  del  Tucu- 
man  where  he  received  this  letter,  on  account  of  the  fatigue  of  the  journey,  his 
great  age,  and  his  consequent  slight  ailments,  could  not  personallygo  to 
the  Misiones  with  the  desire  promptitude  ;  and  thus  in  order  not  to  delay 
the  business  for  an  instant,  in  fact,  in  order  to  accelerate  it  the  more  than 
he  would  have  done  if  he  had  gone  in  person,  he  immediately  sent  an 
express  or  post,  appointing  for  its  execution  in  his  place  the  person  best  fitted 
for  the  case,  who  was  Father  Bernardo  Meisdefer,  at  present  Superior  of  all 
those  misiones,  and  which  place  he  had  filled  before,  he  became  Rector 
of  the  College  of  Santa  Fe  and  Provincial  Prevost  of  the  whole  province, 
being  an  expert  in  languages  to  the  highest  degree,  and  what  was  more  to 
the  purpose,  also  in  the  matter  of  Indians,  and  much  beloved  by  them, 
among  whom  he  had  lived  more  than  35  years,  and  had  been  Priest  of  two 
of  the  seven  pueblos  a  number  of  years  and  temporarily  in  every  one.  I  go 
into  all  these  details  so  that  it  may  be  seem  who  it  was  that  the  Father  Pro- 
vincial appointed,  because  as  he  was  a  recent  arrival  in  the  province  he  was  not 
acquainted  with  any  of  the  missionaries,  (except  by  the  information  that  he  was 
given  unanimously  by  all  the  parties  consulted,  and  to  show  the  sincerity 
with  which  the  Jesuits  of  Paraguay  proceeded  to  cooperate  in  the  sponta- 
neous and  peaceful  transfer  of  the  Indians,  and  to  the  delivery  of  their  pue- 
blos and  lands  in  the  execution  of  the  Royal  Treaty,  notwithstanding  the 
suspicion  and  the  distrust  in  which  we  were  held  unknown  to  ourselves. 


1755-1760 


LETTERS 

from  the  Xing  of  Portugal,  the  Il/Iarquis  of  Fombal  and  the  Count 
of  Unhao,  upon  the  cancellation  of  the  Treaty  of  1750.  ( * ) 

Don  Joseph,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  King  of  Portugal,  and  of  the  Algar- 
ves,  and  of  the  seas  at  both  sides  of  Africa,  Lord  of  Guinea,  of  the  conquest, 
navigation  and  commerce  of  Ethiopia,  Arabia,  Persia  and  of  India,  etc., 
know  all  who  this,  my  Letter  patent,  may  see,  that  there  being  a  perfect 
knowledge,  between  myself  and  the  Catholic  King,  my  good  brother  and 
brother-in-law,  by  a  long  series  of  repeated  and  successive  experiences,  that 
the  treaty  on  boundaries  of  the  conquests,  signed  at  the  Court  of  Madrid  on 
January  thirteenth  of  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty,  and  all  the  other 
conventions  which  were  concluded  afterwards  between  the  two  Courts,  with 
the  same  object,  instead  of  removing  forever  the  occasions  for  altering  the 
peace  and  harmony  between  both  Courts,  and  the  good  understanding  among 
the  vassals  of  the  same,  the  said  principal  treaty,  as  well  as  all  the  others  ac- 
cessories and  additional  ones  which  were  stipulated,  and  the  repeated  resolu- 
tions which  were  taken  in  the  interest  of  mutual  friendship  and  good  faith  of 
both  Courts,  have,  on  the  contrary,  served  to  waste  time  in  discovering 
events  diametrically  opposed  to  the  essential  ends  above  named,  causing  ill 
feeling  and  controversy  among  the  subjects  of  both  nations.  And  it  having 
been  agreed,  in  view  of  this  conviction,    by  mutual  consent,  that  the  said 


( * )  These  are  translations  from  the  original  documents  in  possession  of  the  Count  of 
Verdigueira,  now  at  Lisbon,  who  allowed  the  Argentine  Consul  to  draw  from  them  the 
copies  herein  translated.  These  documents,  and  the  map  appearing  in  a  copy  among  the 
charts  presented  with  the  "Argentine  Evidence,"  are  not  exhibited  in  the  originals  on  ac- 
count of  the  exaggerated  demands  of  the  owner,  who  asked  for  them  no  less  than  ^12,000. 


-5i6- 

principal  treaty  of  January  thirteenth  of  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty, 
shall  be  cancelled  and  annulled,  as  well  as  all  those  which  were  celebrated 
upon  the  same  subject  and  its  dependencies  thereafter;  and  that  all  other 
treaties,  pacts  and  conventions  which  had  been  celebrated  between  both 
Crowns,  prior  to  the  said  year  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty,  shall  be  restored 
to  their  former  force;  trusting  in  the  honesty,  zeal  and  judgment  and  other 
qualifications  of  Don  Joseph  da  Silva  Pe(;anha,  my  Ambassador  Plenipoten- 
tiary, presently  at  the  Court  of  Madrid,  who,  in  this  matter  will  give  me 
entire  satisfaction,  I  do  appoint  and  constitute  him  by  this  present  letter,  to 
confer  with  the  person  whom  the  Catholic  Majesty  may  legally  appoint  with 
similar  power,  to  stipulate,  conclude  and  to  sign,  for  my  part,  a  derogatory 
treaty  of  the  said  Treaty  on  Boundaries,  signed  on  January  thirteenth,  seven- 
teen hundred  and  fifty,  and  of  all  those  which  might  be  concluded  thereafter, 
renewing  and  restoring  to  their  primitive  force  all  other  treaties,  facts  and 
conventions  which  had  been  celebrated  between  both  Crowns  prior  to  the 
said  year  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty.  For  everything  in  connection  with 
this  matter,  I  grant  to  the  aforesaid,  my  Plenipotentiary,  all  the  authority, 
power  of  Attorney,  general  and  special,  pledging  my  faith  and  word  of  a 
King,  to  acknowledge  as  firm  and  valid  all  that  he  may  agree,  stipulate  and 
accord,  and  to  ratify  the  same  when  convenient.  In  testimony  whereof  I 
caused  this  Letter  to  be  issued  with  my  hand  and  the  large  seal  of  my  arms, 
at  this  Court  of  Belem,  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  October  oftheyearof 
the  birth  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty.  (  Large 
seal  of  the  Royal  Arms.)  Signed  I,  THE  KING — Don  Luis  da  Cunha, 
Caspar  da  Costa  Posser. 


Copy  of  the  autograph  letter  from  Sebastiao  Jose  de  Carvalho  e  Mello 

( Marquis  of  Pombal ),  addressed  to  the  Count  of  Unhao,  Ambassador 

of  Portugal  at  Madrid,  dated  June  27th,  1755. 

Most  Illustrious  and  Excellent  Sir  : — The  letter  which  I  have  written  to 
Your  Excellency  on  the  24th  and  25th  instant,  and  the  one  of  this  date,  are 
the  most  conclusive  answers  that  Your  Excellency  can  give  to  the  question 
of  Her  Majesty  the  Catholic  Queen  as  to  whether  we  desire  to  caficel  the 
treaty. 

The  King,  our  master,  does  not,  certainly,  desire  to  undo  it.  But  the 
clergymen  of  Paraguay,  the  Marquis  of  Valdelirios,  and  the  Governor  of 
Buenos  Ayres  do  want  it  undone,  as  is  proven  by  the  facts  referred  to  in  the 
letters  above-said. 

As  far  as  their  contents  are  concerned  ( and  even  that  of  the  25th )  I 
agreed  with  the  Count  of  Perelada,  that  everything  should  be  communicated 
to  the  Queen,  so  that  she  would  inform  her  august  spouse,  without  the  inter- 
vention of  any  Minister,  on  account  of  the  allusion  to  the  Fathers  of  the 
Order,  until  their  Catholic  Majesties  shall  be  pleased  to  order  anything  to  the 
contrary. 


—  517  — 

Circumstances  being  rather  critical,  it  is  necessary  that  Your  Excellency 
shall  inform  me  what  His  Majesty  can  expect  from  said  lady,  in  this  repect, 
and  in  everything  appertaining  to  this  serious  matter,  and  how  far  her  influ- 
ence upon  the  Ministers  at  that  Court  can  reach,  or  does  she  intends  to  uti- 
lize them. 

Under  the  present  circumstances,  the  King,  our  master,  thinks  that  the 
most  advisable  policy  would  be  that  which  I  mention  in  the  enclosed  letter. 
But  unless  Your  Excellency  sees  a  good  disposition,  any  attempt  in  this  di- 
rection would  be  untimely.  In  view  of  which,  Your  Excellency  ought  to  be 
prepared,  keeping  in  mind  the  said  plan,  to  be  made  use  of  in  proper  time, 
holding  the  said  letter  in  the  meantime. 

Your  Excellency  can  show  the  most  secret  ones  to  the  Catholic  Queen, 
assuring  her  that  the  King,  our  master,  does  not  ask  for,  nor  wishes,  the  pun- 
ishment of  such  men  ;  but  only  that  his  august  sister,  and  his  august  brother- 
in-law,  feel  convinced  that  it  will  be  hardly  possible  to  send  Commissioners 
in  his  place  who  shall  not,  within  a  short  time,  be  spoiled  either  by  intimida- 
tion or  by  bribery. — Lisbon,  June  27th,  1755.— SEBASTIAO  JOSE  DE 
CARVALHO  E  MELLO.     To  the  Count  of  Unhao,  Joa  Xavier  Telles. 


Copy  of  the  answer  to  the  notes  of  24th,  25th  and  27th  of  June,  1755. 

Upon  receipt  of  Your  Excellency's  notes,  I  caused  the  enclosed  letter  to 
be  delivered  to  the  Queen,  asking  her  Majesty  if  she  would  grant  me  permis- 
sion to  communicate  to  her  an  affair,  and^herein  I  send  her  reply,  and  another 
letter  which  I  received  afterwards,  to  Your  Excellency,  for  perusal ;  and  as  I 
understand  just  what  Her  Majesty  meant,  I  did  not  go  to  the  place  without 
asking  permission  to  do  so.  Therefore,  I  expect  that  you  will  come  over  to 
this  Court,  so  that  we  may  begin  to  talk  over  this  matter,  as  Your  Excellency 
orders  me  in  his  letters,  and  I  shall  keep  him  informed  of  everything  that 
may  occur.  For  the  present,  I  shall  only  say  what  I  know  about  the  infor- 
mations with  regard  to  the  influences  of  the  Queen,  and  everything  connected 
with  this  matter,  although  I  had  made  up  my  mind  not  to  speak  a  word  on 
this  matter,  for  reasons  not  unknown  to  Your  Excellency.  In  order  not  to 
give  occasion  for  doubts  as  to  my  veracity,  as  my  information  might  perhaps 
differ  from  those  very  reliable  ones  which  Your  Excellency  claims  to  have, 
and  in  order  that  it  shall  not  be  understood  that  I  was  or  am  prejudiced,  as 
Your  Excellency  already  has  told  me,  I  would  abstain  from  talking  ;  but  it 
being  a  command  from  the  King,  our  master,  I  do  say  that  : 

From  the  influences  of  the  Catholic  Queen  much  can  be  expected,  be- 
cause Her  Majesty  is  absolutely  the  mistress  of  the  w^hole  Ministry,  for  all 
the  Ministers  having  some  part  in  the  Government  (  except  the  Confessor, 
of  whom  I  shall  speak  later)  do  not  do  anything  without  first  informing  her, 
and  before  they  talk  to  the  King,  who  is  always  in  the  presence  of  Her  Ma- 
jesty who  receives  the  first  information  upon  any  matter.     In  the  estimation 


—  5i«  — 

of  her  husband  she  stands  as  she  always  stood,  very  high,  though  owing  to 
her  character  she  sometimes  gives  him  some  annoyance. 

The  influential  power  of  the  Confessor  amounts  to  little,  and  he  would 
have  been  by  this  time  out  of  his  charge,  but  for  the  excessive  kindness  of 
the  Queen:  the  King  has  asked  her  already  if  she  wanted  him  to  be  dismissed, 
and  she  replied  that  he  was  the  only  one  who  could  take  such  resolution,  and 
she  could  not  give  any  advice  in  the  matter.  She  afterwards  told  me  that 
she  had  said  so,  fearing  that  the  King  having  occasion  to  remember  the  Con- 
fessor might  say  that  he  had  been  sent  away.  This  priest  has  no  influence 
upon  the  King  in  American  affairs,  because  he  is  looked  upon  with  suspicion, 
but  his  old  power  lasts  with  him  no  longer,  although  his  orders  are  respected 
and  greatly  trusted.  This  Ministry,  with  the  exception  of  the  Secretary  of 
Indies  and  the  Navy,  is  opposed  to  the  Father,  and  to  all  that  is  being  done 
in  America  by  the  Castilian  Commanders. 

Although  everything  I  say  is  true,  I  am  afraid  the  Catholic  Queen  will 
take  upon  herself  to  persuade  her  husband  into  cancelling  the  treaty,  for 
many  reasons  ;  firstly,  because  Her  Majesty  is  very  earnest  in  this  negotia- 
tion, probably  because  she  has  initiated  it,  or  because  she  thinks  it  to  be  con- 
venient for  both  Crowns  ;  secondly,  because  she  will  fear  the  stullborness  ot 
her  husband,  who  is  very  delicate  on  certain  points ;  and  it  is  in  keeping 
with  his  character  to  doubt  as  to  the  expediency  of  undoing  what  has  been 
adjusted,  and  to  think  that  it  is  not  becoming  to  step  back  from  the  war  he 
has  begun  without  first  subduing  the  Indian  rebels  ;  thirdly,  because  the 
opinion  of  some  of  these  Ministers  is  to  push  on  the  war  until  the  Indians 
have  surrendered.  This  opinion  I  heard  some  time  since  from  Don  Ricardo 
Wall,  and  that  he  was  going  to  advise  His  Majesty  and  master  in  this  sense. 
We  shall  now  see  whether  or  not  he  changes  his  mind  when  he  hears  othej 
opinions  quite  different  from  his. 

That  is  all  I  know  about  this  matter,  and  I  would  like  it  to  be  kept 
strictly  secret,  especially  what  I  say  about  the  Sovereigns,  because  many  of 
these  things  were  trusted  to  me  by  the  Catholic  Queen,  under  the  seal  of 
secrecy,  and  I  only  divulge  it  for  the  case  in  which  some  benefit  to  the 
service  of  the  King,  our  master,  maybe  drawn  therefrom. — Madrid,  July  8th, 
1755.     Sr.  Sebastiao  Jose  de  Carvalho  e  Mello. 


Note. — This  is  a  copy  taken  from  the  copy  of  the  answer  of  Conde  de 
Unhao,  Ambassador  of  Portugal  at  Madrid,  to  Sr.  Sebastiao  Jose  de  Carvalho 
e  Mello,  Marquis  de  Pombal. 


1759 


JOURSTAZi 

Of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  Surveyors. — Surveyingr  of  the 
false  River  Fepiri.     (*) 

The  Chief  of  the  Archives  and  Library  and  Interpreter  of  Languages  of 
the  State  Department,  etc.,  etc. — I  do  hereby  certify  that  in  the  Archives 
under  my  charge  there  is  a  book,  bound,  original,  and  signed  by  the  Sui-vey- 
ors  of  Their  Catholic  and  Most  Faithful  Majesties,  entitled  « Journal  of  the 
Surveys  by  orders  of  Their  Catholic  and  Most  Faithful  Majesties  made  joint- 
ly by  the  Two  Second  Parties  in  the  year  1759,  "  ^^^  ^^  it,  from  folio  thirty- 
three  to  folio  forty-three,  inclusive,  are  found  the  documents  relating  to  the 
survey  of  the  Pepiri  River.  Their  tenor  is  as  follows:  On  the  first,  second 
and  third  of  March,  early  in  the  morning,  we  went  up  along  the  rocky  shore 
to  examine  the  pass  over  which  we  were  to  take  the  canoes,  which  was  a  bend 
situated  at  about  one  hundred  fathoms  from  us.  At  this  place  the  rocks 
were  not  so  close  together  as  they  are  further  up,  but  they  were  naturally 
broken  and  rather  superficial,  which  facilitated  the  removal  of  some  by  means 
of  iron  bars  and  crowbars,  by  their  removal  the  others  being  separated,  and 
so  the  pass  was  freed  from  all.  While  some  of  the  party  were  employed  in 
this  work,  others  occupied  themselves  in  felling  trees,  and  in  making  a 
broad  cut  which,  being  laid  with  tree  trunks,  would  facilitate  the  passage  of 
the  canoes.  When  we  had  finished  these  preparations,  the  lightest  of  the 
canoes  was  brought  to  the  little  port,  and  unloaded,  and  a  strong  rope  was 
attached  to  it ;  thirty  men  pulled  on  it  while  eight  others  held  and  pushed  on 
both  its  sides,  and  drew  it  over  in  a  short  time  successfully.  In  the  same  man- 
ner and  with  the  same  facility,  by  adding  more  men  to  the  heavier  ones, 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Archives  of  the 
Department  of  State  at  Madrid,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul 
in  the  said  city,  forms  part  of  the  group  D,  No.  2,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argen- 
tine Evidence." 


—    520    — 

were 'these  carried  over  during  this  and  the  following  day  a  distance  of  twen- 
ty-three fathoms,  five  feet  and  nine  inches,  which  there  was  between  the  sur- 
face of  the  water  in  the  canal  and  that  of  the  lakelet  into  which  they  were 
launched.     The  perpendicular  height  of  the  ground  was  five  fathoms  five 
feet  four  inches  for  twenty-one  fathoms  five  feet  of  the  distance,  and  dim- 
inished one  foot  one  inch  of  the  rest.     At  first  the  inclination  approached  the 
perpendicular,  and  it  was  hard  work  getting  them  over,  but  afterwards   it  is 
almost  insensible.     Communication  was  finally  established  between  this  first 
small  lake  and  a  neighboring  one;  the  ground  for  a  distance  of  five  fathoms 
was  lowered  and  a  road  opened  and  laid,  so  as  to  pass  the  canoes  overland 
from  this  to  a  third  lake,  and  the  same  thing  was  done  in  order  to  carry 
them  from  this  one  into  the  river,  the  spaces  that  made  these  divisions  being 
almost  like  the  first  in  size  although  higher.     These  three  lakelets  and  an- 
other one  slightly  larger,  which  is  situated  against  the  mountain  side,  we 
judged  were  formed  by  the  waters  that  remain  land  bound  after  the  floods, 
and  are  not  to  be  distinguished  during  the  prevalence  of  the  latter,  because 
the  signs  of  brush  and  branches  seen  in   the  trees  show  that   during  the 
greater  floods  the  waters  rise  more  than  one  fathom  higher  than  the  ground 
on  which  we  stood;  the  waters  of  the  river  join  the  nearest  one,  and  there 
again  join  the  others ;  the  last  one  empties  them  through  the  road  that  was 
opened  for  the  canoes.     There  were  still  proofs  of  this  to  be  seen.    The  time 
that  we  were  detained  by  these  works  gave  us  an  opportunity  to  see  the  falls 
and  to  geometrically  examine  their  size;  and  in  order  to  give  some  proper 
idea  of  them  we  will  begin  at  their  upper  part.     The  river,  that  before  re.'ich- 
ing  the  falls  is  of  considerable  width,  which  we  had  no  facility  for  measuring, 
has  on  its  eastern  shore  (the  side  nearest  to  the  mountain  from  which  it  soon 
deviates)  a  ledge  of  rocks  from  which  the  greater  bulk  of  the  waters  run  vio- 
lently towards  the  pool  into  which  it  soon  falls.     A  certain  part  of  the  waters 
escapes  towards  the  Eastern  side,  forming  three  rocky  islets,  thence  they 
empty  by  as  many  mouths  into  the   same   channel  without  a  fall.     On  the 
west  shore,  when  the  rocks  are  further  apart,  a  large  sheet  of  water  spreads 
out  without  touching  the  rocky  ledge,  which  does  not  reach  as  far,  and  falls, 
not  bodily  but  gradually,  over  the  wall  in  a  direction  north  northeast  and 
north,  and  forms  a  series  of  rapids  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  league  in  length, 
finally  interrupted  by  four  small  obstructions  which  give  rise  to  as  many  falls, 
separated  from  one  another  by  some  sharp  points  that  spring  out  from  the 
wall  itself.     The  distance  embraced  from  the  beginning  of  the  rapids  up  to 
the  end  of  the  last  fall  is  about  one  thousand,  two   hundred  and  eighty-six 
fathoms  five  feet,  and  doubtless  when  the  river  rises  it  must  be  more  than 
half  a  league   in  length,  the  falling  waters  reaching  much  further  down; 
and  as  the  waters  in  the  channel  must  also  rise  the,  falls  must  be  less  high. 
Those  that  were  measured  at  their  present  heigth  were  foundh  to  bejfive  fath- 
oms three  feet  on  the  western  wall  and  three  fathoms  four  feet  on  the  oppo- 
site side;  the  principal  one  in  the  middle  of  the  river  could  not  be  measured 
but  it  was  judged  to  be  smaller  than  the  last.     From  all  appearances,  when- 
ever there  is  a  great  rise,  the  waters  fill  the  wide  channel  of  the  eastern  bank, 


—   521    — 

which  is  now  dry,  and  then  it  must  also  empty  itself  over  a  fall,  unless  a  suffi- 
cient amount  of  water  collects  in  the  channel  to  raise  the  level  of  it  even  with 
or  even  higher  than  the  eastern  wall.  The  width  of  the  channel  opposite 
the  place  where  the  canoes  were  carried  over  was  seventeen  fathoms,  and 
farther  up  at  its  narrowest  part  it  is  ten  fathoms  three  feet  wide.  The  two 
walls  enclosing  the  river  are  two  continuous  very  hard  black  rocks;  the  east- 
ern one  is  cut  perpendicularly,  and  thus  the  water  permits  no  small  stone  to 
find  a  resting  place  on  it;  the  western  is  not  very  oblique;  spurs  of  rock 
spring  out  at  certain  places,  and  there  are  some  smaller  stones  over  which 
the  waters  are  precipitated,  making  falls  without  arches.  The  rebound  of 
the  waters  after  striking  against  the  unequal  stones  and  the  prominent  spurs 
of  rock  over  which  they  fall  produce  great  noise,  which,  carried  by  the  wind, 
may  be  heard  more  than  a  league  away,  and  makes  a  very  thick  foam  thrown 
into  the  air,  which  rarefies  in  proportion  to  the  distance  it  is  from  its  source, 
and  refracting  the  rays  of  light,  presents  to  view  the  blues,  the  greens  and 
the  yellows,  in  irregular,  ill-defined  figures,  not  always  in  the  same,  but  in 
different  localities;  then  was  seen  at  mid-day,  when  the  sun's  rays  come 
down  perpendicularly,  at  sunset,  only  the  yellows  could  be  distinguished  in 
some  places.  The  spray  that  was  thrown  to  the  opposite  side,  a  distance  of 
fourteen  or  fifteen  fathoms,  made  a  very  fine  rain  that  covers  all  the  space  of 
the  falls,  above  which  and  more  especially  over  the  middle  of  the  river,  where 
the  greatest  body  of  water  falls,  may  be  seen  a  column  as  of  smoke,  light  as 
a  cloud,  that  rises  perpendicularly  about  one  fathom,  which  is  not  constant  and 
varies  in  density  and  size,  but  it  may  be  seen  from  a  distance.  The  rapidity 
with  which  the  waters  precipitate  themselves  through  the  narrow  channel 
that  hems  them  in  is  so  great  that  it  is  overcoming,  and  the  view  on  follow- 
ing them  down  is  only  interrupted  by  the  whirlpools  and  sudden  swells  which 
appear  and  disappear  with  equal  rapidity,  leaving  after  they  go  down  so 
smooth  a  surface  that  one  would  suppose  even  an  absence  of  the  regular  cur- 
rent. If  from  the  middle  of  this  large  surface  the  view  is  extended  as  far  as 
the  beginning  of  the  falls  and  to  the  end  of  the  rapids  towards  the  turbulent 
play  of  the  white  foam,  partly  tinted  of  various  colors,  and  the  other  sur- 
roundings aforesaid,  such  an  agreeable  picture  is  presented  that  the  first  view 
will  ensure  the  closest  attention. 

BELOW  THE  FALLS  OF  THE  URUGUAY. 

OBSERVATIONS. 

March.         Stars.  Albs.  Mers.  Aps.  Latitudes. 


V  Pollux  46°  16'  21^^  27°    9^  29' 

B      Can  minor  54°  06''  04^''  18'' 

a        Procyon  57°  01^  32^^  36^ 

B       Cancer  52°  56^  47^''  32'' 

Average  of  four  observations :  27°  9^  29^'' 
Thermometer;  33^,  at  2  P.  M.  :  Windy,    cloudy  weather. 


—    522    — 

Francisco  Arguedas.  Francisco  Milhau,  Juan  Matron,  Joseph  Fres.  Pto. 
Alpoym,  Antonio  da  Veiga  da  Andrada,  Manoel Pacheco  de  Christo. — Fourth 
DAY. — The  Portuguese  party  was  in  the  vanguard.  Began  to  sail  over  the 
first  lagoon,  and  having  overcome  the  difficulties  of  the  road  that  was  made 
in  order  to  connect  it  with  the  second,  we  then  went  to  the  second  which, 
like  the  third,  we  overcame  by  lifting  and  hauling  the  canoes,  until  they  were 
launched  on  the  broad  expanse  of  the  river's  super-abundant  waters,  that 
flow  until  they  precipitate  themselves  over  the  cascades-  we  were  able  to 
navigate,  hugging  as  much  as  possible  the  shores  of  the  western  bank,  as  to 
avoid  being  carried  away  by  some  current  over  the  above  and  parallel  with 
which  we  were  sailing.  There  was  such  little  water  in  that  part,  and  so 
many  rocks,  ledges  and  different  currents,  that  with  all  propriety  it  might 
have  been  said  that  the  canoes  that  were  being  pulled  along  by  the  men  in 
the  water  were  sailing  on  dry  land.  The  river  runs  towards  the  north  and 
returns  to  north  northeast,  even  at  the  rapids;  afterwards  makes  an  angle  to- 
wards the  eastern  part,  at  which  it  runs  from  east  northeast  to  east  one-quar- 
ter southeast,  and  afterwards  to  southeast  one-quarter  east.  In  that  direc- 
tion on  the  west  is  the  mouth  of  the  Arroyo  Ylayoa.  On  passing  it,  having 
traveled  one  league,  a  halt  was  called,  as  the  people  were  very  tired  from  the 
constant  work,  and  much  troubled  by  the  mosquitoes  much  felt  that  day,  in 
which  it  was  evident  that  we  could  not  reach  the  Pepiri,  as  the  guide  said  we 
would  on  the  same  day  that  we  left  the  falls.  Thermometer — 32^  at 
one  o'clock  p.  m, ;  north  light  wind,  weather  clear  and  sultry.  Francisco 
Arguedas,  Francisco  Milhau,  Juan  Marroti,  Joseph  Fres.  Pto.  Atpoym,  An- 
tonio da  Veiga  da  Andrada,  Manoel  Pacheco  de  Christo. — Fifth  day. — The 
Spanish  party  led  the  way.  We  followed  the  same  western  coast  on  which 
we  were,  and  turning  south  southeast  as  the  river  runs,  there  are  in  this 
direction  two  ledges  of  rock  close  to  each  other.  We  left  two  streams  of 
w^ater  that  come  down  tumultuously  over  the  rocks,  which  we  judged  were 
produced  by  the  heavy  rains  of  the  previous  night.  Great  labor  was  occa- 
sioned by  the  numerous  rocks  and  little  water  of  the  river,  which  returns  to 
east  southeast;  and  in  this  direction  there  is  a  ledge  of  rocks  terminating  in 
a  small  island  of  stones  and  sarandys,  leaning  on  the  north  shore.  This  is 
covered  over  during  the  floods;  and  behind  this,  at  a  distance  of  two-thirds 
of  a  league  from  the  Ytayoa,  there  is  the  mouth  of  a  river  that  can  only  be 
seen  after  turning  the  point  of  the  island.  The  guide  said  that  it  was  the 
Pepiri,  that  we  were  searching  for.  The  Commissioners  had  him  brought  be- 
fore them,  and  bringing  together  all  the  officers  of  both  nations,  he  was 
asked  what  river  that  one  was.  He  again  answered  that  it  was  the  Pepiri, 
and  that  by  this  name  he  had  known  it  during  the  voyage  that  he  had  made 
to  this  place  a  few  years  before  with  the  people  of  his  village,  and  they  called 
it  Espia.  At  this  time  there  was  so  little  water  in  it  that  it  promised  a  very 
short  navigation;  and  as  it  was  known  from  other  information  that  the  Pepiri 
had  a  ledge  of  rocks  near  its  mouth,  the  Commissioners  with  the  Portuguese 
Astronomer  went  to  search  for  it,  and  they  found  it  half  a  league  from  its 
mouth.     Nevertheless,  as  it  was  seen  that  we  had  not  arrived  at  the  latitude 


—  523  — 

in  which  the  Court  maps  place  the  Pepiri,  and  that  the  position  of  the  one 
on  which  we  were  situated  did  not  correspond  with  it  either,  as  it  was  before 
the  Uruguay  pita,  which  empties  on  the  opposite  shore,  whereas  on  the  map 
it  appears  after  it,  in  order  to  rectify  this  map  and  to  remove  every  kind  of 
doubt  that  might  be  raised  against  the  testimony  of  the  guide,  as  being  that 
of  only  one  man  (in  truth  he  was  the  only  one,  not  only  amongus,  but  among 
all  the  Misiones  villages  who  could  give  it,  as  there  were  now  no  Indians  re- 
maining who  had  navigated  above  the  falls),  or  because  he  might  not  renlem- 
ber  well,  so  many  years  having  passed  since  he  had  gone  over  that  ground 
only  once,  the  two  Commissioners  therefore  agreed  to  go  up  the  river  the 
next  day  and  to  make  a  map  of  this  region  in  order  to  satisfy  ourselves  of  his 
knowledge  and  good  guidance,  by  comparing  the  information  that  he  gave  us 
concerning  the  rivers  Apiterebi  and  Uruguay-pita,  or  as  far  as  he  said 
he  had  gone,  with  their  true  position.  Thermometer — 29°  at  one 
o'clock  north  wind,  weather  rainy.  Francisco  Argiiedas,  Francisco 
Milhau,  Juan  Marron,  Joseph  Fres.  Pto.  Aipoym,  Antonio  da  Veiga  da 
Andrada,  Manoel  Pacheco  de  Christo. — Sixth  day. — The  Commissioners, 
Astronomers  and  Geographers  of  both  nations  started  in  the  unladen  canoes, 
and  at  a  distance  of  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  league  in  the  northeast  direction 
taken  by  the  river,  an  unnamed  brook  empties  into  the  eastern  bank,  pass- 
ing which  there  is  a  strong  current  and  a  small  ledge  of  rocks,  and  further 
up  in  a  direction  northeast  one-quarter  north  another  one  like  it,  also  with  a 
ledge  and  very  little  water,  and  in  the  same  direction  on  the  western  bank  a 
rivulet  empties.  The  river  then  turns  east  northeast  and  then  inclines 
southeast  one-quarter  east,  and  in  this  direction  it  has  another  ledge  one- 
quarter  of  a  league  in  length  with  very  little  water.  This  was  passed  in  the 
usual  manner,  with  the  people  in  the  water,  where  besides  the  sharp  points 
of  rocks  that  hurt  the  men's  feet,  various  kinds  of  mosquitoes  troubled  them 
greatly  by  attacking  their  naked  bodies  in  swarms.  A  small  island  of  rocks 
and  sarandys  may  be  seen  in  the  middle  of  this  ledge,  and  after  passing  it 
there  empties  on  the  western  bank,  at  a  distance  of  a  league  and  a  ^quarter 
from  the  Pepin',  a  not  very  large  river,  which  the  guide  called  the  Apiterebi. 
After  passing  the  ledge  the  river  turns  again  with  a  slight  current  to  the 
south  southeast,  into  which  a  brook  empties  on  the  same  bank,  and  inclining 
again  to  the  southeast  it  has  a  slight  current,  in  the  middle  of  which  there 
are  large  rocks,  some  rising  out  of  the  water;  others  are  very  superficial, 
slightly  covered  by  the  water;  on  their  sides  the  water  in  some  places  was 
very  deep  and  in  others  very  shallow.  Between  them  a  passage  was  sought 
for,  to  avoid  the  powerful  current  of  the  channel,  which  runs  very  rapidly 
under  the  south  shore.  The  river  follows  its  turn  toward  the  northeast  and 
northeast  one-quarter  north,  and  at  the  beginning  of  this  course,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  nearly  two  and  one-third  leagues  from  the  Pepiri,  a  large  river  emp- 
ties on  the  eastern  shore,  which  the  guide  said  it  was  the  Uruguay-pita, 
This  was  the  extent  of  his  knowledge.  We  followed  it  up  a  little  distance 
to  see  if  the  color  of  its  waters  corresponded  with  its  name,  meaning  Uru- 
guay red,  and  it  was  found  that  the  color  was  somewhat  like  it.     Its  width, 


—  524  — 

measured  a  short  distance  above  its  mouth,  is  forty-nine  fathoms  four  feet, 
and  its  depth  six,  eleven,  twelve,  fourteen,  sixteen  feet  (del  Rey),  and  fol- 
lowed up  a  distance  of  half  a  league  it  preserves  the  depth  of  twelve  feet ; 
the  waters  of  the  large  Uruguay,  being  so  much  further  down,  have  nothing 
to  do  with  it  and  could  not  control  those  of  the  pita,  which  is  the  largest 
river  we  have  met  since  leaving  San  Xavier.  We  continued  the  navigation 
of  one  river  up-stream,  and  in  the  same  direction  it  has  another  ledge  which 
occupies  its  full  width ;  and  after  passing  it  a  brook  empties  on  its  opposite 
shore,  and  a  little  further  on  in  a  direction  east  northeast  another,  which  is 
followed  by  another  rapid  current  with  a  rocky  ledge.  After  passing  this  we 
halted  for  the  night  on  the  eastern  shore,  having  traveled  a  distance  of  three 
leagues.  Not  far  from  this  second  rocky  ledge  an  old  wooden  mortar  was 
found,  which,  the  Paulists  recognized,  belonged  to  their  countrymen  by  its 
make,  and  was  probably  left  there  by  them  in  one  of  their  old  «  malocas  » 
(expeditions  made  by  the  Paulists  in  search  of  Indians  for  slaves),  a  small 
and  very  old  rosary  was  also  found  and  attributed  to  the  same  parties.  The 
sides  and  bottom  of  the  river  are  of  r6ck  in  the  greater  part,  with  high 
banks  and  mountains  on  both  sides,  although  less  high  than  those  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  falls,  they  are  always  covered  with  trees.  Thermometer 
— 29>^°  at  one  o'clock  in  the  day;  wind  north  northeast,  clear  and  very 
sultry.  Francisco  Arguedas,  Francisco  Milhau,  Juatt  Mano7i,  Joseph  Fres. 
Pto.  Alpoytn,  Antonio  da  Veiga  da  Andrada,  Manoel  Pacheco  de  Christo. — 
Seventh  day. — We  continued  on  our  way  forward  on  a  course  east  north- 
east, in  which,  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill,  a  brook  empties  on  the  same  north 
shore,  the  river  turning  to  the  southeast  one-quarter  east.  It  receives  an- 
other one  on  the  opposite  side.  It  continues  south  one-quarter  southeast; 
and  during  this  course,  a  little  more  than  half  a  league  further  on,  is  found 
a  small  island,  rocky  and  high.  After  passing  it  we  saw  a  great  fall  which 
we  judged  must  be  one  fathom  high,  making  steps  over  which  the  water  vio- 
lently fell,  obstructing  our  further  passage.  We  stopped  before  the  island 
and  a  small  canoe  was  sent  to  examine  the  falls  at  close  quarters,  with  orders 
to  pass  beyond  them  if  it  could  go  around  in  any  way  until  it  turned  a  point 
that  could  be  seen  in  the  distance,  and  to  reach  the  western  bank  for  the 
mouth  of  some  river  that  agreed  better  with  the  map  of  the  courts.  Some 
officers  accompanied  it  up  to  the  foot  of  the  falls,  and  they  stated  that  in  or- 
der to  pass  them  it  would  be  necessary  to  execute  a  manoeuvre  similar  to  the 
one  that  had  been  executed  at  the  great  falls,  of  carrying  the  canoes  over- 
land. 

The  people  or  crew  of  the  canoe,  that  explored  a  little  on  oot,  did 
not  find  any  river.  In  view  of  this  obstacle,  and  as  there  was  no  hope  of  a 
large  river  nearby  in  view  of  the  many  small  brooks  that  were  so  frequently 
met  with  on  both  banks,  the  Commissioners  called  together  the  Astronomers 
and  Geographers  of  both  nations,  and  after  they  were  all  together,  the  Com- 
missioners of  His  Christian  Majesty  set  forth  the  reasons  that  had  led  him  to 
take  these  measures,  and  to  doubt  the  statement  of  the  guide  that  the  said 
river  was  the  Pepiri,  not  only  because  its  latitude  does  not  agree  with  the 


—  525  — 

one  given  to  it  in  the  aforesaid  map,  but  because  after  so  many  years  the 
latter  might  have  forgotten  the  ground  and  rivers. 

He  also  presented  the  reasons  that  led  him,  after  making  this  examina- 
tion to  doubt  no  longer,  those  which  were  supported  by  the  assertions  of  the 
said  guide,  who  during  the  month  of  November  of  the  year  1757  had  assured 
him  at  the  village  of  San  Javier,  that  he  had  not  only  been  on  the  Pepin 
river  (to  which  they  would  arrive  the  same  day  they  left  the  great  falls  of  the 
Uruguay  which  he  had  frequently  repeated  during  the  voyage)  but  that  he 
had  also  gone  further  up  and  as  he  now  assured  him  that  he  had  reached  no' 
further  than  the  Uruguay-pita,  he  was  now  convinced  that  the  river  was 
further  back  that  he  had  known  by  the  name  of  Pepiri,  and  that  it  could  be 
no  other  thgn  the  one  he  had  so  designated,  because  this  was  the  only  one 
that  could  be  reached  the  same  day  that  you  left  the  falls ;  and  because  the 
information  that  he  had  given  concerning  the  other  two  rivers  known  to  him. 
the  Apeterebi  and  the  Uruguay-pita  tallied  with  their  respective  situations, 
demonstrated  that  he  knew  what  he  was  about.  Furthermore  his  testimony 
was  corroborated  by  other  printed  maps  and  by  some  manuscripts  made  by 
the  Indians  during  the  times  they  navigated  those  regions  which  place  the 
Uruguay-pita  after  the  Pepiri  near  whose  mouth  the  rocky  ledge  had  been 
found,  which  it  was  known  to  have  ;  and  he  concluded  by  saying,  that  if  not- 
withstanding these  reasons,  any  one  still  mistrusted  or  had  a  doubt,  or  could 
think  of  any  other  measure  that  could  be  taken  for  fixing  the  river  more  po- 
sitively, he  should  now  propose  it,  for  there  was  stjU  time  to  carry  it  out. 
Everyone  was  satisfied  that  this  was  undoubtedly  the  Pepiri  river,  which  was 
always  a  river  of  considerable  size,  though  at  the  time  there  was  little  water 
in  it,  which  also  occurred  in  the  Uruguay  itself  :  having  reached  this  agree- 
ment it  was  resolved  to  return  to  camp  where  we  arrived  after  a  down  river 
navigation  of  four  and  a  half  hours,  passing  not  without  some  risk  but  with- 
out accident  over  the  rocky  ledges  through  the  channels  where  we  encountered 
head  winds  that  raised  some  furious  waves,  which  being  successively  ship- 
ped by  the  canoes  succeeded  in  wetting  all  of  us;  after  our  arrival  a  heavy 
rain  fell  that  lasted  throgh  part  of  the  night. — Francisco  de  rAgueda — Fran- 
cisco Milhdu. — Juan  Marron. — Josef  Fernandez  Pinto  Alpoym. — Antonio  da 
Veiga  da  Andi'ada. — Manoul  Pacheco  de  Christo. — eighth  and  following 
DAYS  TO  THE  FOURTEENTH.  Being  now  convinced  that  we  were  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Pepiri  river,  the  following  act  of  acknowledgement  or  recognition  was 
entered  into  and  signed  by  all.  The  Commissioners  of  the  second  party  of 
demarcation,  Don  Francisco  Arguedas  for  His  Catholic  Majesty  and  Josef 
Fernandez  Pinto  Alpoym  for  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty,  after  hearing  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  astronomers,  geographers  and  officers  of  both  na- 
tions who,  (in  view  of  the  reasons  stated  at  the  preceding  meeting,  and  of 
the  assurance  of  the  Indian  guide  Francisco  Javier  Arirapi,  serjeant  of  his 
pueblo  of  San  Javier,  whose  acquaintance  with  and  information  regarding 
these  rivers  was  proven  by  the  agreement  existing  between  the  information 
he  gave  regarding  them  and  their  true  position)  stated  that  there  was  now  no 
doubt  in  their  mind  that  the  Pepiri  river  was  the  one  so  designated  by  the 


—  526  — 

said  guide,  at  whose  mouth  the  parties  were  encamped,  and  we  hereby  de- 
clare that  we  recognize  this  as  the  river  Pepiri  named  in  Article  V  of  Treaty 
on  limits  as  the  boundary,  between  the  dominions  of  Their  Cathohc  and 
Most  Faithful  Majesties;  consequently  the  demarcation  begun  at  the  pueblo 
of  San  Javier  and  followed  up  stream  along  the  Uruguay  up  to  the  mouth  of 
this  one,  shall  follow  its  course  towards  its  headwaters,  in  spite  of  its  true  po- 
sition, not  being  in  accordance  with  the  one  given  it  in  the  map  of  the  two 
Courts,  as  we  must  not,  in  compliance  with  the  instructions  that  appear  on 
its  reverse  side  signed  by  Their  Excellencies  the  two  Plenipotentiaries  Don 
Josef  de  Carvajal  y  Lancaster  and  Viscount  Don  Thomas  da  Silva  Tellez, 
bind  ourselves  to  the  aforesaid  map  only  in  so  far  as  it  agrees  with  the  Treaty, 
And  in  order  that  this  act  of  recognition  and  boundary  of  the  ^division  of 
limits  may  be  known  for  all  time  we  made  this  present  declaration  signed  by 
all  of  the  undersigned.  Mouth  of  the  Pepiri  river,  March  8th,  1759. — Fran- 
cisco Argnedas Francisco  Milhau. — Juan  Marron. — Josef  Fernandez  Pinto 

Alpoym. — ^ntonioda  Veiga  da  Andrdda. — Matioel  Pacheco  de  Christo. — And 
that  it  may  be  known  to  all  whom  it  may  concern,  I  issue  this  present  certi- 
fication sealed  and  signed  at  Madrid  on  the  28th  day  of  Febrary,  1893. — 
Signed,  Manuel  del  Palacio,  Seal  of  Department  of  State.  Archives  and 
Library. 


1759 


Letter  of  Don  Francisco  de  Arguedas,  addressed  to  the  IMIarquis 

de  Valdelirios,  dated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Fepiri,  IWEarch 

27th,  1759,  wherein  are  told  all  the  incidents 

relating  to  the  survey  of  said  river.  ( *  ^ 

Mon  tres  cher  ami  :  With  double  pleasure  would  I  write  you  if  instead 
of  the  difficulties  which  oblige  me  to  stop  the  demarcation  here  and  return  fo 
Misiones,  in  order  to  ascend  the  Parana  to  battle  again  with  reefs  and  cur- 
rents, it  could  be  in  my  power  to  avoid  this  trouble  and  delay ;  but  being 
necessary  to  do  this,  it  only  remains  for  me  to  become  reconciled  with  adverse 
fate,  which  your  good  example  has  taught  me  to  forbear. 

The  fifteenth  of  last  month  I  sent  you  a  short  letter  from  the  Fall  of  the 
Guarai,  by  means  of  a  raft  from  the  pueblo  de  Santa  Maria,  which  was 
returning  from  the  Itacarai.  Afterwards  we  pursued  our  journey  with  suc- 
cess, but  encountering  continually  reefs  and  currents,  which  were  the  more 
troublesome  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  water  of  the  Uruguay ;  this  con- 
tinued until  the  twenty-fourth,  when  we  arrived  at  a  distance  of  a  league  and 
a  half  from  the  great  Fall,  where  the  whirlpools  and  strong  currents  begin, 
and  with  difficulty  we  proceeded  a  little  further,  but  seeing  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  the  rafts  to  proceed,  we  determined  to  leave  them  there  with  the 
men  who  could  be  spared,  and  with  the  Commanders  of  the  troops.  Some 
of  the  rafts  were  undone,  and  with  ten  different  canoes  for  the  officers  of  each 
party,  we  proceeded  our  journey.     Accompanying  us  and  at  the  request  of 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archives 
of  Alcali  de  Henares  which,  in  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at 
Madrid,  forms  part  of  group  D,  No.  3,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evid- 
ence." 


—   528    — 

Alpoym,  came  Friar  Francisco,  and  Dubois,  the  Chaplain  and  Surgeon 
remaining  to  take  care  of  the  men  who  were  left.  While  the  canoes  were 
being  prepared, Captain  Vega  went  by  land  and  returns  with  the  information 
that  the  Fall  could  not  be  passed  even  with  canoes,  and  that  it  could  not  be 
passed  either  by  land,  following  the  Eastern  bank  of  the  river,  where  we 
then  were.  For  this  reason  we  resolved  to  send  the  geographers  by  the  said 
bank,  to  draw  a  plan  of  the  river,  and  ordered  Captain  Antonio  Rodriguez 
to  go  with  Marron  to  the  opposite  bank  and  find  out  if  the  Fall  could  be 
crossed  by  the  Western  bank  or  by  land.  They  brought  the  news  that  with 
difficulty  the  canoes  could  be  dragged  to  a  place  where  they  would  not  be 
injured  by  the  Fall  ;  so,  with  great  trouble,  clearing  rocks  and  cutting  down 
trees  to  force  a  passage,  we  managed  to  carry  the  canoes  with  the  help  of 
thirty  men  who  pulled  them  with  a  rope,  while  others  pushed  them  from 
behind,  until  we  reached  a  heighth  of  thirty  fathoms  and  a  distance  of 
twenty  four  fathoms.  At  this  point  the  canoes  were  thrown  into  a  small 
lake  formed  by  the  rise  of  the  waters  of  the  river,  and  repeating  the  above 
operation  three  times  more,  we  reached  a  place  where  the  waters  are  quiet, 
and  where  the  water  flows  in  cataract  form  to  the  principal  canal  of  the  river, 
at  which  point  the  latter  becomes  so  narrow  that  it  cannot  be  more  than 
twenty  yards  in  width.  Looking  at  the  fall  of  the  water  I  was  reminded  of 
the  « Peines »  of  Lima,  although  the  latter  are  more  beautiful,  having  a 
greater  volume  of  water  and  the  heighth  from  which  it  descends  being  also 
greater.  We,  finally,  managed  to  overcome  the  difficulty  and  continued 
our  march. 

Upon  our  arrival  at  the  Fall  we  were  told  by  the  guide  of  San  Xavier, 
the  only  Indian  of  Misiones  who  had  ever  been  beyond  the  Fall,  that  the 
very  day  we  should  leave  the  Fall  we  would  reach  the  Pepiri.  In  effect,  the 
next  day  we  found  a  river  which  the  guide  said  was  the  Pepiri.  The  news 
soon  spread  among  the  Portuguese  soldiers,  and  their  Commissioner  stopped 
at  the  river  awaiting  the  arrival  of  my  canoe  which  had  remained  behind. 
As  soon  as  I  came  Alpoym  told  me  the  news.  Observing  the  small  volume 
of  water  of  the  river,  although  and  though  its  mouth  was  wide,  I  said  I 
doubted  that  the  river  in  question  was  the  Pepiri.  I  landed,  and  calling 
again  the  guide  who  was  coming  in  Milhaus  canoe,  I  asked  him  in  the 
presence  of  the  officers  of  the  two  nations  the  name  of  the  river  at  which  we 
had  arrived,  and  he  said  it  was  the  Pepiri,  under  which  name  he  had  known 
it  years  before  when  he  had  been  to  the  Espia,  and  that  it  was  so  called  by 
the  Indian  guides  who  at  that  time  were  of  the  party. 

Although  I  found  the  river  to  be  in  conformity  with  the  position  given 
it  in  two  maps  of  San  Xavier,  which  I  had,  one  of  which  I  had  found  it  to 
be,  as  to  the  rest  of  the  river,  more  exact  and  truthful,  yet  seeing  it  was  a 
small  river  which  could  not  be  navigated,  I  said  it  did  not  correspond  with 
the  river  represented  in  the  map  of  the  Courts,  because  we  had  not  seen  in 
the  Western  bank  the  river  Uruguay-pita,  which  said  map  places  before  the 
Pepiri,  nor  was  the  latitude  where  we  were,  27°  9'',  the  same  as  that  given  by 
the  map  in  question,  which  represents  the  Pepiri  as  being  at  26°  40^  latitude, 


—  529  — 

and  finally,  that  it  was  difficult  to  believe  the  Sovereigns  could  have  taken 
as  limit  such  a  small  river  as  that  one  appeared  to  be,  although  its 
mouth  was  thirty-nine  fathoms  wide,  when  I  knew  the  Pepiri  was  navigable 
and  had  been  navigated  by  Father  Delgado  in  search  of  Indians,  as  proven 
by  his  map,  which  I  produced,  as  well  as  the  map  of  the  Courts. 

Alpoym  and  his  officers  stood  by  the  testimony  of  the  guide,  the  only 
one  there  who  could  determine  the  name  of  the  river,  and  upon  the  declara- 
tion of  the  Plenipotentiaries  to  the  effect  that  more  faith  should  be  placed  in 
the  treaty  and  Instructions,  than  in  the  map  of  the  Courts,  when  the  latter 
should  not  conform  with  the  ground,  as  in  the  present  case,  when  we  found 
the  Pepiri  before  the  Uruguay-pita. 

While  my  canoe  was  on  the  way,  Alpoym  had  explored  the  river  to 
some  distance,  and  he  told  me  it  was  a  large  river  which  further  on  had  the 
.  same  width  as  that  at  its  mouth.  I  asked  him  if  it  had  a  fall  near  its  mouth, 
( because  I  knew  it  should  have  one,  through  information  given  me  by  Father 
Candiel ),  he  said  he  did  not  know,  but  that  his  geographer  had  proceeded 
further  and  he  would  be  able  to  tell  upon  his  return.  In  effect,  the  geogra- 
pher brought  word  that  at  a  distance  of  half  a  league  from  the  mouth  of  the 
river  there  was  a  large  reef  which  prevented  the  canoes  from  proceeding  any 
further.  This  information  justified  me  in  believing  it  was  the  Pepiri,  in  the 
face  of  the  previous  information  I  had  of  Father  Candiel,  but  from  the  d*xis- 
tence  of  the  reef  I  gathered  the  river  could  not  be  navigated,  and  I  insisted, 
we  should  go  that  afternoon  to  personally  survey  the  reef.  We  did  so  and 
found  the  reef,  and  the  river  had  so  little  water  at  that  point,  that  it  was 
difficult  to  believe  its  source  could  be  far  distant.  I  then  spoke  to  Alpoym, 
assuring  him  the  exigencies  of  our  honor  demanded  that  we  leave  there  the 
boats,  and  that  the  officers  should  proceed  in  the  canoes  and  survey  the 
Uruguay  further  on.  He  assented  to  it,  and  the  next  day  we  navigated  four, 
long  leagues,  encountering  at  every  moment  rocks  and  scarcity  of  water 
until  we  reached  a  new  Fall,  which  we  could  not  pass  unless  experiencing  the 
same  difificulty  we  had  with  the  Fall  we  had  crossed  before.  At  a  distance  of 
a  league,  and  through  the  western  bank,  flows  a  stream  which  the  guide 
called  Apiterebi  and  at  a  distance  of  a  league  from  the  latter,  the  Uruguay- 
pita  flows  through  the  eastern  bank.  Upon  our  arrival  at  the  foot  of  this 
second  Fall,  Alpoym  said  :  «  It  seems  that  we  have  satisfied  your  scruples  ; 
this  Fall  does  not  permit  us  to  go  any  further,  and  the  river  you  were  seek- 
ing has  been  found,  although  a  little  higher  up  than  represented  in  the  map 
of  the  Courts,  so  I  suppose  we  can  now  return. » 

The  guide  had  told  Milhau  it  was  useless  to  look  further  for  the  Pepiri, 
as  it  was  the  river  we  had  left  behind,  and  upon  reaching  the  Uruguay-pita 
the  guide  told  me  he  had  never  been  any  further  and  that  he  did  not  know 
anything  more  about  the  river  ;  at  this  I  reasoned  to  myself  as  follows  : 
« A  year  and  a  half  ago  the  guide  told  me  in  San  Xavier  that  he  had  gone 
beyond  the  Pepiri :  now  he  assures  me  that  he  has  not  been  beyond  the 
Uruguay-pita,  and  has  never,  in  fact,  displayed  having  any  knowledge  beyond 
the  latter  river.     The  Pepiri,  then,  must  be  below  the  Uruguay-pita. »  Reason- 


—  530  — 

ing  which  sen'^ed  to  calm  my  fears  that  the  contrary  was  the  case.  This 
reasoning,  besides  the  difficuhy  of  crossing  and  going  beyond  the  Fall,  and 
the  fact  that  several  small  streams  flowed  into  the  Uruguay  river,  through 
its  western  bank,  which  proved  to  me,  through  the  light  of  past  experience, 
that  for  a  long  distance  further  on  there  was  no  possibility  of  any  large  river 
flowing  into  the  Uruguay,  decided  me  to  assemble  together  the  officers  of  the 
two  nations,  and  ask  them  if  they  entertained  any  doubts  that  the  Pepiri  was 
the  river  we  had  left  behind,  because  I  knew  that  some  of  our  own  officers 
attributed  my  actions  to  mere  personal  scruples.  They  all  agreed  there  was 
no  doubt  about  its  being  the  Pepiri,  and  said  I  should  not  hesitate  to  believe 
the  same,  notwithstanding  the  scarcity  of  its  waters,  because  the  Uruguay 
was  also  dry  in  spite  of  its  greater  volume  of  water  ;  so  we  decided  to  return 
to  the  point  where  we  had  left  the  other  canoes. 

While  making  some  observations  at  that  important  point,  I  proposed 
to  Alpoym  we  should  send  a  light  and  small  canoe  to  explore  the  Pepiri,  so 
that  we  might  obtain  more  knowledge  concerning  it,  as  we  did  not  know 
anything  about  the  interior  of  said  river.  He  agreed,  and  the  canoe  was 
sent  with  the  best  Paulists,  with  provisions  for  four  days,  and  with  orders  to 
explore  the  river  as  far  as  its  source  if  possible,  and  to  go  on  by  land  if  it 
became  impossible  to  navigate  it.  At  the  end  of  two  days  and  a  half  they 
returned  with  the  information  that  the  river  was  full  of  rocks  which  began  at^ 
a  distance  of  half  a  league  from  its  mouth,  and  the  first  of  which  had  been 
overcome  with  difficulty,  after  which  the  little  canoe  had  been  taken,  which 
could  be  shouldered  by  two  men,  by  force  of  arms,  to  a  place  where  there  was 
more  water,  but  they  had  afterwards  encountered  other  rocks  which  could 
not  be  passed.  They  then  continued  by  land  about  two  leagues  further, 
where  they  saw  a  stream  of  water  descending  from  a  mountain  which  they 
could  not  climb,  and  having  observed,  also,  fresh  signs  of  Indians,  they 
resolved  to  return. 

Upon  the  receipt  of  this  news  I  again  persuaded  Alpoym  to  send  the 
same  small  canoe  with  ^ood  men  to  explore  the  Uruguay,  and  if  they  could 
not  cross  the  Fall  at  which  we  had  arrived,  to  go  by  land,  taking  provisions 
for  four  days.  They  departed,  Corporal  Reynoso  going  as  my  representa- . 
tive,  with  orders  to  explore  as  much  as  they  could,  entering  the  rivers  that 
flows  through  the  western  bank.  Att  he  end  of  four  days  they  came  back 
with  the  information  of  having  reconnoitred  the  streams  we  had  seen,  and 
that  finding  it  impossible  to  cross  the  Fall,  they  had  left  the  canoes  there, 
and  that  Reynoso  and  a  Portuguese  Corporal  who  knew  how  to  steer,  and 
who  was  provided  for  the  occasion  with  a  marine  compass  and  a  watch,  had 
gone  by  land  some  distance  further  from  the  Fall,  without  finding  or  seeing, 
as  far  as  there  eyes  could  reach,  any  river  of  consequence,  or  half  as  large 
even  as  the  one  where  we  were. 

In  view  of  this  new  disappointment,  and  according  to  the  news  brought 
by  the  Corporal  who  explored  the  Pepiri,  that  it  was  impossible  to  navigate 
it  beyond  a  distance  of  half  a  league,  which  we  had  already  explored,  we 
decided  to  send  an  exploring  party  by  land  which  should  open  a  road  as  far 


—  531  — 

as  the  source  of  the  Pepiri,  and  this  once  found,  to  proceed  by  the  highest 
lands  until  finding  the  source  of  the  other  river  which  flows  into  the  Iguazu.. 
For  the  better  execution  of  this  undertaking  we  decided  that  the  geographers 
of  the  two  nations  should  also  go,  with  Antonio  Rodriguez,  Captain  of  ad- 
venturers, and  twenty  troopers,  without  counting  the  servants  and  Indians 
who  carried  the  provisions,  as  the  former  only  would  be  employed  in  open-, 
ing  the  road.  We  gave  them  (by  common  agreement)  the  necessary  instruc- 
tions in  which  we  included  articles  third  and  fourth  of  our  own  instructions, 
charging  them  to  proceed  with  great  diligence  and  exactnes,  and  to  draw  up 
the  necessary  plans. 

They  left  the  fourteenth,  and  at  a  league  from  this  place  they  aban- 
doned the  canoes  and  proceeded  by  land.  On  the  seventeenth  a  heavy  rain 
began  to  fall,  which  lasted  for  nearly  eight  days.  Part  of  their  provisions 
became  wet,  and  another  large  portion  was  prematurely  consumed  by  the 
Indians,  so  that  at  a  distance  of  five  leagues  they  wrote  for  more,  adding  that 
the  river  although  having  many  rocks,  had  nearly  the  same  width  as  at  its 
mouth,  for  which  reason  they  thought  its  source  was  at  a  greater  distance 
than  I  had  imagined,  and  we  all  thought  that  owing  to  the  great  amount  of 
rain  which  had  fallen,  the  river  would  become  navigable.  We  sent  them 
five  canoes  with  the  provisions  requested  and  with  orders  to  continue  on  the 
canoes  as  far  as  they  could.  They  left  the  point  where  they  had  stopped, 
on  the  twenty-fifth  of  the  month,  and  to  this  date  we  have  heard  nothing 
further  from  them.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  river  having  risen,  they 
have  been  able  to  proceed  for  a  long  distance,  and  I  judge  the  river  is  large, 
because  if  at  a  distance  of  five  leagues  it  has  the  same  width  as  at  its  mouth, 
which  is  thirty-nine  fathoms  wide,  it  cannot  be  very  small,  and  only  seemed 
so  at  first  owing  to  the  dryness  of  the  weather. 

This  operation  has  shown  that  the  Portuguese  Corporal  who  gave  the 
first  information  did  not  see  the  river,  nor  did  he  carry  out  his  orders  as  he 
should  have  done,  relying,  perhaps,  upon  the  supposition  that  the  river 
would  not  be  explored  by  us.  I  would  have  gone  personally  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, if  an  indisposition  of  which  Alpoym  is  suffering,  had  not  detained  me. 
He  has  been,  for  a  period  of  eight  days,  shedding  much  blood  from  the  he- 
morrhoids, and  is  now  so  weak  that  I  have  not  wished  to  trouble  him,  but 
have  told  him  that  since  the  river  is  navigable  we  should  explore  it,  as  far  as 
our  canoes  can  go,  and  when  he  recovers  we  will  do  so.  In  the  meantime, 
observations  are  being  made  here  to  properly  locate  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
but  the  frequent  mist  interrupts  the  operations  and  prevents  their  repetition. 
A  small  island  at  its  mouth  constitutes  a  visible  sign  of  identification,  but 
when  the  waters  rise,  they  cover  the  island.  In  its  eastern  bank,  because  it 
flows  into  a  bend  where  the  riv-er  runs  from  South  to  North,  several  trees 
have  been  cut  on  an  elevated  ground,  and  a  cross  has  been  placed  in  one 
which  has  only  a  large  and  decayed  trunk,  but  above  all,  the  best  sign  is 
that  it  is  the  first  river  after  passing  the  great  Fall,  which  flows  into  the 
Uruguay  through  its  western  bank,  in  which  it  agrees  with  the  Gatimi,  that 
flows  into  the  Parana. 


~-  ^32'  — 

This  is  the  history  of  my  movements  written  in  great  hurry,  as  1  have 
not  even  the  time  to  read  it  over  and  correct  any  grammatical  errors  which 
may  have  been  incurred.  We  are  all  enjoying  good  health.  The  heat,  which 
has  been  intense  at  times,  is  now  much  more  bearable  ;  and  as  we  live  under 
the  trees,  the  rays  of  the  sun  us  less.  Mosquitoes  and  other  insects  trouble 
us  considerably,  but  not  as  much  as  I  had  anticipated. 

I  am  on  the  best  of  terms  with  Colonel  Alpoym  and  his  officers.  After 
we  left  the  rafts,  the  formality  of  precedence  in  the  march  was  abandoned. 
We  united  our  mess  and  have  had  our  meals  together,  I  providing  the  pro- 
visions one  day  and  Alpoym  the  next.  He  is  open  and  frank,  and  can 
easily  be  convinced  with  suitable  arguments.  Since  crossing  the  Fall  I  have 
had  no  reason  to  believe  he  acts  in  bad  faith,  but  on  the  contrary,  believe  he 
acts  with  frankness  and  in  good  faith.  He  thinks  me  somewhat  over- 
cautious, as  I  try  not  to  be  outdone  by  him,  and  yet  he  relies  upon  me  and 
we  are  always  in  good  humour,  to  which  Marron  contributes  his  share. 

Owing  to  the  dense  forests  which  have  always  surrounded  us  from  the 
day  of  our  departure  from  San  Xavier,  since  when  neither  we  nor  thePaulists 
who  have  gone  a  league  further  have  ever  seen  any  plains.  I  believe  that  it 
will  be  impossible  to  cross  the  canoes,  although  the  exploring  party  should 
find  at  no  great  distance,  the  source  of  the  other  river,  nor  have  we  the  neces- 
sary provisions  to  allow  us  to  proceed  any  further,  as  owing  to  the  upsetting 
of  some  rafts,  and  the  gluttony  of  the  Indians,  the  provisiovs  have  been 
considerably  disminished.  In  order  that  there  might  be  fewer  mouths  to 
feed,  I  wrote  Pando  to  send  away  the  empty  rafts  with  their  men,  and  he 
sent  two  of  them  on  the  eleventh  of  this  month.  Now  I  am  writing  to  him 
to  send  away  two  more  canoes  with  their  Indians,  and  with  two  soldiers  who 
are  to  carry  these  letters  and  deliver  them  to  Garcia,  who  will  forward  them 
to  the  place  where  you  may  be. 

I  am  writing  the  Intendant  to  have  ready  the  necessary  provisions  for 
one  hundred  days  for  forty  men  at  the  pueblo  of  Corpus.  I  do  not  mention 
jerked-beef,  because  I  have  seen  how  what  we  have,  has  been  spoilt  by  the 
moths,  and  if  we  find  time  while  at  Corpus,  we  will  have  fifty  or  one  hundred 
«  arrobas  »  of  fresh  jerked-beef  prepared,  and  the  rest  of  the  provisions  will 
be  made  up  of  grains  which  are  more  useful.  Alpoym  has  told  me  he  will 
not  take  any  jerked-beef,  and  I  will  follow  his  example.  I  have  asked  the 
Intendant  for  some  rice,  as  it  is  the  most  useful  article  and  is  very  good  for 
the  sick. 

I  also  am  writing  to  Father  Horbegozo  to  have  the  boats  ready  at  Corpus 
by  the  end  of  April  or  the  beginning  of  May,  when  I  believe  we  shall  be  able 
to  leave,  as  I  think  the  twentieth  of  the  coming  month  we  will  be  at  San 
Xavier.  Some  of  the  canoes  we  have  here,  and  which  are  all  ready,  will 
proceed  to  the  Parana  to  be  used  in  the  navigation  of  the  Iguazu,  about 
which  I  am  writing  to  Father  Herbogozo,  as  well  as  to  Father  Limp,  to 
whom  the  former  confided  the  care  of  procuring  us  the  necessary  provisions. 

Although  I  told  Pando  to  bring,  among  the  troops  he  was  authorized  to 
select  by  sefior  Cevallos  at  my  request,  men  more  used  to  manage  the  oars 


—  533  — 

.  than  the  gun,  of  which  we  shall  have  no  need,  yet  the  men  who  came,  were 
of  a  very  different  class,  presumably  because  there  were  none  of  the  kind  I 
desired,  or,  what  is  more  likely,  because  Pando  did  not  search  for  them  pro- 
perly ;  and  Colonel  Alpoym  having  repeatedly  said  that  Tor  the  other  voyage 
we  have  in  view,  we  will  be  in  need  of  better  men,  and  considering  that  the 
Paraguayans  are  more  useful  on  the  rivers  than  the  soldiers  I  bring,  the 
Indians  not  being  to  be  counted  upon,  on  account  of  their  laziness  and  un- 
willingnes,  and  their  habit  of  doing  contrary  to  what  is  ordered  them,  and 
the  interpreters  not  being  enough  to  send  one  in  each  canoe,  I  have  decided 
to  write  to  the  Governor  of  Paraguay  in  the  terms  of  the  letter,  a  copy  of  which 
I  enclose,  making  what  I  consider  an  advantageous  proposition,  because  the 
salaries  they  will  receive  will  be  the  same  as  those  paid  to  the  Indians,  and  on 
this  account,  I  will  take  a  less  number  of  the  latter,  and  no  troopers  whatever, 
or  at  the  most,  four  men  and  a  serjeant  who  will  be  keeper  and  dispenser  of 
provisions.  I  have  addressed  the  letter  to  Father  Limp,  at  San  Xavier,  with 
orders  to  forward  it  to  Candelaria,  and  from  there  by  special  messenger  to 
Asuncion.  As  soon  as  I  receive  an  answer  and  news  that  the  men  are 
coming,  I  will  send  back  the  troopers  with  word  to  seiior  Cevallos  that  as  1 
have  Paraguayans  for  oarsmen  and  custodians,  I  have  no  need  of  armed  men, 
nor  have  I  boats  sufficient  to  carry  them.  If  you  should  think  better  of 
this,  please  let  me  know  as  I  judge  there  will  be  time  to  act,  as  you  may 
suggest. 

As  to  Indians,  we  only  found  some,  the  sixteenth,  on  the  western  bank, 
with  whom  we  talked,  but  were  unable  to  understand  a  word  of  what  they 
said,  their  language  being  such  a  gutural  medley  which  even  the  other 
Indians  could  not  understand.  At  first,  twenty  three  of  them  appeared, 
but  when  the  other  rafts  came  in  view,  many  of  them  vanished  and  called  at 
us  from  a  distance,  but  at  no  time  did  they  dare  come  into  our  canoes,  nor 
did  they  allow  any  of  us  either  to  go  on  shore.  They  are  well  formed, 
robust  and  of  a  clearer  complexion  than  all  other  Indians  I  have  known,  even 
including  those  of  Peru,  which  clearness  of  complexion  I  attribute  to  their 
living  in  the  forests.  They  are  dressed  as  nature  dressed  them,  and  their 
women,  whom  we  did  not  see,  although  we  thought  they  were  spying  at  us 
from  behind  the  trees,  must  be  beautiful.  We  made  them  some  presents, 
and  they  gave  us  boVs  and  arrows  in  return,  the  only  weapons  they  use.  But 
the  presents  they  seemed  to  want  the  most  were  axes  ;  so  we  understood  at 
least  by  the  signs  they  made,  as  if  they  were  felling  drunks,  and  by  their 
mimicry  of  tasting,  as  if  they  should  taste  honey,  and  it  seems  that  they 
wanted  these  axles  to  bring  down  the  bee-hives  on  the  trees.  The  Indians 
say  they  are  mild  in  comparison  to  those  tribes  that  five  on  the  eastern  bank, 
called  Caribes,  whom  they  much  fear. 

Nothing  else  has  taken  place  around  here.  I  wish  you  all  the  satisfac- 
tion justly  deserved  by  your  constancy  and  sufferings,  and  hope  you  will 
come  out  of  the  labyrinth  of  the  Ibicui  with  success  and  good  health.  Marron 
and  Dubois  wish  to  be  remembered  to  you,  and  kindly  remember  me  also  to 


—  534  — 

Don  Juan  de  Echevarria,  Father  Ibanez,  Reyna,  Gaze  on,  Mendizabal,  etc. 
Alpoym  has  not  written  yet  to  his  Superior,  but  says  he  will  do  so  from 
San  Xavier,  on  his  return.  There  I  hope  to  hear  from  you,  and  in  the  mean- 
time, I  ask  God  to  keep  you  for  many  years.  Mouth  of  the  Pepiri,  March 
twenty -seventh,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  nine.  Your  most 
faithful,   «  usque  ad  aras  » 

ARGUEDAS. 


1777 


Official  Letter  of  Don   Francisco  de  Sousa    Coutinho,  Fortn- 

tuguese  Ambassador  at  IMIadrid,  to   Senhor  Aires 

de  S^  IMEello,  upon  the  Treaty  of  Boundaries 

of  the  same  year.     (*) 

No.  79. — Most  Illustrious  Sir  and  Excellency: 

I  had  to-day  a  conference  with  the  Count  of  Florida  Blanca.and  he  show- 
ed me  the  Treaty  he  had  made,  stating,  that  he  could  not  sign  that  part  of  it, 
tracing  the  boundary  by  some  rivers  which  are  not  in  his  charts,  indicating 
the  cession  of  both  banks  of  the  river  Amazons  without  limit,  which  ought 
to  be  omitted  and  reserved  for  secret  articles,  so  as  to  do  an  honorable  work 
for  both  Monarchies,  in  which,  he  thought,  he  had  succeeded,  at  least  the 
King  had  such  an  idea  from  which  he  would  not  deviate.  I  read  the  said 
treaty  in  his  presence,  and  pointed  out  to  him  that  which,  I  thought,  needed 
amendment,  which  he  did  promptly;  but  he  mentioned  the  rivers  of  the  first 
division  of  the  line  appearing  in  his  chart,  and  it  was  impossible  to  convince 
him  about  the  others,  for  there  were  absolutely  none;  and  I  do  not  think  that 
it  was  of  great  importance,  except  on  condition  that  the  line  should  pass 
throught  the  headsprings  of  those  running  into  the  respective  dominions.  In 
the  addition  which  he  made  to  the  article  about  the  island  of  Santa  Catalina 
and  the  form  in  which  it  is  worded,  he  said  that,  for  the  honor  of  both  Crowns, 
he  always  wrote  equal  concessions  on  one  side  and  on  the  other,  and  that  he 
thought  this  to  be  the  only  means  the  Queen  might  make  use  of  to  have  the 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Archives  of  the 
Portuguese  Department  ot  State.which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Con- 
sul at  Lisbon,  forms  part  of  group  D,  No.  4,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  «  Argentine 
Evidence. » 


—  536  — 

English  abstain  themselves  from  going  to  the  said  island  in  times  of  war,  for 
they  having  done  nothing  for  its  defence  nor  for  its  restitution,  they  could 
have  no  reason  to  complain  of  that  stipulation. 

We  did  then  come  to  the  secret  articles,  and  as  the  most  important  fea- 
ture to  the  condition  twenty-one  had  been  altered,  he  declared  that  since 
the  time  when  the  Treaty  of  1750  was  signed,  the  idea  that  there  could  be 
war  in  one  part  and  not  in  the  other,  was  scouted,  and  he  had  always  enter- 
tained the  same  opinion ;  that  in  making  peace  now,  he  believed  that  to 
think  of  war  in  any  event,  was  out  of  question,  so  much  so,  that  war  meant 
the  exctintion  of  the  obligation  of  former  treaties,  and  he  wrote  it  so,  as  a 
matter  of  justice  and  decorum. 

Then  I  told  him  that  in  view  of  those  alterations  from  which  he  would 
not  deviate,  I  asked  leave  to  send  a  messenger,  who  would  start  to-day  and 
return  with  all  possible  speed  bringing  an  answer.  He  replied  in  the  affir- 
mative, but  it  must  be  with  the  understanding  that  the  King  would  not 
change  his  resolution;  and  that  he  was  only  disposed  to  make  in  the  secret 
articles  any  declaration  that  Your  Excellency  would  deem  necessary  to  the 
best  and  earliest  execution  of  the  Treaty,  and  that  in  proof  that  there  could 
be  no  alteration  in  the  same,  translating  and  \yriting  should  be  kept  on,  and 
that  he  requested  Your  Excellency  to  send  the  ratification  of  the  said  Treaty 
and  of  the  secret  articles  with  the  declaration  that  Your  Excellency  might 
think  proper  or  necessary,  that  the  proper  date  would  be  put  here  on  the 
Treaty,  and  that  the  ratifications  should  be  interchanged  the  same  day  on 
which  it  would  be  signed;  and  that  Your  Excellency  could  send  the  orders 
for  its  execution,  and  those  for  the  delivery  of  the  islands  of  Anno  Bom,  and 
Fernand  P6,  to  be  secret  and  to  give  them  all  the  assistance  needed  from 
the  islands  of  San  Thome  and  Principe  for  their  settlement  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple. He  then  complained  to  me  that  they  had  not  spoken  to  him  with 
sincerity,  when  .the  same  article  about  the  alliance  was  made,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  never  concluding  it,  for  leaving  to  the  king  to  decide  on  the  time  of 
the  begining  of  this  treaty,  as  quickly  as  possible,  it  was  like  never  to  con- 
clude the  same,  for  which  reason  the  word  promote  was  adopted  as  being 
more  decorous.  He  also  complained  that  the  Viceroy  of  Brazil  had  detained 
the  vessels  which  took  officers  prisioners  to  Rio  de  Janeiro,  with  passports, 
which  was  against  the  laws  and  the  practice  in  similar  cases,  based  upon 
righteousness  and  mutual  convenience;  he  said  that  the  King  had  done  all 
that  could  be  expected  from  the  most  generous  Monarch  and  best  friend  that 
could  be  desired;  that,  to  talk  of  negotiation,  every  thing  should  be  referred 
to  precedent,  based  upon  the  conquest  made  to  improve  his  interests;  that 
nothing  of  the  kind  had  been  done;  that  he  asked  the  post  should  not  be  de- 
layed, as  before;  that  he  would  not  hear  of  alterations  in  which  he  could  not 
acquiesce,  giving  time  for  the  arrival  of  news  with  regard  to  the  attacks  upon 
Rio  Grande  which  might  make  him  change  his  mind.  This  is,  substantially, 
what'we  talked  about,  in  a  long  conference,  to  which  I  may  add  that  they 
are  very  much  disgusted  at  the  delays,  on  account  of  the  expenses  to  which 
they  are  subject,  and  because  they  wish  to   have  the  vessels  and  the  troops 


—  537  — 

to  return,  in  order  to  insure  peace;  and  that  the  treaty  they  now  enter  into, 
is  the  same  of  1750,  which  Your  Excellency  seemed  to  desire,  as  per  the  se- 
cret article  which  Your  Excellency  sent  to  me;  that,  as  far  as  the  King's  op- 
posidon  to  the  same  is  concerned,  wonders  have  been  done;  that  this  treaty 
has  no  other  difference  but  the  loss  of  the  villages  or  Misiones  of  Uruguay, 
which  loss  is  very  insignificant,  owing  to  the  bad  lands  of  which  they  are 
composed,  and  to  the  difficulties  to  reduce  the  Indians  into  obedience;  and 
that  if  in  the  time  on  which  it  was  made,  a  Portuguese  Queen,  willing  to 
overcome  all  difficulties,  could  not  accomplish  it,  how  much  more  difficult  to 
overcome  would  not  the  re-establisment  of  a  cancelled  treaty,  hated  by  the 
King,  make  it,  when  there  was  really  not  any  other  means  to  govern  Ame- 
rica. The  loss  of  the  Colonia,  far  from  being  injurious,  is  very  beneficial 
because  it  saves  the  heavy  expenses  which  it  made,  and  the  wars  of  which  it 
was  the  cause,  could  not  yield  any  profit ;  and-  even  if  it  did,  it  would  be 
against  the  natural  right,  for  smuggling  directly  maintained,  is  offensive  to 
such  rights,  in  times  of  peace  and  in  a  state  of  war,  if  we  are  neutral.  The 
whole  Brazil  is  a  colony  with  just  principles,  and  the  Spaniards  will  have  to 
go  for  what  they  shall  need  wherever  they  can  find  it;  we  shall  govern  our 
America,  and  profit  by  the  fruitful  lands  of  Rio  Grande,  which,  being  well 
handled,  will  be  more  convenient  than  the  principal  ports  of  Brazil,  and 
finally  we  suppress  forever  the  name  of  usurpation,  which  was  attached  to 
the  establishments  in  the  dark  old  times,  the  memory  of  which  would  always 
be  doleful.  Your  Excellency  will  please  to  resolve  that  which  may  be  con- 
venient to  the  Royal  service.  I  only  beg  for  all  I  may  deserve,  that  Your 
Excellency  will  kindly  send  to  me  a  prompt  reply  and  by  a  speedy  post,  for 
I  feel  exceedingly  sorry  to  see  that  it  takes  more  than  two  days  to  receive  a 
reply,  and  matters,  for  the  reasons  above-mentioned,  admit  of  no  more  de- 
lays. I  beg  to  be  excused  if  I  speak  so  candidly.  Just  after  writing  this 
communication,  the  Count  of  Florida  Blanca  sent  a  message  to  me,  that  as 
they  were  sending  a  post  to  Almodovar,  and  fearing  that  my  post  would  not 
terminate  the  journey,  he  proposed  that  both  should  go  together,  so  that  if 
one  of  them  should  fall  sick  the  other  could  take  the  despatches  of  the  other 
and  proceed  on  his  journey,  to  which  I  did  not  make  any  objection,  and  the 
same  Minister  told  me,  by  order  of  the  King,  that  he  sent  the  messenger  to 
ask  that  the  conclusion  of  the  affair  shall  be  hastened,  and  that  Your  Excel- 
lency wish  to  send  both  ratifications,  which  must  be  separate;  one  of  the 
treaty  and  the  other  of  the  secret  articles,  the  date  of  to-day  would  be  put  on 
the  treaty  and  secret  articles.  I  beg  to  remind  Your  Excellency  of  the  fact 
that,  since  the  secrecy  of  the  Treaty  of  Commerce  is  to  be  kept,  another  full 
power  of  attorney  shall  be  necessary,  for  the  one  Your  Excellency  sent  me, 
does  not  mention  the  Treaty  of  Commerce.  The  Duke  of  Lozada  said  to  me 
afterwards,  that  the  King  had  told  him  th^t  he  had  proposed  the  best  means 
of  sending  at  once  the  ratification,  in  order  to  remedy  the  delay  of  waiting 
for  the  same,  owing  to  the  necessity  of  sending  the  orders  to  America.  If 
His  Majesty  would  be  pleased  to  accede  to  this  desire  of  the  King,  Your  Ex- 
cellency may  rest  assured  that  said  ratifications  will  only  serve  to  the  extent 


—  538  - 

of  what  Your  Excellency  may  send  to  me,  signed  and  approved  by  the  same 
body.  Please  do  not  pay  any  attention  to  the  copies  not  having  the  Spanish 
names  in  the  first  place,  because  they  are  theirs.  We  had  no  time  to-day  to 
translate  ours,  which  shall  be  written  contrarywise.  Your  Excellency  may 
dispose  what  it  may  be  best.  San  Ildefonso,  September  tenth,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven. — Most  Illustrious  and  Excellent  Sr.  Ayres 
de  Sa  Mello  (signed)  D.  FRANCISCO  INOCENCIO  DE  SOUSA  COU- 
TINHO. — (Follow  the  documents  enclosed  in  this  communication.) 


Most  Excellent  Sir  : — The  sincere  desire  of  the  King,  my  master,  to 
arrange  and  conclude  the  preliminaries  of  the  Treaty  on  Boundaries  of  South 
America,  and  to  insure  peace  and  perpetual  union  of  this  and  your  Crown, 
has  prompted  His  Majesty  to  renounce  the  great  advantages  which  the  ad- 
vance of  his  armies  in  those  regions  ought  to  assure  him,  founded  upon  the 
justice  which  he  claims  to  have;  and  to  restrict  the  public  and  secret  articles 
of  the  mutual  settlement  of  the  differences  between  both  Courts,  to  the  pre- 
cise terms  which  I  have  to-day  communicated  to  Sr.  D.  Francisco  Inocencio 
de  Sousa  Coutinho,  of  which  this  Ambassador  informs  Your  Excellency. 
From  the  copies  of  the  final  resolutions  of  the  King,  and  the  prompt  and 
definite  answer  from  your  Court  accepting  the  same,  His  Majesty  will  con- 
clude whether  there  is  not  some  hidden  hand  trying  with  success  to  frustrate 
our  good  and  peaceful  intentions.  The  un-ambitious  ideas  of  the  King, 
my  master,  his  love  for  peace  and  for  the  Most  Faithful  Queen,  his  niece, 
his  devotion  to  the  Queen's  mother,  a  sister  of  His  Majesty,  and  mediator  in 
the  disagreement  of  both  Crowns,  the  estimable  character  of  Your  Excellency, 
so  highly  appreciated  by  His  Majesty,  and  the  sincerity  of  my  wish  for  the 
prompt  and  happy  conclusion  of  matters  of  such  gravity,  would  seem  to 
promise  the  success  of  the  pending  negotiations.  But  I  confess  to  Your  Ex- 
cellency that  I  entertain  fears  that  it  shall  fail  in  spite  of  that  mass  of  great 
motives  and  propitious  expectations,  and  I  cannot  but  signify  to  His  Excel- 
lency that,  if  the  answer  now  looked  for  and  demanded,  suffers  the  former  de- 
lay, or  is  accompanied  with  the  difificulties  which  so  far  have  postponed  or 
rendered  impossible  the  attainment  of  the  object  in  view,  I  do  not  know 
what  others  may  rise  after  the  return  of  the  messenger 'which  I  send  to-day, 
with  no  other  object  but  that  of  placing  this  letter  in  the  hands  of  Your  Ex- 
cellency. 

I  beg  that  Your  Excellency  will  take  this  candid  exposition  of  the  criti- 
cal situation  in  which  the  important  affair,  entrusted  to  us  by  our  August 
Sovereigns,  is  placed,  as  the  greatest  token  of  my  desire  that  our  efforts  shall 
not  be  frustrated,  nor  the  fortunate  occasion  of  uniting  forever  Spain  and 
Portugal,  closing  the  old  obstinate  contentions  which  deviated  one  power 
from  the  other.  His  Excellency  juay  rest  assured  of  my  just  appreciation  of 
his  person  and  of  my  sincerity  and  obedience  to  his  commands.  San  Ilde- 
fonso, September  tenth,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven. — 
Your  obedient  servant,  EL  CONDE  DE  FLORIDA' BLANCA.—Sr.  Aires  de 
Sa  Mello. 


—  539  — 

Copy. — Separate  secret  article  sent  from  Lisbon. — His  Catholic  Majesty, 
by  his  generous  magnanimity,  and  by  virtue  of  the  cession  which  Her  Most 
Faithful  Majesty,  his  niece,  made  to  him  in  Article  VII  and  VIII  of  the  Pre- 
liminary Treaty  of  this  date,  relative  to  the  islands  Annobon  and  Fernando 
P6,  with  the  safe  entrance  of  Spanish  vessels  in  the  islands  of  Principe  and 
San  Thome,  with  a  view  to  introduce  and  develop  Spanish  trade  and  naviga- 
tion on  the  coast  of  Africa,  the  said  Spanish  Majesty  covenants  and  declares 
that  the  line  of  demarcation  of  the  Portuguese  and  Spanish  States  of  America 
shall  run  from  the  site  of  Lake  Merim  and  Fort  of  San  Gonzalo,  referred  to  in 
Article  VI  of  the  Preliminary  Treaty,  and  shall  be  regulated  by  the  same 
sites  which  were  designated  and  stipulated  in  the  Treaty  of  Madrid,  January 
thirteenth,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty. 

The  foregoing  article  shall  be  ratified  within  the  precise  term  of  fifteen 
days,  or  before,  if  possible,  and  shall  be  a  part  of  the  Preliminary  Treaty 
signed  this  day,  as  if  it  had  been  written  and  added  to  it. 

In  Article  VII,  where  it  reads,  «  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  treaty  of 
1750,  in  Articles  V,  VI,  VII  and  VIII,  »  it  must  read,  «to  prevent  doubts  in 
the  execution,  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  treaty  of  1750,  and  the  letter  of 
Articles  V,  VI,  VII  and  VIII,  as  long  as  it  is  not  contrary  to  the  agreement 
in  the  present  Preliminary  Treaty.  »  (This  note  is  written  on  similar  paper, 
and  with  identical  hand  to  that  of  the  Conde  de  Florida  Blanca's  letter.) 


1777 


XVote  to  Don  Pedro  de  Cevallos  enclosing  a  copy  of  Royal  Iietters 
given  to  the  Portuguese  Ambassador,  relating  to  the 
Preliminary  Treaty  of  Peace  of  1777.  (*) 

From  the  annexed  copy  of  the  Royal  Letters  patent  delivered  on  this  day 
to  the  Portuguese  Ambassador  to  be  addressed  by  his  Court  and  the  original 
of  the  Most  Faithful  Queen  that  I  enclose,  Your  Excellency  will  be  informed 
of  the  Preliminary  Treaty  of  Peace  already  entered  into  and  which  is  to 
subsist  between  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  whereas  it  is  of  such  importance 
to  the  King's  service  that  no  time  be  lost  in  carrying  into  effect  every  measure 
embraced  in  the  aforesaid  Treaty,  I  require  Your  Excellency,  by  order  of  His 
Majesty,  to  take  all  the  rrveasures  necessary  for  verifying  the  various  points 
mentioned  in  its  articles,  and  to  facilitate  thereto  all  those  means  that  may 
conduce  to  the  observance  and  fufilment  of  what  is  therein  stipulated  procee- 
ding immediately  to  execute  those  commands  relative  to  matters  that  may  be 
considered  of  greatest  importance,  such  as  the  withdrawal  of  the  fleet  and  troops 
of  the  Expedition  under  Your  Excellency's  command,  only  leaving  within  the 
province,  the  number  that  you  may  deem  proper  and  that  may  have  existed  in 
time  of  peace,  as  Your  Excellency  can  understand  the  importance  of  their  re- 
turn to  Spain,  avoiding  the  expenses  of  maintaining  over  there  the  fleet  and 
troops  that  Your  Excelency  led  from  Cadiz.  Your  Excellency  will  also  see 
from  the  same  Letters  Patent,  the  great  confidence  the  King  reposes  in  your 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Department  of 
Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argentine  Republic  which  forms  part  of  group  D,  num.  5,  of  ma- 
nuscript documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence" 


—  542  — 

person,  feeling  assured  of  your  zeal,  prudence  and  activity  ;  and  by  virtue  of 
this  security  well  proven  on  every  occasion,  His  Majesty  hopes  the  result  of 
this  Preliminary  Treaty  will  be  rendered  evident,  with  the  same  uniformity 
and  the  corresponding  good  faith,  and  by  this  Royal  Command  I  notify  Your 
Excellency  for  your  understanding. — God  save  Your  Excellency  many  years 
San  Lorenzo  el  Real.  October  20th,  1777.— JOSEPH  DE  GALVEZ.— Senor 
Don  Pedro  de  Cevallos. 


177  7 


Instructions  from  the  Count  of  riorida  Blanca   to  the    Count 

of  Aranda,  Spanish  Ambassador  at  Paris,  upon  the 

matter  involved  in  the  Treaty  of  1777,    (*) 

The  Portfolio  reads:  "  San  Lorenzo  el  Real,  October  23d,  1777. — To  the 
Conde  de  Aranda.  Informing  him  of  the  terms  on  which  a  settlement  of  the 
boundaries  has  been  concluded,  between  this  Crown  and  that  of  Portugal, 
and  also  of  the  contents  of  the  secret  articles  ;  and  giving  him  instructions 
with  regard  to  what  he  may  say  and  what  he  must  withhold  from  that  Min- 
istry and  the  manner  in  which  to  do  it,  in  order  to  avoid  mistrust  on  the  part 
of  that  Cabinet,  thus  injuring  our  interests. 

Text. 

Your  Excellency  :  On  the  nth  instant,  His  Majesty  signed  the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  Prehminary  Treaty  on  boundaries  of  South  America,  entered  into 
between  this  Crown  and  that  of  Portugal,  having  already  received  the  rati- 
fication of  the  Most  Faithful  King,  and  I  will  now  give  Your  Excellency  a 
general  idea  of  the  terms  on  which  we  have  settled  the  old  dispute  which  was 
in  every  respect  to  our  interest  to  terminate,  inasmuch  as  the  injuries  occa- 
sioned to  us  by  sustaining  it,  by  far  exceeded  whatever  sacrifices  we  have  been 
obliged  to  make  in  order  to  bring  it  rapidly  to  a  close,  and  thus  avoiding  at 
present  and  in  the  future  cases,  expenses  and  division  of  our  forces,  which 
we  must  reunite,  as  much  as  possible,  in  view  of  the  vast  extent  and  for  the 
proper  defense  of  the  ultramarine  possessions  of  this  monarchy. 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archives  of 
Simancas  which,  in  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul,  at  Madrid,  forms  part 
of  group  D,  No.  6,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence." 


—  544  — 

We  could  not  have  reached  this  arrangement  if  we  had  not  given  up  the 
rights  that  this  Crown  founded  on  the  Treaty  of  Tordesillas.  For  this  reason 
the  King  resolved  that  we  should  try  to  make  up  for  it  in  the  region  of  La 
Plata  and  Uruguay  rivers,  reserving  to  ourselves  their  exclusive  navigation, 
embracing  within  the  boundaries  of  Castile  all  the  rivers  that  empty  into  one 
and  the  other,  and  those  having  their  sources  within  these  districts  up  to  the 
end  of  their  course,  as  well  as  the  lands  that  they  cover,  retaining  the  seven 
villages  ceded  by  the  boundary  Treaty  of  1750,  and,  in  fact,  fixing  the 
boundaries  so  as  to  avoid  in  future  times  new  matters  of  discord  between  the 
two  countries,  and  all  pretexts  for  usurpations  by  one  or  the  other. 

This  decision  of  His  Majesty  was  the  model  and  guide  in  extending  the 
preliminary  articles.  There  remained  to  Spain  therefore  (as  it  is  therein  sti- 
pulated) with  the  exclusive  navigation  the  said  La  Plata  and  Uruguay  rivers, 
the  lands  of  both  their  banks  up  to  where  the  Pepiri  or  Pequiri-guazu  empties 
into  the  same  Uruguay  on  its  western  bank,  our  possessions  extending  on 
the  north  bank  of  the  River  Plate  up  to  the  divisory  line  that  will  be  traced 
begining  on  the  side  towards  the  sea  at  the  Arroyo  de  Chui  and  fort  San  Mi- 
guel inclusive  and  following  the  banks  of  the  Laguna  Merin  until  it  strikes 
the  heaf^waters  or  sources  of  the  Rio  Negro  which,  like  all  those  of  the  other 
rivers  that  empty  into  the  aforesaid  River  Plate  and  Uruguay,  as  far  as  the 
point  at  which  the  Pepiri-guazu  empties  into  the  latter,  will  remain  exclusively 
to  Spain,  with  the  regions  embraced  in  those  countries,  inclusive  of  the  Co- 
lonia  of  Sacramento  and  its  territory  and  the  island  of  San  Gabriel  that  Por- 
tugal cedes  to  Castile  forever. 

The  Rio  Grande  de  San  Pedro,  and  all  the  rivers  emptying  into  it,  remain 
the  property  of  the  Portuguese  and  then  following  up  its  source  as  far  as  Yacui, 
fort  San  Gonzalo,  rivers  Ararica  and  Coyacui,  which  are  also  left  to  Portugal, 
and  reserving  to  Spain  the  Piratini  and  Ibimiri  rivers,  a  line  is  traced  cover- 
ing the  Portuguese  settlements  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Pepiri-guazu,  which 
shall  likewise  preserve  the  Spanish  settlements. 

Otherwise  the  same  general  direction  is  observed  along  the  boundary 
fixed  by  the  cancelled  Treaty  of  1750,  only  differing  in  that  it  has  been 
specified  in  clearer  and  more  positive  terms  than  before,  tracing  it  through 
the  place  wherein  the  Yavari  river  empties  into  the  Maranon  up  to  the  most 
westerly  mouth  of  the  Yapura,  without  ever  losing  sight  of  the  very  impor- 
tant object  of  covering  the  Peruvian  possessions,  and  preventing  an  entrance 
into  them  by  means  of  the  rivers  that  facilitate  it,  at  the  same  time  leaving 
out  the  Portuguese  settlements,  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Negro  and 
Yapura,  always  with  the  object  of  preventing  all  communications,  and  reserv- 
ing out  those  lands  which  might  be  difficult  to  apportion,  a  zone  or  strip  of 
which  shall  be  neutral  ground,  and  the  boundary  of  both  countries. 

Besides  the  territory  and  Colonia  of  Sacramento  and  the  island  of  San 
Gabriel,  Portugal  renounces  whatever  rights  it  may  have  over  the  Philippine 
and  Mariana  islands,  by  virtue  of  the  Deed  of  Zaragoza,  and  Spain  on  her 
part  returns  to  it  the  island  of  Santa  Catalina;  it  is  stipulated  that  it  is  to 
refuse  entry  into  it  and  into  the  surrounding  coast  to  the  vessels  of  the  other 


—  545  — 

nations  and  reserving,  by  a  secret  and  separate  article,  the  use  and  employ- 
ment of  the  said  harbor  and  coast  for  the  Spanish  vessels. 

This  is  the  substance  of  the  preliminary  articles  which  will  serve  as  the 
basis  and  foundation  for  the  definitive  Treaty  of  boundaries  which  will  be 
concluded,  whenever  the  respective  Commissioners,  who  are  to  be  appointed, 
shall  make  a  report  with  the  precise  information  and  exact  boundaries,  and 
I  will  take  care  to  send  to  Your  Excellency  the  said  articles,  as  soon  as  they 
are  printed,  as  it  is  impossible  to  make  with  rapidity  the  required  number  of 
copies. 

The  idea  that  I  have  given  Your  Excellency  of  the  contents  of  those  ar- 
ticles will,  in  the  meanwhile,  do  for  your  own  information  as  well  as  to  inform 
that  Ministry  of  the  terms  in  which  we  have  concluded  the  settlement. 

I  will  now  say  confidentially  to  Your  Excellency,  so  that  you  may  con- 
duct yourself  accordingly,  that,  besides  those  preliminary  articles  on  bound- 
aries, we  have  signed  and  ratified  other  separate  ones,  which  for  the  time 
being,  must  remain  secret,  for  the  reasons  that  I  will  state  to  Your  Excellency. 
By  them  it  has  been  provisionally  agreed  as  follows  :  That  three  Treaties 
shall  be  concluded,  one  of  boundaries  according  to  the  preliminary  articles 
already  stipulated ;  another  of  alliance  perpetual  and  indisoluble  between  the 
two  Crowns,  and  another  of  commerce,  with  the  object  of  promoting  the 
mutual  advantages  and  interests  of  both  nations.  The  first  will  be  proceeded 
with,  as  I  have  said,  whenever  the  Commissioners  shall  report  the  fixed  bound- 
aries, and  shall  send  the  corresponding  information;  the  second  and  third 
ones  are  to  be  concluded  within  the  term  of  two  months  counting  from  the 
day  which  the  preliminary  Treaty  of  boundaries  is  ratified. 

In  the  separate  articles  it  is  previously  estabhshed,  besides  what  has  al- 
ready been  said  of  the  island  of  Santa  Catalina  and  the  neighboring  coast, 
that  the  two  Crowns  will  refuse  the  use  of  their  American  harbors  to  the  ves- 
sels of  any  Power  that  may  be  at  war  with  one  of  them,  and  which  may  pro- 
pose to  take  advantage  of  these  for  hostile  purposes  against  one  of  them,  and 
that  they  will  not  permit  the  use  of  their  ports  or  territores  (in  any  part  of 
the  world)  either  directly  or  indirectly,  for  attacking  or  making  war  on  one 
of  the  two  contracting  Powers,  or  on  their  subjects  or  territories  or  on  their 
vessels,  in  the  meanwhile  observing  the  most  strict  neutrality. 

In  consideration  of  the  restitution  of  the  island  of  Santa  Catalina,  and 
of  the  magnanimity  of  the  King's  actions  with  regard  to  all  the  points  of  this 
friendly  agreement;  Portugal  cedes  in  favor  of  Spain  two  islands,  the  island 
of  Annobon,  on  the  coast  of  Africa  and  the  island  of  Fernando  P6,  on  the 
Gulf  of  Guinea,  in  order  that  the  Spaniards  may  settle  therein  and  carry  on 
traffic  with  the  opposite  coast  and  ports,  and  entering  on  its  own  account 
into  the  traffic  of  negroes,  using  its  ports  in  coming  and  going  round  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  either  in  going  or  in  coming  from  the  PhiHppine  Is- 
lands and  employing  as  it  would  its  own  those  of  the  islands  of  Santo  To- 
me and  Principe,  not  only  to  take  on  fresh  supplies,  but  also  to  facilitate  the 
trade  that  they  may  establish,  as  well  as  for  settling  on  the  islands  ceded  to 
them,  more  easily  and  quickly. 


fuSIVBRSITT] 


—  546  — 

Your  Excellency's  understanding  will  easily  grasp  the  inconveniences 
resulting  if  these  separate  articles  were  allowed  to  be  known  to-day,  even  on 
account  of  the  posidve  offer  and  qualifications  of  the  future  treaty  of  aUiance, 
or  else  on  account  of  the  matter  touching  the  treaty  of  commerce,  that  which 
it  is  true  that  our  enemies  the  English  coyld  only  endeavor  to  frustrate  our 
union,  both  among  them  and  among  our  French  allies,  there  would  be  man- 
ifest anxiety,  at  our  obtaining  the  island  of  Annobon  and  Fernando  P6,  to- 
gether with  the  direct  trade  in  negroes,  which  would  thereby  be  facilated, 
that  they  might  develope  such  stratagems  that  one  or  the  other  might  finally 
frustrate  the  complete  execution  of  our  projected  treaties. 

And  even  if  France,  prefering  its  individual  interest  to  ours,  did  not 
prevent  us,  there  is  always  the  risk  in  informing  it  that  it  may  not  keep 
the  secret  properly  and  allow  information  of  it  to  reach  the  English,  who  might 
originate  to  the  corresponding  obstacles,  embarrasing  us  on  account  of  the 
natural  slowness,  timidity  and  mistrust  with  which  the  Portuguese  Minister 
carries  on  his  political  operations,  in  spite  of  the  cordiality  which  begins  to 
grow  between  the  two  nations.  Nevertheless,  we  cannot  refrain  from  giv- 
ing that  Cabinet  some  confidence  in  this  affair  in  order  to  avoid  their  com- 
plaints of  our  reserve,  especially  as  it  already  has  some  general  idea  that 
we  intend  to  negotiate  some  union  or  alliance  between  this  Court  and  that 
of  Lisbon,  although  we  do  not  believe  that  it  has  an  inkling,  regarding  the 
making  of  a  treaty  of  commerce,  with  respect  to  which  the  Portuguese  them- 
selves have  demanded  the  greatest  secrecy  from  us,  as  it  happens,  among 
other  things  that  that  same  Court  has  asked  for  our  help  in  obtaining  from 
that  of  Lisbon  some  advantages  for  its  commerce  and  that  the  Court  of 
Versailles  has  approached  Your  Excellency  (as  per  Your  Excellency's  des- 
patch of  July  2oth,  No.  1080)  insinuating  that  it  was  known  that  there  were 
many  points  being  treated  of  by  me  with  this  Ambassador  of  Portugal  and 
that  he  appeared  anxious  and  curious  to  find  out  what  they  were  and  how 
they  had  advanced. 

Under  this  circumstance,  Your  Excellency  being  now  informed  of  all 
the  contents  of  the  separate  articles,  it  would  be  well  for  Your  Excellency  to 
conduct  yourself  with  great  circumspection  and  skill,  to  avoid  risking  the 
secret  or  the  aforesaid  injuries  and  also  to  avoid  giving  that  Court  reason  for 
complaining  of  our  reserve.  And  although  the  King  leaves  to  Your  Excel- 
lency's discretion  and  skill  the  management  of  the  matter  with  the  delicacy 
and  tact  required.  His  Majesty  has  commanded  me  to  tell  you  that  you  must 
say  nothing  of  the  separate  articles  agreed  upon  on  the  specified  terms  that  I 
have  explained  to  Your  Excellency;  you  may  merely  insinuate  that  from 
what  you  have  been  told  to  communicate  in  the  strictest  confidence  to  that 
Ministry,  there  is  some  preparatory  agreement  whose  object  is  to  carry  out 
the  ideas  of  some  kind  of  alliance  or  mutual  guarantee  by  cultivating  the 
favorable  dispositions  of  that  Court  at  the  present  time,  with  the  object  of 
withdrawing  Portugal  from  its  dependence  from  England,  and  to  weaken  at 
least,  if  not  to  break  off  completely,  the  chains  that  so  closely  bind  Portugal 
to  the  British  Crown.     Your  Excellency  add  that  this  dependence  is  so  great. 


—  547  — 

and  that  so  much  does  the  Lusitanian  Ministry  fear  the  Court  of  London, 
that  we  will  accomplish  nothing  if  we  do  not  keep  the  secret  that  had  been 
entrusted  to  us  :  we  find  ourselves  therefore  obliged  to  keep  an  excessive 
silence,  in  order  to  avoid  the  consequences  of  an  accidental  disclosure  of  the 
negotiation. 

In  short.  Your  Excellency  will  so  direct  your  insinuations  to  the  end  that 
after  we  have  secured  the  articles  of  our  Treaties  of  Alliance  and  of  Commer- 
ce, that  Minister  shall  be  informed  of  the  agreements  of  friendship  and  na- 
tional interest,  concluded  by  us,  we  may  easily  and  truthfully  persuade  it, 
that  it  was  formulated  at  some  posterior  negotiation,  in  such  a  manner  as 
will  prevent  France  from  feeling  offended  at  our  reserve,  and  so  that,  when 
it  is  brought  into  the  matter,  it  shall  come  in,  more  as  an  accessory  or  ad- 
junt  power  than  as  a  principal  party,  without  the  power  of  injuring  our  ad- 
vantages or  its  own,  on  account  of  levity,  interest,  or  from  faihng  to  keep 
the  secret,  we  shall  then  employ  our  mediation  and  influence,  and  give 
it  effective  proofs  of  our  desire  to  please  it  and  promote  with  the  Portu- 
guese the  granting  of  some  favors  to  the  commerce  of  France  which  is  of 
such  interest  to  that  Court. 

By  means  of  this  conduct  or  any  other  which  Your  Excellency's  great  talents 
may  judge  to  be  more  in  keeping,  with  His  Majesty  thought  which  I  have  in- 
timated to  you,  we  will  avoid  the  direct  interposition  of  that  Cabinet  in  our 
affairs,  which  might  disturb  us  in  the  adjustment  and  conclusion  of  our  two 
private  Treaties  of  Alliance  and  of  Commerce,  and  we  will  have  a  reasonable 
opportunity  to  serve  that  Court,  without  detriment  of  our  interests,  inasmuch 
as  the  King  has  empowered  me  for  it,  the  instant  we  can  combine  with  those 
measures  the  common  and  reciprocral  wellfare  of  this  and  that  nation.  As 
secret  orders  has  been  given  for  two  frigates  of  war  with  the  necessary 
troops,  artillery  and  other  things  to  leave  Buenos  Ayres,  to  take  possession  of 
the  two  Islands,  we  will  communicate  the  information  to  France  of  their 
cession  to  us,  on  the  return  to  Cadiz  of  the  Expedition  under  the  command 
ofDon  Pedro  de  Cevallos,  as  the  said  operation  will  have  then  taken  place, 
and  France  will  know  of  it,  at  least  three  or  four  months  before  it  is  disclosed 
in  Europe,  it  being  easy  to  persuade  it  that  those  Islands  has  been  ceded 
to  us  by  special  negotiation  carried  on  at  some  period  posterior  to  the  present 
date  of  Your  Excellency's  participation  to  it  of  our  adjustment  of  limits  in 
the  manner  already  indicated.  We  will  then  be  able  to  inform  that  Power, 
without  mystery,  that  we  have  agreed  with  Portugal  (  and  in  fact  we  have ) 
not  to  confide  to  any  one,  until  we  were  in  possession  of  the  Islands  of  the 
Annobon  and  of  Fernando  del  P6,  the  fact  of  that  cession,  it  having  been 
so  exacted  by  the  Most  Faithful  Queen,  because  the  English  had  solicited 
their  adjudication  to  them. — God  save  Your  Excellency  many  years  as  I 
wish.  San  Lorenzo  'el  Real,  October  23d,  1777, — To  Seilor  Conde  de 
Aranda. 


1  779 


Advice  of  Brigadier  Don  Joseph  Custodio  de  S^  y  Faria  upon 
the  inconveniences  to  result  from  adopting^  the  bound- 
aries desig^nated  in  the  Treaty  of  1777.  (*) 

No.  94. — The  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres  transmits  a  copy  of  the  report 
which,  by  his  orders,  Brigadier  Don  Joseph  Custodio  de  Sa  y  Faria  gave, 
illustrated  with  two  maps,  wherein  are  stated  the  inconveniences  that  would 
result  from  the  establishment  of  the  boundary  line  through  the  designated 
districts,  and  asks  for  the  corresponding  Decree. 


Your  Excellency. — Dear  Sir  :  Having  heard  Brigadier  Don  Joseph  Cus- 
todio de  Sa  y  Faria  relate,  with  reference  to  the  Preliminary  Treaty,  the 
inconveniences  or  injuries  resulting  to  the  interests  and  vassals  of  His  Majesty 
by  the  establishment  of  the  boundary  line  through  the  designated  districts,  it 
occurred  to  me  that  it  might  be  useful  for  a  proper  understanding  of  the 
matter,  and  for  the  information  of  the  King,  to  give  him  orders  to  put  in 
writing  the  reasons  for  his  opinion,  and  they  are  the  same  that  appear  in  the 
accompanying  copy,  which  he  sent  to  me,  together  withtwo  maps,  illustrating 
the  subject ;  which  I  hereby  address  to  Your  Excellency  that  you  may  kindly 
inform  the  King,  and  communicate  to  me  the  proper  order  with  reference  to 
this  matter. 

Our  Lord  save  Your  Excellency  many  years.  Buenos  Ayres,  February 
fifth,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy  nine. — Your  Excellency. — 


(* )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  documents  existing  in  the  General  Archives 
of  Indies,  which  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms  part 
of  group  D.,  No.  7,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  55°  — 

I  kiss  Your  Excellency's  hand,  Your  most  attentive  and  obedient  servant. 
—JUAN  JOSEPH  DE  VERTIZ.— His  Excellency  Don  Joseph  de  Galvez. 

(  Follows  the  document  referred  to.) 

Your  Excellency  : — In  compliance  with  your  order  in  which  you  com- 
mand me' to  report,  after  examining  the  Preliminary  Treaty  on  limits  or 
boundaries  of  this  South  America,  entered  into  between  His  Majesty  and  the 
Most  Faithful  Queen,  and  also  the  Instructions  signed  on  the  sixth  of  June 
of  the  year  last  past,  by  His  Excellency  Don  Joseph  de  Galvez,  if  I  know  of 
any  inconvenience  or  injury  resulting  from  the  establishment  of  the  boundary 
line  through  the  districts  therein  mentioned.  And  I,  obeying  the  command 
in  the  said  order  find  that  the  line,  as  therein  traced,  injures  the  vassals  of 
His  Majesty  in  two  places.  The  first :  that  that  part  of  it,  passing  by  the 
latitude  of  the  pueblos  of  the  Uruguay,  through  those  streams  that  flow  on 
the  East  towards  the  Rio  Grande  de  San  Pedro,  and  on  the  West  towards 
the  Uruguay  river,  that  is,  between  the  sources  of  the  rivers  lyuy-guazu  and 
Mini,  and  between  those  of  the  Yacuy  river,  leaves  within  the  Portuguese 
boundaries,  the  grass  lands  of  these  pueblos,  and  some  on  the  Parana,  not 
only  doing  an  injury  to  the  Indians  (  who  have  no  other  place  in  which  to 
work  said  grass )  but  also  to  the  Royal  revenue  from  said  grass  derived. 

From  the  map  illustrating  the  region,  which  I  place  before  Your  Excel- 
lency, Your  Excellency  will  understand  the  full  force  of  the  inconvenience. 
The  pueblos  of  the  Parana  have  their  grass  lands  on  the  Parana  river  itself, 
near  the  Iguazu  river,  and  they  carry  the  grass  in  boats  to  the  said  villages  or 
pueblos  ;  but  these  grass  lands  would  not  be  within  easy  reach  of  those 
situated  on  either  bank  of  the  Uruguay  river,  they  would  be  obliged  to  take 
it  in  boats  to  some  one  of  the  villages  of  the  Parana,  and  from  there  to  take 
it  overland  to  those  of  the  Uruguay,  and  as  the  distance  is  very  long,  it  can- 
not pay  them  to  take  it  from  the  Parana,  they  thus  losing  the  advantages  and 
benefits  of  having  the  said  grass  near  their  villages. 

It  would  not  injure  Portugal,  if  these  grass  lands  were  included  within  the 
boundaries  of  Spain,  as  the  Portuguese  do  not  employ  this  grass,  while  it  is 
a  very  important  business  of  the  Indian  villages,  not  only  because  they  would 
sadly  feel  the  want  of  it  for  their  own  supply,  but  because  they  bring  it  into 
this  city  and  sell  it.  On  the  same  map  will  be  found  the  place  in  which  to 
locate  this  line,  saving  those  grass  lands. 

The  second  is  as  follows :  that,  as  the  boundary  line  is  to  pass  through 
the  bed  of  the  river  Ipane-guazu,  according  to  the  referred  Instructions,  this 
will  leave  within  the  Portuguese  boundary  two  settlements,  one  called  Nues- 
tra  Sefiora  de  la  Concepcion,  of  Spaniards  who  have  their  farms  six  leagues 
to  the  North  of  the  same  Ipane,  and  another  situated  five  leagues  to  the  East 
of  the  Paraguay  river,  also  near  the  Ipane  river,  and  made  up  of  Guaycurus 
Indians,  who  began  to  be  converted  to  Christianity  in  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  sixty,  and  it  is  named  Nuestra  Sefiora  de  Belen. 

Your  Excellency  can  imagine  how  violent  such  a  transmigration  of 
the  Spaniards  and  Indians  therein  settled  would  be,  and  also  what  would  be 
the  consequence,    more  especially  among  those  recently  converted  to  the 


—  551  — 

Faith,  who  on  the  shghtest  movement  get  frightened  and  run  away  into  the 
woods,  and  it  is  probable  that  if  the  two  Sovereigns  had  had  information 
about  these  two  settlements,  when  they  concluded  this  Preliminary  Treaty, 
they  would  not  have  given  orders  to  fix  the  line  through  the  Ipane-guazu,  and 
would  have  done  so,  through  another  river,  for  it  can  be  easily  seen  in  the 
said  Treaty  that  they  gave  all  their  attention  to  the  object  of  saving  their 
own  respective  settlements.  Taking  the  above  into  consideration,  this 
obstacle  may  be  avoided  by  continuing  the  boundary  Hne,  from  the  sources 
of  the  Igatimi  and  searching  for  those  of  some  other  river  more  to  the  North, 
that  must  not  be  the  Ipane-guazu,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  other  map  which  I 
also  present  to  Your  Excellency. 

In  order  to  compensate  Portugal  (in  case  they  intend  to  do  so)  for  the 
loss  of  these  two  portions  of  land,  I  cannot  find,  all  along  the  line,  any  land 
which  His  Majesty  could  give  up  without  trouble  ensuing,  for  example,  in 
order  to  enlarge  the  Portuguese  possessions  to  this  end,  lowering  the  bound- 
ary line  further  to  the  South  of  the  Jauru  river,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
carry  it  into  the  Provinces  of  Chiquitos  and  Mojos,  bringing  the  Portuguese 
nearer  to  their  villages,  and  including  some  of  them  without  it. 

Around  the  Igatimi  nothing  can  be  given  up  to  them,  for  we  could  ill 
afford  to  draw  the  line  further  South,  when  it  is  of  importance  to  us  to  trace 
it,  further  toward  the  North,  in  order  to  include  within  His  Majesty's  bound- 
aries the  two  above-mentioned  villages  on  the  Ipane-guazu. 

From  the  river  Tahim  to  the  bank  of  the  Uruguay,  opposite  the  mouth 
of  the  Pepiri,  I  do  not  find  any  land  that  can  be  given  up  to  them,  nor  any 
either,  from  the  Pepiri  to  the  great  rapids  ( Salto  grande  )  of  the  Parana,  for 
on  all  sides,  great  obstacles  would  be  encountered  as  can  easily  be  seen  by  the 
merest  inspection  of  the  maps  published  in  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
seventy  five. 

Finally,  if  we  were  to  place  the  beginning  of  the  boundary  more  to  the 
south  of  the  Tahim  river  (this  being  the  only  place  at  which  we  could  com- 
pensate their  loss )  I  believe  that  when  the  Treaty  provides  for  thirty  leagues 
of  neutral  land,  it  is  with  the  intention  of  separating  one  nation  from  the 
other  at  this  place,  and  we  would  in  this  manner  bring  them  together,  and 
bring  the  Portuguese  near  Fort  Santa  Teresa  ;  for  this  reason  I  only  put 
down  the  obstacles,  in  order  that  Your  Excellency  may  bear  them  in  mind, 
and  thus  find  a  remedy  in  time. 

This  is  all  the  information  that  I  can  give  to  Your  Excellency  on  this 
subject,  in  which  I  hope  I  have  succeeded,  and  have  also  shown  the  zeal 
that  animates  me  in  His  Majesty's  service.  Buenos  Ayres,  February  third, 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy  nine. — JOSE  CUSTODIO  DE  SA 
FARIA. — It  is  a  copy  of  the  original  :  Antonio  de  Aldao. 

(  The  following  notes  are  on  a  loose  sheet.) 

Seiior  Piron  :  Will  Your  Honor  try  and  send  me  the  duplicate  letter  of 
Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  dated  on  the  fifth  of  February,  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  seventy  nine,  number  ninety-four  ? — Senor  Don  Joseph  :  it  is  the 
one  I  enclose. — Will  Your  Honor  see  if  the  maps  can  be  found,  asking  Sur- 


—  552  — 

billes  for  them  if  they  are  not  down  stairs  ? — Senor  Don  Joseph  :  I  send  Your 
Grace  the  maps  in  a  separate  roll,  the  same  as  they  were  found  in  a  corner 
of  the  office  of  the  Secretary. — This  duplicate  has  been  authenticated  and 
filed  because  its  original  which  was  sent  on  May  twenty-eight,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  seventy  nine,  has  been  mislaid. — My  friend  and  master  : 
I  return  to  Your  Honor  the  letter  from  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  the 
Report  of  Brigadier  Faria,  and  also  the  accompanying  maps,  having  found 
those  that  Your  Honor  had  previously  sent. — Awaiting  Your  Honor's  com- 
mands, your  most  obedient  servant. — Escaran. 

Your  Excellency  : — I  remit  to  Your  Excellency,  by  the  King's  order,  the 
accompanying  letter  from  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres, including  the  Report 
of  Brigadier  Don  Joseph  Custodio  de  Sa,  made  by  his  order,  with  the  two 
maps  th&t  set  forth  the  inconveniences  that  would  result  from  establishing 
the  boundary  line  through  the  designated  districts ;  in  order  that  Your 
Excellency  taking  charge  of  this  matter,  may  have  decreed  whatever  is 
deemed  proper,  and  may  notify  me  of  the  results. — God  save,  etc.,  Aranjuez, 
May  the  twenty-eighth  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy  nine. — 
Senor  Conde  de  Florida  Blanca. 


Royal  Letter  Patent  given  to  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  dated  at  Aran- 
juez, May  28th,  1777. 

Acknowledging  receipt  of  his  letter  of  February  the  fifth  last,  number 
ninety-four,  and  a  copy  of  the  Report,  with  the  maps  made  by  Brigadier 
Faria,  which  set  forth  the  difficulties  that  would  occur  by  establishing  the 
boundary  hne,  which  he  designates  ;  and  he  is  notified  that  he  will  be  advised 
of  His  Majesty's  resolution. 

Together  with  a  letter  from  Your  Excellency  of  the  fifth  of  February  of 
this  year,  number  ninety-four,  the  copy  of  the  Report,  was  received,  which  by 
your  order  was  made  by  Brigadier  Joseph  Custodio  de  Sa  y  Faria,  with  the 
maps  that  set  forth  the  difficulties  or  inconveniencies  that  would  result  by 
establishing  the  boundary  line  through  the  designated  districts  ;  the  King 
reserves  his  decision,  of  which  Your  Excellency  will  be  advised.  The  Lord 
save,  etc. — Aranjuez,  May  the  twenty-eighth,  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  seventy  nine. — To  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres. 


1782 


Report  of  the  Count  of  Florida  Blanca  on  the  opinion  of  Bri- 
gadier Don  Joseph  Custodio  de  S^  y  Faria,  and  the 
interpretation  of  the   boundary  line  of  the 
Freliminary  Treaty   with  Portugal.   (*) 

Your  Excellency. — With  official  note  of  the  28th  of  May  1779,  I  ad- 
dressed to  Your  Excellency  a  letter  from  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres  dated 
February  the  5th  of  that  year,  No.  94,  enclosing  an  opinion  of  Brigadier  Don 
Joseph  Custodio  de  Sa  y  Faria  and  two  maps,  which  demonstrate  the  difficul- 
ties that  would  arise  from  establishing  the  boundary  line  through  the  districts 
designated:  the  time  has  now  arrived  for  settling  this  point,  as  urged  in  a 
letter  from  the  said  Viceroy,  of  September  30th  of  the  past  year,  therefore  I 
remind  Your  Excellency  of  this  matter,  in  order  to  be  informed  of  the-  reso- 
lution that  may  have  been  adopted,  and  advise  the  said  Viceroy  of  it.  God 
save,  etc. — El  Pardo,  January  13th  1728. — To  Sefior  Conde  de  Florida  Blanca. 


Your  Excellency. — In  a  note  of  the  13th  of  January  of  this  year,  Your 
Excellency  reminds  me  of  an  official  note  that  you  sent  me  on  the  28th  of 
May  of  the  preceding  year,  sending  me  a  letter  from  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  acompanying  an  opinion  of  Brigadier  Don  Joseph  Custodio  de  Sa  y  Fa- 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  General  Archives  of 
Indies,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of 
group  D,  No.  8,  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence. »  The  explanatory 
notes  of  the  Count  of  Florida  Blanca,  which  are  in  the  margin  of  the  original  document,  will 
be  printed  at  the  foot  of  the  corresponding  pages. 


—  554  — 

ria  respecting  the  difficulties  which  they  believe  would  arise  from  tracing  the 
line  of  boundaries  in  South  America  through  the  places  prescribed  in  our 
last  treaty  with  the  Court  of  Portugal,  and  setting  down,  on  one  of  the  maps 
sent  with  the  aforesaid  opinion,  the  localities  through  which  in  his  judgement 
the  line  should  be  drawn. 

To  the  end  that  Your  Excellency  may  inform  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ay- 
res,  and  he,  in  his  turn,  our  Commissioners,  of  the  true  letter  and  spirit  of 
the  Preliminary  Treat  of  Limits,  I  will  explain  how  it  must  be  understood,  I 
think  I  can  best  do  so,  by  putting  down  here  Articles  IV,  VIII  and  XVI,  as 
they  appeared  in  print,  and  the  explanatory  notes  on  the  margin  of  each  one. 

IV  Article. — To  avoid  another  source  of  discord  between  the  two  Mo- 
narchies, such  as  has  been  the  entrance  to  the  Lagoon  de  los  Patos  or  Rio 
Grande  de  San  Pedro  and  following  it  up  its  source  as  far  as  the  River  Yacui, 
whose  two  banks  and  navigation  have  been  claimed  by  both  Crowns,  it  has 
now  been  agreed  upon,  that  the  said  entrance  and  navigation  shall  remain 
the  exclusive  property  of  Portugal,  its  domains  extending  along  the  southern 
bank  up  to  the  Tahim  Brook,  continuing  along  the  banks  of  Lagoon  de 
Manguera  in  strait  line  to  the  sea,  and  on  the  Continent,  the  line  will  go 
from  the  banks  of  the  said  Lagoon  de  Merin,  taking  a  route  along  the  first 
southern  brook' which  enters  its  outlet  or  mouth,  and  that  runs  nearest  to  the 
Portuguese  Fort  of  San  Gonzalo,  whence  the  Portuguese  possessions  will 
continue,  without  overstepping  the  limits  of  the  said  brook,  along  the  head 
waters  of  the  rivers  which  run  towards  the  aforesaid  Rio  Grande  and  towards 
the  Yacui  (i)  until  passmg  above  those  of  the  rivers  Ararica  and  Coyacui, 
which  shall  remain  in  the  Portuguese  part,  and  those  of  the  rivers  Piratini  and 
Ibimini  which  shall  remain  in  the  Spanish  part,  a  line  (2)  shall  be  traced 
which  shall  cover  the  Portuguese  settlements  as  far  as  the  outlet  of  Pepiri- 
guazu  river  into  the  Uruguay;  and  which  shall  also  save  and  cover  the  Spa- 
nish settlements  and  Misiones  on  the  same  Uruguay,  which  shall  remain  in  their 
present  condition  as  possessions  of  the  Spanish  Crown;  recommending  to  the 
Commissioners  who  are  to  execute  this  line  of  demarcation  to  follow  along  its 
entire  length  the  direction  of  the  mountains  along  their  tops  or  along  the  ri- 
vers if  there  are  any  suitable:  and  to  make  of  the  headwaters  and  sources  of 
these  rivers  the  boundaries  of  one  and  the  other  possessions  in  all  places 
where  it  can  be  done,  so  that  all  the  rivers  that  rise  whithin  one  possession 
and  run  towards  it,  shall  remain  in  favor  of  that  Power,  this  can  be  done  on 
the  line  (3)  that  is  to  run  from  the  lagoon  Merin  to  the   Pepiri-guazu  river  at 


(  I  )     It  does  not  say  that  the  Yacuy  shall  altogether  belong  to  Portugal. 

(  2  )     Nothing  is  said  of  the  line  being  necessarily  straight. 

(  3  )  The  expresions  underlined  and  crossed  in  this  Article  and  in  the 
XVI,  prove  that  the  line  of  demarcation,  pointed  out  by  Brigadier  Sa,  was 
thus  imagined  by  him,  inasmuch  as  the  limits  and  rivers,  herein  indicated 
and  in  the  instructions,  are  not  perjudicial  to  our  saving  our  settlements  and 
pastures. 


—  555  — 

which  place  there  are  no  large  rivers,  crossing  from  one  country  into  the 
other,  because  wherever  such  occur,  this  method  can  not  be  employed:  as  it  is 
evident,  and  such  one  will  be  followed  as  is  specified  for  each  respective  case, 
in  other  Articles  of  this  Treaty,  for  the  purpose  of  saving  the  properties  and 
principal  possessions  of  both  Crowns,  His  Catholic  Majesty  in  his  own  name 
and  on  behalf  of  his  heirs  and  successors  cedes  in  favor  of  His  Most  Faith- 
ful Majesty,  his  heirs  and  his  successors,  each  and  all  rights  that  may  pertain 
to  him  over  the  territories  which,  as  is  explained  in  this  Article,  shall  belong 
to  the  Crown  of  Portugal. 

VIII.  Article. — Whereas  the  possessions  of  both  Crowns  are  already 
marked  out  up  to  the  entrance  of  the  Pepiri  river  or  Pepiri-guazu  into  the 
Uruguay,  the  high  contracting  parties  have  agreed  that  the  line  of  demarca- 
tion shall  continue  up  the  said  river  Pepiri,  to  its  principal  source,  thence 
over  the  highest  part  of  the  land,  according  to  the  rules  laid  down  by  Article 
VI,  it  will  continue  until  it  jneets  the  waters  of  the  river  Sun  Antonio  (4)  which 
empty  into  the  Grande  de  Curitiba,  otherwise  called  Iguazu,  continuing 
along  this,  down  the  river,  to  its  entrance  into  the  Parana  on  its  eastern  bank, 
thence  to  continue  up  river,  along  the  said  Parana,  to  its  junction  with  the 
river  Ygurei  on  the  western  bank. 

XVI  Article. — The  Commissioners,  or  persons  appointed,  on  the  terms 
explained  by  the  corresponding  Article,  besides  the  rules  established  in  this 
Treaty,  will  bear  in  mind  in  all  cases  not  specified  in  it,  that  their  object 
must  be,  in  tracing  out  the  boundary  Hne,  the  reciprocal  security  and  perpe- 
tual peace  and  tranquility  of  both  nations,  and  the  total  extermination  of  the 
smuggUng  operations  that  the  subjects  of  the  one  may  carry  on,  in  the  posses- 
sion or  with  the  subjects  of  the  other;  therefore  in  view  of  these  two  objects 
they  shall  be  given  the  corresponding  orders  to  avoid  disputes,  that  may  not 
be  directly  prejudicial  to  the  presejit  possession  of  both  Sovereigns;  to  the 
common  or  exclusive  navigation  of  these  rivers,  or  the  canals,  according  to 
the  agreement  in  Article  XIII,  or  to  the  plantations,  mines  or  pastures  at  pre- 
sent in  their  possession  that  are  not  ceded  by  this  Treaty  (5)  for  the  benefit  of  the 
line  of  boundaries :  as  it  is  the  intention  of  both  August  Sovereigns,  in  order 
to  attain  the  true  peace  and  friendship  which  they  hope  will  be  perpetual 
and  close,  for  their  reciprocal  repose  and  the  good  of   their  subjects,  atten- 


(  4  )  Nothing  is  said  about  the  necessity  of  meeting  them  in  straight 
line,  nor  in  front;  it  is  sufficient  for  the  meeting  to  take  place  in  those  regions 
in  order  to  descend  the  waters  of  the  Iguazu  ;  but  saving  the  present  posses- 
sions of  both  Sovereigns,  and  the  plantations,  mines  or  pastures  at  present  in 
their  possession  that  are  not  ceded :  as  stated  in  Article  XVI,  and  it  is  very 
plain,  that  Article  VIII  does  not  cede  the  two  pueblos  of  Spaniards  and 
Indians  mentioned  by  Brigadier  Sa. 

(  5  )  Ceded  specifically,  stating  the  land,  pueblo,  pasture,  coasts  or 
place  of  cession. 


-  556  - 

tion  shall  only  be  given  in  those  vast  regions  through  which  the  line  of  de- 
marcation shall  be  drawn,  to  \^&  preservation  of  all  that,  which  may  remain- 
in  possession  of  each  by  virtue  of  this  treaty,  and  the  final  one  of  boundaries,  so 
arranging  these,  as  to  avoid  for  all  time   all   causes   of  doubt   and  discord, 

Your  Excellency  will  infer  from  the  above,  and  will  kindly  so  inform  the 
Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  that  the  line  of  demarcation  to  be  traced  and  the 
one  agreed  upon,  is  no  other  than  that  one  which  shall  clear  the  belongings 
and  shall  save  the  respective  possessions,  to  which  end  the  rivers  are  indi^ 
cated,  except  in  those  cases  where  these  has  been  a  de  facto  cession  of  some 
place,  pueblo  or  territory,  as  those  de  jure,  will  not  suffice,  except  in  those 
cases,  when  the  part  to  whom  the  cession  is  made  was  already  in  possession, 
I  have  fully  notified  of  all  this  the  King's  Ambassador  at  Lisbon,  so  that  he 
may  obtain  from  that  Court  orders  in  accordance  with  what  I  have  stated  to 
Your  Excellency. 

It  is  impossible  to  foresee  all  the  difficulties  that  may  occur  to  the  Com- 
missioners of  both  Crowns  when  they  be  upon  the  ground,  but  if  they  attend 
to  the  true  spirit  and  meaning  of  the  Treaty,  if  they  succed  in  obtaining  that 
the  subjects  of  their  respective  sovereigns  shall  remain  in  possession  of  those 
grass  lands,  plantations,  mines  and  pastures, that  are  necessary  to  them, and  if 
they  proceed  in  good  faith  in  carrying  out  their  Commission,  if  they  come  to 
some  agreement  among  themselves,  which  shall  not  be  injurious  to  their  Au- 
gust Masters,  saving  their  present  possessions,  they  will  avoid  troublesome  dis- 
putes, from  which  the  least  injury  that  could  result,  would  be  the  loss  of  time. 
God  save  Your  Excellency  many  years  as  I  wish. — Aranjuez,  April  6th  1782. 
—The  COUNT  OF  FLORIDA  BLANCA.— To  Seiior  Don  Joseph  de  Gal- 
vez,  (The  following  decree  is  found  on  the  margin).  "  Give  orders  to  Vertiz 
including  in  them  this  paper  and  its  notes,  requesting  him  to  send  it  to  our 
Commissioners  that  they  may  act  in  accordance. — Dated  April  the  7th." — 
(Besides  this  is  a  small  paper  that  says)  :  The  investigation  was  consulted 
upon  by  the  Junta,  and  in  view  of  the  proposal  of  the  Court  of  Portugal. — To 
be  sent  with  official  note  to  Senor  Florida  Blanca. 


Royal  Letter  Patent  to  the  Viceroy  of  Bnenos  Ayres,  dated  the  7th  day  of 

April,  1782. 

Acknowledging  receipt  of  his  letter  of  February  fifth  of  seventy-nine, 
number  ninety-four,  with  which  he  accompanied  the  opinion  of  Brigadier 
Don  Joseph  Custodio  de  Sa  y  Faria,  together  with  two  Plans  which  set  forth 
the  difficulties  that  would  arise  from  establishing  the  boundary  line  through 
the  districts  designated,  notifying  him  that  he  is  to  inform  our  Commissioners 
of  the  contents  of  the  official  note,  which  in  view  of  these  documents  the 
Minister  of  State  has  sent  to  this  Secretarial  office,  and  which  is  herein 
inserted,  in  order  that  they  may  carry  on  their  operations  conformably  to  it, 
employing  to  this  end  the  Frigate  Lieutenant  Don  Miguel  Rubin  de  Celis, 


—  557  —  ■  • 

in  case  they  deem  him  useful  thereto,  notwithstanding  the  arrival  of  the 
ofBcers  who  were  appointed  to  those  duties. 

In  view  of  Your  Excellency's  letter  of  the  fifth  of  February,  one  thous- 
and seven  hundred  and  seventy  nine,  number  ninety-four,  with  which  you 
accompanied  the  opinion  of  Brigadier  Don  Joseph  Custodio  de  Sa  y  Faria, 
together  with  two  plans  that  set  forth  the  difficulties  that  would  arise  from 
establishing  the  line  of  demarcation  through  the  districts  designated  ;  the 
Count  of  Florida  Blanca  has  sent  to  me,  with  yesterday's  date  the  official  note, 
which  I  herein  insert,  of  whose  contents,  by  the  King's  command.  Your  Ex- 
cellency must  inform  our  Commissioners,  that  they  may  act  in  accordance 
in  all  their  operations. — To  His  Excellency,  etc. — To  be  copied  literally,  pla- 
cing on  the  margin  of  this  order  the  notes  that  appear  in  the  official  note  in 
the  same  manner. 

In  view  of  the  above-said,  and  of  the  probability  that  the  officers  ap- 
pointed to  carry  on  these  operations,  together  with  all  the  instruments 
necessary,  shall  have  arrived  at  that  place,  there  is  nothing  further  that  I 
can  state  to  Your  Excellency  in  answer  to  your  letter  of  September  thirtieth 
of  the  year  last  past,  number  five  hundred  and  thirty  six,  except  that  if  you 
deem  necessary,  notwithstanding  the  arrival  of  the  said  officers,  to  employ 
the  Frigate  Lieutenant  Don  Miguel  Rubin  de  Cells,  whom  I  have  chosen  on 
account  of  his  knowledge  of  mathematics,  astronomy  and  his  general  learn- 
ing. Your  Excellency  may  make  use  of  him,  in  view  of  these  circumstances, 
as  one  meets  with  few  persons  possessing  these  qualities.  Your  Excellency 
will  advise  me  to  that  effect,  in  order  that  I  may  notify  the  Ministry  of  the 
Navy.  God  save  Your  Excellency,  etc.  —  Aranjuez,  April  seventh,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty  two. — To  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres. 
— Made  in  duplicate. 


1787-1790 


LETTERS 

from    the    Surveyors   Varela,  y  Ulloa    and  Alvear,    upon  the 
Operations  on  the  Boundary  Line.    {*) 

Your  Excellency  : — By  Your  Excellency's  official  note  of  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  June  last,  which  I  have  just  received,  I  am  notified  that  this  sec- 
ond subdivision  is  the  one  that  is  to  survey  the  Pepiri-guazu  river.  Imme- 
diately such  measures  will  be  taken  that  will  lead  to  the  fulfilment  of  Your 
Excellency's  decision.  The  difficult  phase  presented  by  this  work,  truly 
difficult  in  this  part  of  the  San  Antonio  river,  convinces  us  that  to  bring  it  to 
a  close,  we  will  be  obliged  to  go  to  the  Misiones  of  the  Uruguay,  which  also 
presents  no  light  difficulties. 

Nevertheless,  on  the  nineteenth  instant,  Don  Andres  de  Oyarvide  with 
his  detachment,  had  already  penetrated  to  within  a  very  short  distance  of  the 
headwaters  of  the  aforesaid  San  Antonio,  where  he  was  trying,  before  going 
on,  to  make  a  small  hut  for  depositing  provisions,  and  keeping  open  his 
communications,  so  far  all  the  events  of  the  voyage  had  been  sufficiently 
happy,  for  although  two  canoes  upset  among  the  furious  rocky  ledges  of  the 
Iguazu,  as  the  crew  were  experts,  they  saved  themselves  in  the  same  canoe, 
without  other  accident  than  the  loss  of  some  straw  matting,  some  arms  and 


(*)     These  are  translations  from  the  original  documents,  which  form  part  of  group  D 
No.  9,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  5^0  — 

provisions.  Five  other  canoes  sail  to-day  from  this  camp,  carrying  fresh 
supphes,  part  of  those  that  have  just  reached'  us  from  the  pueblos,  and  that 
we  owe  to  the  efficacy  of  their  Governor,  Don  Bruno  Zabala.  God  save 
Your  Excellency  many  years.  Barra  del  Iguazu,  September  twenty-seventh, 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-eight. — Signed,  DIEGO  DE  AL- 
BEAR.     To  His  Excellency,  the  Viceroy  Marquis  de  Loreto. 


Your  Excellency: — The  Serjeant  of  Dragoons,  Manuel  Perez,  that 
Your  Excellency  sent  on  the  fifteenth  of  last  June  to  substitute  the  one  of  like 
class,  Bernabe  Ruiz,  has  not  yet  appeared.  The  latter,  besides  the  practice 
acquired  during  the  seven  years  that  the  expedition  has  lasted,  that  makes 
him  fulfil  with  ability  all  his  duties,  is  at  present  engaged  in  managing  the 
branches  of  the  Royal  Treasury  in  our  camps  of  Nucoraguazu  and  Uruguay, 
thereby  aiding  properly  and  intelligently  the  parties  of  experts  destined  to 
the  surveys  of  the  rivers.  I  know  not  if  the  one  that  is  coming  will  be  able 
to  discharge  these  duties  as  well.  Furthermore,  the  same  Ruiz  being 
obliged  to  procure  here  the  provisions,  and  to  ship  them,  he  cannot  engage 
in  the  other  work  ;  and  we  have  no  one  else  on  whom  to  fall  back.  There- 
fore, the  service  may  suffer  some  detriment,  and  I  desire  that  Your  Excel- 
lency would  leave  to  my  discretion  the  changing  of  the  resolution,  if  it  were 
convenient.  I  also  request  Your  Excellency  to  send  us,  as  soon  as  possible, 
twelve  dragoons  and  a  Corporal  to  substitute  those  whom  the  Surgeon  Don 
Felix  Pineda  says  cannot  continue  the  fatiguing  and  hard  work,  which  is  to 
be  undertaken  ;  this  is  what  I  expect  and  hope  from  Your  Excellency's  well 
known  zeal  in  His  Majesty's  service. 

I  must  notify  Your  Excellency,  as  there  is  time  for  no  more,  that  Colonel 
Roscio  refuses  to  continue  the  survey  of  the  true  Pepiri-guazu,  according  to 
Your  Excellency's  orders,  as  I  asked  him  to  do  on  the  sixth  instant,  seeing 
that  he  made  no  movement,  in  spite  of  the  great  preparations  in  which  he 
saw  me  engaged.  He  renews  in  his  very  lengthy  official  answer,  just 
received,  all  the  old  disputes  that  have  occurred  in  this  respect  ;  he  desires 
and  contradicts  our  most  solid  reasonings,  without  alleging  new  reasons,  and, 
in  the  supposition  that  the  explorations  of  the  rivers  Pepiri-guazu,  San  Anto- 
nio, Iguazu  and  Parana  have  been  carried  out  already,  he  urges  me  to  sign 
the  Plans,  to  agree  to  the  demarcation  of  Article  VIII,  and  consequently,  to 
make  the  instruments  of  ratification  prescribed  in  the  Preliminary  Treaty. 

I  do  not  know  how  far  he  will  go  in  this  delicate  and  risky  matter  ;  I, 
nevertheless,  remain  disposed  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the  nation,  and  carry 
out  my  orders.  But  the  next  mail  I  will  inform  Your  Excellency  of  all  that 
may  have  been  done  ;  meanwhile,  I  desire  to  know  if  on  our  part  we  are  to 
continue  with  the  aforesaid  survey  of  the  Pepiri-guazu,  which  I  am  inclined 
to  do,  even  in  case  of  my  co-Commissioner  not  yielding  or  agreeing  to  it, 
together  with  all  other  orders  that  Your  Excellency  may  be  pleased  to  give 


—  56i  — 

me.  God  save  Your  Excellency  many  years.  San  Antonio,  September 
eleventh,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety — His  Excellency. — DIEGO 
DE  ALBEAR. — To  His  Excellency  the  Viceroy  Don  Nicolas  de  Arredondo. 


Your  Excellency  : — I  have  been  unable  to  get  my  co-Commissioner  to 
take  charge  of  the  exploration  and  survey  of  the  Pequiri  or  Pepiri-guazu  river. 
In  the  beUef  that  this  work  belongs  to  the  second  sub-division,  he  has  no- 
tified the  Viceroy  of  Janeyro  of  our  petition,  and  he  awaits  an  answer  from 
that  chief  in  order  to  give  me  a  positive  answer  on  the  subject.  I  send  Your 
Excellency  this  information  in  accordance  with  your  orders  of  the  twentieth 
of  April  last.  God  save  Your  Excellency  many  years,  San  Martin  in  the 
Monte  Grande,  first  of  September,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty 
seven.— His  Excellency.— JOSEPH  VARELA  Y  ULLOA.— To  His  Excel- 
lency the  Marquis  de  Loreto. 


Your  Excellency  : — As  soon  as  we  arrive  at  the  point  where  the  Pepiri- 
guazu  may  fail  to  be  navigable,  I  will  endeavor  to  start  an  armed  party  over 
land,  made  up  of  both  the  subdivisions,  to  follow  with  the  geographers  along 
one  of  its  banks  as  far  up,  as  possible,  and  make  ?  plan  of  the  surrounding 
country,  in  the  manner  prescribed  in  your  letter  of  December  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  the  year  last  ;  and  although  I  consider  that  this  step  will  be  as 
useless  as  the  former,  I  will  nevertheless  promote  and  push  it  heartily  at  the 
proper  time,  as  I  fully  appreciate  the  fact  that  my  first  duty  is  to  obey  Your 
Excellency's  orders  without  inquiring  as  to  the  final  results. 

From  the  opposition  manifested  by  my  co-Commissioner  to  our  survey  of 
the  said  Pepiri-guazu,  and  from  the  decisive  manner  in  which  he  expressed 
himself  on  this  subject.  Your  Excellency  infers  that  all  his  thoughts  are 
directed  to  retarding  the  survey  ;  the  truth  of  this  is  as  patent  to  me  as  it  is 
to  Your  Excellency,  although  at  the  same  time  I  fail  to  understand  the 
reasons  that  Your  Excellency  has  had  for  supposing  that  this  subdivision  has 
been  idle  for  a  long  time  at  Post  San  Martin,  losing  that  time  best  adapted 
fot  working  atid progressing;  while  on  the  contrary,  since  the  work  of  survey- 
ing was  begun,  during  no  single  year  has  more  work  been  done,  of  which 
Your  Excellency  will  be  convinced  by  the  news  that  I  shall  communicate. 

Shortly  after  the  Portuguese  arrived  at  the  Piray,  and  the  start  for  San 
Borja  of  Colonel  Don  Francisco  Juan  Roscio,  the  engineers  and  geographers 
of  the  first  subdivision  started  to  survey  the  headwaters  of  the  river  Icavacua, 
which  empties  into  the  lagoon  of  Los  Patos.  Having  finished  this  work, 
they  began  a  like  survey  over  the  crest  that  separates  the  waters  of  the 
Yacui  and  the  Uruguay,  and  they  carried  it  on,  on  the  East  as  far  as  the 
river  Ararica,  which  has  its  origen  in  the  Monte  Grande,  and  on  the  West 
as  far  as  the  headwaters  of  the  river  Toropi,  which  are  situated  about  fifteen 
leagues  North  of  the  said  mountain.  This  work  occupied  the  time  until  the 
middle  of  May  of  last  year,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty  seven, 


—  5^2  — 

when  it  was  necessary  to  suspend  them  on  account  of  the  rigor  of  the  season, 
the  frequent  fogs,  and  above  all,  on  account  of  the  debihty  and  weakness  of 
the  horses,  which  could  no  longer  bear  the  marches  and  other  fatigues  involved. 

My  co-Commissioner,  as  I  informed  Your  Excellency,  wanted  to  spend 
the  winter  with  the  whole  staff  of  his  party  in  the  town  of  Rio  Pardo,  and  as 
I  desired  to  make  him  change  his  mind  on  this  subject,  which  was  so  preju- 
dicial to  the  survey,  I  purposely  remained  at  Post  San  Martin,  with  the  object 
of  preventing  him  from  leaving  the  camp  that  he  had  established  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Monte  Grande.  I,  finally,  succeeded  in  my  project,  and,  there- 
fore, we  immediately  set  out  to  survey  the  ground  which  had  been  explor- 
ed ;  the  search  for  stones  to  make  the  ten  marks  of  the  proper  height 
was  begun,  and  not  finding  any  in  the  neighborhood,  I  gave  orders  to  extract 
them  from  the  quarries  in  the  pueblo  of  San  Luis,  and  they  were  brought 
with  no  little  difficulty  to  the  place  in  which  we  were  encamped.  In  the 
meanwhile  the  engineers  were  engaged  in  comparing  the  plans  with  the 
Journal,  in  order  to  reduce  them  to  a  smaller  scale  ;  and  when  every  thing  was 
ready  in  the  month  of  September,  it  began  to  rain  in  such  a  manner,  that  we 
could  not  communicate  with  the  Portuguese  for  over  forty  days,  during  which 
period  the  waters  were  so  high  and  the  current  ran  so  rapidly  in  the  Ibicui- 
mini,  that  it  was  impossible  to  cross  it. 

During  the  beginning  of  November  the  rains  ceased,  the  Ibicui-mini 
went  down,  the  marks  were  taken  to  the  other  side  of  the  Monte  Grande, 
the  engineers  of  both  sub-divisions  were  charged  with  placing  them  in  the 
localities  that  had  been  marked  on  the  Plans  by  my  co-Commissioner  and 
myself,  and  at  the  same  time  the  geographers  started  out  to  survey  the 
lands  that  extend  between  San  Martin  and  the  border  of  the  Uruguay,  which 
work  is  so  far  advanced  at  present,  that  I  am  already  giving  the  necessary 
orders  for  the  entrance  into  the  Pepiri-guazu  that  we  must  soon  make. 

The  above  is  that  which  was  done  at  Post  San  Martin,  which,  after 
mature  consideration, is  much  more  than  could  be  expected,  not  alone  because 
of  the  slowness  of  the  Portuguese  and  the  frequent  doubtful  points  that  they 
raise,  but  because  of  the  difificulties  of  travelling  in  these  desert  places  and 
the  want  of  facihties  in  which  we  frequently  find  ourselves  ;  the  above  leads 
me  to  flatter  myself  in  the  hope  that  Your  Excellency  will  find  nothing  to 
censure  in  our  operations.  God  save  Your  Excellency  many  years.  Pueblo 
de  San  Juan  Bautista,  February  twelfth,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
eighty  eight.— His  Excellency.— JOSEPH  VARELA  Y  ULLOA.— To  His 
Excellency  the  Marquis  de  Loreto. 


1789 


Letters  from  the  Spanish  Commissioner  Senor  Varela  y  Ulloa, 
stating  to  the  Fortug-uese   Commissioner  the  reasons 
upon  which  are  based  the  differences    of  opinion 
existing-  between  them,  regarding  the  demarcat- 
ion of  the  Fepiri  river.   (*) 

Before  expressing  to  Your  Excellency  my  opinion  regarding  the  manner 
in  which  should  be  drawn  the  boundary  lines  of  both  nations,  from  the  sou- 
thern brow  of  Monte  Grande  to  the  confluence  of  the  Pepiri  and  Uruguay 
rivers,  I  deem  it  best  to  throw  light  upon  some  points  which  are  not  clearly 
defined  in  the  maps  recently  drawn  by  the  engineers  and  geographers  of 
these  two  subdivisions,  a  measure  which  is  indispensable  to  the  conclusion 
of  this  important  undertaking  thereby  showing  the  care  which  have  always 
characterized  our  proceedings.  The  lack  of  conformity  which  is  shown  in 
our  maps,  is  due  in  part,  to  the  fact  that  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  give 
different  names  to  the  same  streams,  which  is  liable  to  produce  confusion 
when  the  moment  arrives  for  the  Courts  to  make  use  of  these  documents. 
The  best  way  to  obviate  this  inconvenience,  is  to  insert  in  such  map  a  notice 
expressing  all  the  points  of  difference,  but  if  this  expedient  should  not  meet 
your  Excellency's  approval,  I  agree  in  advance  to  any  other  that  should  be 
suggested,  as  my  object  is  merely  to  facilitate  for  both  Sovereigns,  the  solu- 
tion of  said  difficulties,  and  the  definite  demarcation  of  the  boundary  line 
between  their  dominions,  being  mindfuU  of  their  sincere  aspiration  for  the 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archives  of 
Alcald  de  Henates  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Madrid, 
forms  part  of  group  D,  No.  lo  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence.  » 


—  564  — 

perpetual  peace  and  tranquility  of  their  subjects.  Another  difference  of 
greater  importance  is  to  be  found  in  the  same  maps,  regarding  the  true 
situation  of  the  Pequiri  or  Pepiri  river,  along  whose  course  must  be  drawn 
the  line  of  separation,  according  to  the  Boundary  Treaty  of  1750,  and  after- 
wards the  treaty  of  1777.  Your  Excellency  supposes  that  this  river  Pepiri  is 
the  one  which  was,regarded  as  such  by  the  Commissioners  who  made  the  past 
demarcation,  in  which  I  beheve  that  said  Commissioners  committed  a  very 
grave  error,  and  that  the  true  Pepiri  is  the  deep  and  wide  river  flowing  into 
the  Uruguay  through  the  northern  bank,  at  a  distance  of  about  eighteen  miles 
above  the  place  where  the  Uruguay-pita  flows,  a  part  upon  which  the 
doubts  can  not  be  raised,  after  taking  into  consideration  what  is  said  by 
the  already  mentioned  Commissioners  in  their  Journal,  from  the  5th  to  the 
8th  of  March,  1759,  inclusive.  I  enclose  a  copy  of  this  Journal  for  the  better 
understanding  of  what  I  am  going  to  relate.  When  the  guide  of  that  expedi- 
tion assured  them  that  the  Pepiri  was  the  first  river  which  runs  into  the  Uru- 
guay, through  its  northern  bank,  after  passing  the  great  Fall,  the  Com- 
missioners of  both  parties  did  not  fail  to  evince  some  surprise,  because  in  the 
map  which  had  been  given  them  by  the  Courts  to  regulate  their  action,  the 
Pepiri  -was  marked  at  a  much  higher  pomt,  beside  being  placed  above  the 
Uruguay-pita,  and  not  below  this  river  as  the  guide  mentioned.  In  this 
doubt  the  Commissioners  decided  to  follow  the  course  of  the  Uruguay,  with 
the  view  of  discovering  if  the  information  was  correct  which  the  guide  gave 
regarding  the  river  Apiterebi  and  Uruguay-pita  which  were  further  on,  jud- 
ging that  by  this  method,  a  true  conception  could  be  had  of  his  knowledge 
and  the  truthfullness  of  his  words  ascertained.  This  resolution  once  taken, 
the  artronomers  and  geographers  of  both  nations  started  in  their  respective 
canoes;  and  having  proceeded  for  a  little  over  a  league,  the  guide  showed 
them  in  the  northern  bank,  the  mouth  of  a  river  which  he  said  was  the  Apite- 
rebi, and  at  the  same  distance,  up  stream,  he  showed  them  in  the  opposite 
bank  the  mouth  of  another  river  which  he  said  was  the  Uruguay-pita, 
assuring  them  that  this  was  the  last  river  that  he  had  reached  on  an  expedi- 
tion which  he  had  personally  made  with  the  Indians  of  his  village  to  a  place 
called  the  Espia.  The  Commissioners  candidly  believed  that  the  Uruguay- 
piat  was  the  river  to  which  they  had  been  conducted  by  the  guide,  and  even 
measured  the  width  of  its  mouth,  took  several  sounding  lines,  and  examined 
the  color  of  the  waters;  but  with  all  this,  they  were  not  satisfied,  that  the 
river  they  had  left  behind  was  the  Pepiri,  for  which  reason  they  decided  to 
follow  further  the  course  of  the  Uruguay  up  stream,  to  see  if  they  could  not 
find  in  its  northern  bank,  the  mouth  of  some  deep  and  wide  river  which 
should  conform  better  with  the  situation  given  to  the  Pepiri  in  the  map  of  the 
Courts.  The  Commisioners  proceeded  for  about  four  miles,  when  they  found 
a  fall  of  a  height  of  one  fathom,  from  which  the  water  descended  with 
such  impetuosity  that  they  found  it  very  difficult  to  cross  the  canoes  to  the 
other  side;  and  thinking  at  the  same  time  that  from  there  upwards,  the  deep 
and  wide  river  which  they  were  seeking  could  not  be  found,  they  returned 
to  the  headquarters  of  the  parties  where  was  drawn  and  signed  the  instrument 


-  565  - 

recognizing  as  the  Pepiri,  the  river  which  the  guide  had  indicated.  No  doubt 
can  be  entertained  that  the  late  Commissioners  acted  in  this  instance  against 
the  mind  of  the  two  Sovereigns,  and  against  the  faith  of  the  map  which  had 
been  remitted  to  them  by  the  Courts  with  orders  to  act  in  conformity  with  the 
same,  whenever  it  agreed  with  the  topography  of  the  ground. 

In  effect,  they  recognized  as  the  Pepiri  a  river  which  is  situated  down  the 
stream  from  the  Uruguay-pita,  while  said  map  places  it  up  stream  and  at  a 
considerable  distance,  as  I  can  prove  by  a  copy  of  said  map,  which  is  in  my 
possession.  Let  us  now  examine  the  reasons  which  prompted  the  Com- 
missioners to  act  as  they  did.  Don  Joseph  Fernandez  Pinto  Alpoym,  whose 
testimony  Your  Excellency  cannot  doubt,  makes  it  understood  that  one  of 
the  reasons  which  induced  them  to  accept  as  the  Pepiri  the  river  which  the 
guide  indicated,  was  the  opinion  entertained  by  the  Commissioners,  astron- 
omers and  geographers  of  both  nations,  that  it  was  impossible  to  discover 
further  on,  any  river  whose  situation  should  conform  better  with  the  Pepiri 
represented  in  the  map  of  the  Courts.  This  conjecture  is  destitute  of  all 
foundation,  because  the  geographers  of  these  sub-divisions,  having  followed 
with  great  care  and  constancy  the  course  of  the  Uruguay  for  the  same  pur- 
pose, found  in  its  northern  bank. and  beyond  the  supposed  Pepiri,  several 
wide  and  deep  rivers,  among  which  there  is  one  corresponding  exactly  to  the 
one  marked  in  the  map  of  the  Courts,  the  mouth  of  which  river  is  no  less 
than  one  hundred  and  ten  fathoms  wide.  Alpoym  adds  afterwards  that  be- 
fore leaving  the  village  of  San  Francisco  Xavier,  the  guide  maintained  that 
he  not  only  reached  the  Pepiri  but  also  the  Uruguay-pita,  which  was  further 
on,  and  that  in  effect  his  information  was  found  to  be  correct,  not  only  re- 
garding the  latter  river,  but  also  the  Apiterebi,  from  which  Alpoym  inferred 
that  as  the  guide  was  acquainted  with  these  two  rivers,  he  must  also  know 
about  the  other  one  designated  by  the  name  of  Pepiri.  In  all  this  the  guide 
was  grossly  mistaken,  because  the  river  whereto  he  led  the  Commissioners, 
as  being  the  Uruguay-pita,  was  not  such  a  river.  The  river  to  which  he  led 
the  Commissioners  is  situated  down  the  stream  eight  leagues  in  a  direct  line 
from  the  true  Uruguay-pita,  and  it  does  not  spring  from  the  general  chain  of 
hills,  but  from  a  mound  which  divides  the  waters  of  the  lyui-guazu  and  the 
Uruguay,  as  has  been  recently  ascertained  by  our  geographers;  a  circum- 
stance that  in  itself  is  more  than  sufficient  to  evidence  the  ignorance  of  the 
guide,  of  which  fact  it  can  also  be  inferred,  by  a  process  of  logic  similar  to 
that  employed  by  Seiior  Alpoym,  that  as  the  guide  had  no  knowledge  of  the 
Uruguay-pita  he  did  not  either  have  any  knowledge  of  the  Pepiri.  The  same 
Commissioner  says  finally  that  the  truth  of  the  guide's  assertions  was  verified 
by  some  printed  maps  and  other  manuscripts  belonging  to  the  Indians,  in 
which  the  Pepiri  was  supposed  to  be  situated  down  the  stream  of  the  Uru- 
guay-pita. It  is  really  very  surprising  that  a  Boundary  Commissioner  should 
cite  anonymous  maps  and  Indian  manuscripts  in  support  of  his  opinions, 
when  he  had  in  his  possession  such  an  authentic  document  as  the  map  of  the 
Courts,  drawn  by  competent  persons  versed  in  the  science  of  geography,  and 
with  such  good  material  that  it  was  used   by  the  Plenipotentiaries  who  eel- 


—  566  — 

ebrated  the  treaty  of  1750.  The  late  Commissioners  should  have  been  guided 
by  this  map,  placing  more  faith  and  credit  in  it  than  in  the  guide,  whose 
knowledge  of  the  Uruguay  was  so  erroneous  and  false,  as  I  have  just  ex- 
pressed it  to  Your  Excellency.  All  these  mistakes  of  the  late  Commissioners 
were  due  to  the  fact  of  their  not  having  explored  the  Uruguay  sufficiently. 
In  fact,  if  they  had  crossed  the  fall  of  one  fathom  in  height,  and  gone  further, 
as  our  geographers  have  done,  they  would  have  found  at  a  short  distance 
the  Uruguay-pita,  a  wider  and  deeper  river  than  the  other  to  which  the  guide 
had  arbitrarily  given  that  name,  and  so  situated  that  they  could  not  have 
failed  to  recognize  that  it  was  the  only  river  which  confronts  with  the  Yacui, 
lyui-guazu  and  the  rivers  which  flow  from  the  Vaqueria  towards  the  domin- 
ions of  Portugal,  these  being  the  marks  by  which  the  Uruguay-pita  has  al- 
ways been  recognized.  Once  discovered  in  this  manner  the  ignorance  of  the 
guide,  the  Commissioners  should  have  continued  the  navigation  of  the  Uru- 
guay, in  which  case  they  would  have  found  in  its  northern  bank  a  river  with 
all  the  characteristics  or  signs  of  the  Pepiri,  which  they  were  seeking.  The 
mouth  of  this  river  is  one  hundred  and  ten  fathoms  wide,  and  consequently 
deserves  the  name  oi  u  caudaloso  n  (deep  and  wide),  which  cannot  be  given 
to  the  false  Pepiri,  because  it  is  very  narrow  and  is  nearly  dry  in  the  summer, 
as  has  been  ascertained  by  our  geographers.  Besides  this,  the  real  Pepiri 
is  situated  against  the  stream  from  the  Uruguay-pita,  at  the  same  distance, 
more  or  less,  marked  in  the  map  of  the  Courts;  and  finally  it  has  a  reef  very 
near  its  mouth  which  the  late  Commissioners  sought  in  vain  to  discover,  and 
not  at  a  distance  of  half  a  league,  as  the  reef  of  the  false  Pepiri,  of  which 
mention  is  made  in  the  journal  of  Don  Joseph  Fernandez  Pinto  Alpoym.  It 
being  then  evident  that  the  river  Pepiri  represented  in  the  map  of  the  Courts 
is  the  wide  river  situated  six  leagues  in  a  direct  line  against  the  stream  from 
the  Uruguay-pita,  and  also  that  the  demarcation  from  the  mouth  of  the  said 
Pepiri  to  the  confluence  of  the  Ygurey  with  the  Parana,  is  precisely  the  same 
in  the  treaty  of  1750  as  in  the  treaty  of  1777,  I  find  myself  obliged  in  virtue 
of  the  charge  with  which  I  am  invested,  and  in  the  fulfilment  of  my  duties,  ' 
to  request  that  Your  Excellency  recognize  this  river  as  the  boundary  between 
the  dominion  of  His  Catholic  Majesty  and  of  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Por- 
tugal, which  recognition  I  trust  to  obtain,  if  Your  Excellency  should  read  this 
note  with  impartiality  and  act  in  the  matter  with  the  probity  and  good  faith 
which  has  been  so  much  recommended  to  us.  God  keep  Your  Excellency 
for  many  years. — Pueblo  de  San  Juan  Bautista,  the  ninth  of  January,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-nine. — JOSEPH  VARELA  Y  ULLOA. 
— Sor.  Don  Sebastian  Xavier  da  Veiga  Cabral  da  Camara.  It  is  a  copy. — 
VARELA. 


—  567  — 


Second  Iietter  of  Commissioner  Varela  y  Ulloa.  {*) 

The  general  plans  of  our  demarcation  being  finished,  and  ready  to  be 
signed,  I  proposed  to  Your  Excellency  in  my  letter  of  the  9th  instant,  that 
before  proceeding  with  the  formality  of  signing  these,  we  should  throw  light 
upon  the  points  which  are  not  clearly  defined  in  these  plans;  and  in  the  reply 
of  Your  Excellency,  dated  the  following  day,  I  find,  by  way  of  introduction,  a 
long  narration  of  every  thing  which  took  place  in  regard  to  the  survey  of  the 
Uruguay,  recalling  to  my  mind  the  failure  of  the  first  attempt  made  by  the 
geographers  to  find  the  Pepiri;  also  the  instructions  which  they  received  from 
us,  and  those  which  were  given  to  them  the  second  time,  these  instructions 
being  taken,  as  the  first,  from  the  Journal  of  the  late  demarcation,  which  was 
utilized  by  Your  Excellency  and  myself,  to  formulate  said  instructions  ;  and 
following  these  assertions,  which  were  not  new  to  me,  Your  Excellency  writes 
long,  trying  to  persuade  me  that  since  the  return  of  the  geographers  to  this 
village,  we  had  solemnly  and  formally  agreed  that  the  true  Pepiri  marked  as 
the  boundary  between  the  dominions  of  His  Catholic  Majesty,  and  those  of 
His  Majesty  the  King  of  Portugal,  was  the  river  which  the  Commissioners  of 
the  second  party  of  the  late  demarcation  recognized  by  that  name  ;  when  it 
was  so  much  the  contrary,  that  on  September  nth  of  last  year,  I  wrote  to 
His  Excellency  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  inforrning  him  of  the  error  in- 
curred in  this  case  by  the  already  mentioned  Commissoners,  writing  also  in 
identical  terms  to  Lieutenant  Diego  Albear,  which  letters,  with  their  respective 
answers,  I  will  be  glad  to  furnish,  if  Your  Excellency  should  care  to  read 
them  ;  which  authorizes,  me  to  say  to  Your  Excellency  that,  although  \  am  in- 
capable of  showing  less  respect  than  I  owe  Your  Excellency  for  your'charac- 
ter  and  other  reasons,  I  have  abundant  right  to  ask  Your  Excellency  to  be 
more  measured  in  addressing  me,  and  to  abstain  from  attributing  to  me  acts 
or  speech  never  having  crossed  my  imagination,  and  which  cannot  be  believed 
unless  Your  Excellency  should  prove  that  I  have  been  of  two  minds,  writing 
in  one  way  to  His  Excellency  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  and  speaking  in 
another  in  my  conferences  with  Your  Excellency ;  such  disorder  and  confusion 
not  being  possible  in  my  mind,  though  it  be  but  poorly  balanced.  The  most 
curious  of  all  is  that  Your  Excellency  had  many  doubts  regarding  the  Pepiri 
of  the  late  Commissioners,  a  fact  which  I  might  prove,  if  Your  Excellency 
should  furnish  me  with  the  correspondence  maintained  with  His  Excellency 
the  Viceroy  of  Brazil,  and  with  Colonel  Don  Francisco  Juan  Roscio,  as  I 
offer  to  furnish  that  which  I  have  had  with  His  Excellency  the  Viceroy  of 
Buenos  Ayres  and  Lieutenant  Diego  Albear,  but  not  having  the  power  to 
demand  this  sacrifice  from  Your  Excellency,  I  shall  content  myself  by  recall- 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archives 
of  AlcaM  de  Henares  which,  in  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at 
Madrid,  forms  part  of  group  D,  No.  ii,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evid- 
ence," 


—  568  — 

\ng  something  which  certainly  has  escaped  Your  Excellency's  memory,  and 
that  is,  that  from  the  second  entrance  of  the  geographers  into  the  Uruguay, 
Your  Excellency  became  so  convinced  that  our  predecessors  had  made  a 
mistake  regarding  the  Uruguay-pita,  that  Your  Excellency  ordered  this  mis- 
take to  be  corrected  in  the  map  ;  and,  in  effect,  the  name  of  Uruguay-pita  of 
the  late  surveyors,  was  given  to  the  river  taken  for  such  :  and  the  name  of 
True  Umguay-pita  was  given  to  the  wide  and  deep  river  situated  eight  leagues 
upwards. 

This  first  mistake  being  corrected,  I  had  hoped  that  Your  Excellency  would 
recognize  as  the  Pepiri,  the  river  which  I  indicated  in  my  last  letter  as  I  was 
led  to  believe  Your  Excellency  would  do,  in  virtue  of  the  uprightness  and  im- 
partiality which  we  are  instructed  to  observe  in  all  our  proceedings,  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  Uruguay  river  which  Your  Excellency  has  received  from 
the  reports  of  the  experts  of  the  late  demarcation  in  which  very  circumstan- 
tial mention  is  made  regarding  this  point.  But  seeing  that  Your  Excellency 
failed  to  recognize  the  mistake  made  by  the  late  Commissioners  regarding 
the  true  situation  of  the  Pepiri  river,  although  recognizing  their  mistake  re- 
garding the  situation  of  the  Uruguay-pita,  I  determined  to  treat  this  matter 
with  Your  Excellency  at  a  very  opportune  and  proper  moment,  when  the 
maps  were  finished  and  ready  to  be  signed,  being  the  only  requisite  wanting 
to  forward  them  to  the  Courts. 

Much  to  my  sorrow  I  have  been  led  to  all  this  discourse  by  the  intro- 
duction of  Your  Excellency's  letter,  without  as  yet  having  touched  upon  the 
principal  proposition  of  my  letter  of  the  9th  instant,  which  can  be  reduced, 
as  I  have  already  stated,  to  only  two  points  :  the  first,  requesting  that  a 
notice  be  inserted  in  each  map,  specifying  all  the  points  of  difference  exist- 
ing between  them,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Courts ;  and  the  second,  asking  that 
Your  Excellency  recognize  and  adopt  as  the  true  Pepiri,  the  river  that  flows 
into  the  Uruguay  by  its  northern  bank,  six  leagues  against  the  stream  from 
the  Uruguay-pita,  as  that  is  the  only  river  which  agrees  with  the  river  of  the 
same  rame  represented  in  the  maps  of  the  Courts  ;  this  reasoning  being  con- 
firmed by  other  reasons  which  1  stated  in  my  last  letter  in  support  of  this 
proposition. 

Your  Excellency  does  not  reply  in  a  direct  and  satisfactory  manner  to 
the  first  proposition,  but  tries  to  satisfy  me,  saying  that  the  points  of  differ- 
ence existing  in  the  two  maps,  are  insignificant.  In  the  estimation  of  Your 
Excellency  they  may  be  insignificant,  but  as  I  do  not  judge  them  as  such,  I 
must  insist  upon  my  demand  that  the  notices  be  inserted,  on  the  understand- 
ing that  without  them,  I  shall  not  be  able  to  sign.  In  regard  to  the  second 
proposition,  Your  Excellency  sustains  that  the  true  Pepiri  is  the  river  which 
the  late  Commissioners  recognized  as  such  ;  and  as  by  the  Journal  of  the 
same,  the  mistake  which  they  made  can  evidently  be  proven,  Your  Excel- 
lency does  not  touch  upon  this  point,  but  impugnates  my  arguments  with 
others  without  foundation,  and  so  contrary  to  well  known  geographical  laws, 
that  I  am  compelled  to  analize  them  one  by  one,  and  make  such  commen- 
taries upon  them  as  their  nature  may  suggest. 


_  569  — 

It  is  true  that  by  the  preliminary  treaty  of  1777  it  is  ordered  that  the 
boundary  line  must  be  drawn  by  the  river  Pepiri  or  Pepin-guazu  up  to  its 
principal  source,  following  from  there  the  highest  points  of  the  ground  and 
reaching  the  current  waters  of  the  river  San  Antonio,  which  flows  into  the 
river  Grande  de  Curitiba,  known  also  by  the  name  of  Iguazu,  but  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  Courts  had  before  them,  as  a  guide  for  the  determina- 
tion of  the  boundary  line,  the  Journal  of  the  late  demarcation,  in  which  it  is 
erroneously  supposed  that  the  true  Pepiri  is  the  river  confronting  with  the 
San  Antonio.  I  say  erroneously  supposed,  because  as  I  stated  in  my  letter 
of  the  9th  instant,  the  river  which  the  late  Commissioners  recognized  as  the 
true  Pepiri,  is  not  such,  the  right  river  being  the  one  situated  about  six 
leagues  to  the  East,  and  which  has  all  the  signs  that  they  were  seeking, 
being  a  deep  and  wide  river,  situated  up  the  stream  from  the  Uruguay-pita, 
and  with  a  reef  very  near  its  mouth.  As  the  Courts  were  not  aware  of  these 
facts  when  the  already  mentioned  preliminary  treaty  was  drafted,  they  could 
not  act  in  conformity  with  them,  in  the  determination  of  the  boundary,  and 
ordered,  as  it  was  natural,  that  the  line  be  drawn  by  the  waters  of  the  true  Pe- 
piri, and  by  the  waters  of  the  nearest  of  the  rivers  which  flow  into  the  Iguazu, 
according  to  the  stipulation  made  by  Article  V  of  the  Treaty  of  1750,  but  I 
do  not  doubt  that  this  will  yet  be  realized,  on  the  strength  of  my  reports;  the 
reasons  which  assist  me,  being  so  clear,  that  the  efforts  of  Your  Excellency  to 
obscure  them,  are  bound  to  fail. 

I  do  not  speak  of  the  rivers  by  which  it  is  convenient  to  draw  the  bound- 
ary Hne,  but  of  those  through  which  the  treaty  orders  that  this  line  must  be 
drawn,  and  for' this  reason  I  say  to  Your  Excellency  that  the  Chui,  the  Tahim 
and  any  other  stream  as  small  as  these  two,  must  be  taken  for  the  limit  when 
the  Sovereigns  so  orders,  and  when  the  conditions  of  the  ground  are  such 
that  they  make  it  impossible  to  select  for  boundary  purposes,  a  wider  or  bet- 
ter known  river.  This  matter,  however,  is  entirely  foreign  to  the  question  at 
issue,  which,  in  my  humble  opinion,  is  clearly  set  forth  in  my  previous  com- 
munication, in  which  I  pointed  out,  with  perfect  clearness,  the  mistake  made 
by  the  Commissioners  of  the  late  demarcation,  admitting  as  the  Pepiri,  a 
river  which  is  not  the  Pepiri,  acting  against  the  faith  of  the  map  of  the  Courts, 
and  with  no  other  foundation  but  the  belief  they  entertained  that  the  guide 
had  some  knowledge  of  the  Uruguay-pita,  and  that  from  this  river  upwards, 
no  other  could  be  found  having  the  signs  looked  for  us,  pertaining  to  the  Pe- 
piri :  both  suppositions  being  erroneous  and  false,  as  prc^ven  by  the  Journal 
of  our  geographers,  which  shows  that  in  the  late  demarcation  the  Uruguay- 
pita  was  not  reached,  but  a  river  which  is  eight  leagues  downwards,  and 
that,  from  it  upwards,  nnany  wide  rivers  are  found  in  the  Uruguay,  and  one 
in  particular  which  entirely  conforms  with  the  Pepiri,  represented  in  the  map 
of  the  Courts,  and  which  would  have  been  recognized  as  such,  if  the  already 
mentioned  Commissioners  had  reached  it.  What  they  failed  to  do  then,  we 
should  now  accomplish,  not  only  for  the  fulfilment  of  our  trust,  but  also  for 
the  obligation  which  we  have  of  making  exact  and  individual  maps  of  the 
frontier,  correcting  geographical  errors  whenever  they  are  to  be  found.     As 


—  570  — 

Your  Excellency  cannot  disavow  the  justice  of  what  I  have  stated,  it  is  clear 
that  the  refusal  to  accept  my  propositions,  must  be  due  to  the  invincible  pas- 
sion of  Your  Excellency  to  contradict  me. 

The  second  survey  of  the  Uruguay  being  completed,  Your  Excellency 
and  I,  thought,  as  well  as  every  one  else,  that  the  river  to  which  the  opening 
led  was  the  Uruguay-pita,  and  this  name  was  consequently  given  to  it  in  the 
maps,  and  although  1  perceive  that  Your  Excellency  already  begins  to  doubt, 
and  does  not  know  by  what  name  to  call  it,  I  do  not  desire  to  enter  upon  a 
lengthy  discussion  of  this  point,  and  shall  limit  myself  to  say  to  Your  Excel- 
lency that  the  Indian  of  San  Angel  and  San  Luis,  also  the  guides  of  the  two 
nations  and  generally  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  acquainted  with  these 
places,  do  not  know  any  other  Uruguay-pita  but  the  river  of  our  opening, 
which  at  no  time  was  considered  to  be  superior  to.  or  wider  than  the  Pepiri- 
guazu,  as  shown  by  the  Journal  of  the  late  demarcation. 

As  the  river  which  is  the  object  of  our  dispute  seems  to  be  rather  wide, 
Your  Excellency  has  supposed  that  its  source  must  be  at  a  distance  of  more 
than  seventy  leagues,  basing  this  supposition  upon  such  a  novel  and  curious 
theory,  that  no  trace  of  it  can  be  found  in  the  writers  of  geographical  works 
and  works  of  Natural  History.  In  effect.  Your  Excellency  supposes  that  the 
length  of  the  rivers  which  flow  into  the  Uruguay  are  in  the  proportion  to  the 
the  width  at  their  mouth  ;  this  rule  being  continually  contradicted  in  practice, 
as  can  be  proven  by  many  examples,  among  which  may  be  cited  the  one 
presented  by  the  Ibicui-guazu,  the  mouth  of  which  is  2,850  fathoms,  so  that, 
according  to  Your  Excellency,  the  source  of  this  river  should  be  at  a  distance 
of  1,900  leagues  from  the  Uruguay,  while  it  is  well  known  that  the  furthest 
distance  at  which  the  source  of  this  river  can  be  found,  does  not  exceed  100 
leagues.  This  shows  what  consequences  must  follow  from  the  earnest  desire 
of  Your  Excellency  to  defend  your  fantastic  Pepiri. 

I  do  not  deny  that  the  width  of  rivers  depends  upon  the  greater  or 
shorter  distance  at  which  their  sources  are  found,  but  there  are  other  causes 
which  contribute  to  produce  the  same  result,  principally  upon  which  stand 
the  topography  of  the  ground,  permitting  rivers  to  receive  latterally  a  more 
or  less  amount  of  water;  but  the  river  of  which  we  are  treating,  not  having 
been  surveyed  beyond  a  short  distance,  Your  Excellency  has  no  foundation 
to  believe  that  it  is  as  wide  up  the  stream  as  it  seems  to  be  at  its  mouth. 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  this  river  has  its  sources  in  the  Cordillera, 
which  divides  the  waters  of  the  Yguazii  and  Uruguay.  We  are  forcibly  led 
to  believe  this  by  the  constant  direction  of  these  two  last  rivers  towaids  the 
West,  also  by  their  common  origin  in  the  high  Sierras  which  cross  the  State 
of  Brazil,  and  by  their  being  both  deep  and  wide,  the  first  of  them  being  two 
hundred  and  sixty-five  fathoms  wide  and  twenty-seven  feet  deep  in  the  low 
season,  facing  the  mouth  of  the  San  Antonio  river,  from  which  it  must  be 
inferred  by  the  rules  of  good  geography  that  a  great  portion  of  these  waters 
must  come  to  this  river  from  the  already  mentioned  Cordillera,  and  that  from 
the  same  Cordillera  some  river  must  descend  to  the  already  mentioned 
Yguazu,  confronting  with  the  river  of  one  hundred  and  ten  fathoms  which 


—  571  — 

flows  into  the  Uruguay,  an  opinion  which  would  surely  meet  with  approba- 
tion if  Your  Excellency  should  act  with  more  impartiality  in  the  matter. 

There  are  two  principal  branches  of  the  Uruguay,  according  to  Don 
Joseph  Fernandez  Pinto  Alpoym's  Journal:  one  of  them  called  River  de  las 
Ca.noas,  which  is  the  deeper  and  wider  of  the  two,  and  is  crossed  by  the 
road  that  goes  from  San  Pablo  to  Viamon ,  and  the  other  called  Uruguay- 
mini,  or  River  de  las  Pelotas,  which  is  crossed  by  the  same  road  at  a  distance 
of  eleven  leagues  from  the  first.  The  place  where  these  two  rivers  meet  is 
not  yet  well  known,  rivers  which  running  at  first  through  open  country,  af- 
terwards enter  into  dense  and  almost  impenetrable  forests ;  but,  in  any  case, 
it  is  certain  that  if  the  river  in  question  is  found  at  the  confluence  of  the  al- 
ready named  Uruguay-mini,  it  must  be  the  River  de  las  Canoas,  in  which 
event  we  would  be  confronted  by  such  an  extraordinary  phenomenon  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  explain  it,  and  that  is  that  the  supposed  River  de  las 
Canoas,  main  trunk  of  the  Uruguay,  would  only  have  a  width  of  one  hundred 
and  ten  fathoms  at  ;ts  confluence  with  the  Uruguay-mini,  the  width  of  this 
last  river  being  at  the  same  place  almost  three  times  as  great,  which  is  con- 
trary to  reason  as  well  as  to  the  laws  of  geography;  and  besides,  no  maps, 
ancient  or  modern,  exist,  in  which  this  pretended  confluence  is  placed  so 
much  to  the  West  of  the  lands  of  the  Vaqueria  and  so  near  the  Uruguay-pita 
as  Your  Excellency  supposes. 

In  regard  to  the  rest,  I  agree  with  Your  Excellency  that  the  reports  of 
our  geographers  deserve  the  best  credit;  but  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  they 
have  not  seen  the  River  de  las  Pelotas,  nor  are  they  aware  at  what  point  it 
enters  the  Uruguay,  a  circumstance  which  obliges  me  to  say  that  Your  Ex- 
cellency must  regard  as  false,  or  at  least  doubtful,  all  the  suggestions  that 
may  have  been  received  by  Your  Excellency  on  this  subject. 

The  only  way  to  resolve  this  problem  is  to  enter  into  the  river  of  one 
hundred  and  ten  fathoms  width,  an  undertaking  with  which  I  shall  entrust, 
at  an  opportune  moment,  the  Commissioner  of  the  Second  Sub-division,  Don 
Diego  Albear,  and  I  promise  Your  Excellency,  upon  my  word  of  honor,  that, 
before  proceeding  far,  the  geographers  will  see  that  its  course  does  not  come 
from  the  Sierra  of  Brazil,  but  from  the  Cordillera  of  San  Antonio,  which  would 
justify  my  opinion  regarding  what  happened  in  the  late  demarcation,  when, 
as  I  said  to  Your  Excellency  in  my  previovs  letter,  the  true  Pepiri  was  not 
found  because  the  Commissioners  did  not  sufficiently  ascend  the  waters  of  the 
Uruguay.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  censure  the  conduct  of  the  late  Commis- 
sioners, but  at  the  same  time  I  must  say  to  Your  Excellency  that  the  respect 
which  I  owe  to  their  memory,  or  any  other  consideration,  will  not  prevent 
me  from  making  public  the  mistakes  which  they  incurred,  when  I  judge  them 
prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  Hi^  Catholic  Majesty  and  to  the  Spanish  na- 
tion. God  keep  Your  Exeellency  for  many  years. — Pueblo  de  San  Juan 
Bautista,  the  thirteenth  of  January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty- 
nine.— JOSEPH  VARELA  YULLOA.— SefiorDon  Sebastian  Xavier  da  Vei.- 
ga  Cabral  da  Camara.     This  is  a  copy. — VARELA. 


—  572  — 


THIRD  IiETTER  OF  VAB.ELA  IT  UIiLOA.  (*) 

With  date  of  i6th,  instant,  Your  Excellency  agrees  that  notices  be  inserted 
in  the  general  plans  of  our  demarcation,  stating  all  the  points  of  difference 
existing  between  them  which  the  engineers  and  geographers  may  observe, 
said  notices  to  be  inserted  in  the  manner  suggested  in  my  letters  of  the  9th. 
and  13th.  instant.  I  had  expected  a  similar  compliance  from  Your  Excel- 
lency in  regard  to  the  wide  river  situated  six  leagues  against  the  stream  from 
the  Uruguay-pita,  and  which  I  submitted  as  the  true  and  only  Pepiri,  hoping 
that  the  justice  of  my  cause,  and  the  clearness  with  which  I  expressed  to 
Your  Excellency  the  error  incurred  by  our  predecessors,  would  induce  Your 
Excellency  to  recognize  said  river  as  the  limit  between  both  dominions;  but 
as  Your  Excellency  resists  and  always  will  resist,  as  stated  in  Your  Excellen- 
cy's already  mentioned  communication,  to  comply  with  this  request,  nothing 
remains  for  me  to  do,  but  to  leave  this  matter  in  the  hands  of  the  Courts,  as 
I  do  from  this  moment. 

I  would  have  limited  my  despatch  to  these  words,  if  Your  Excellency  had 
not  recalled  to  my  mind,  the  examination  and  interrogatory  to  which  we 
submitted  the  geographers  after  they  finished  the  survey  of  the  Uruguay.  I 
am  unable  to  understand  what  motive  Your  Excellency  may  have  to  repeat 
charges  that  I  answerd  in  my  last  letter,  judging  that  they  could  be  succesfuUy 
refuted  by  the  offer  I  made  to  show  to  Your  Excellency  the  correspondence 
which  I  had  had  with  His  Excellency  the  Vice  roy  of  Buenos-Ayres,  and 
with  Lieutenant  Don  Diego  Albear,  about  the  situation  of  the  true  Pequiri  or 
Pepiri  through  which  the  boundary  line  must  be  drawn.  But,  as  Your  Excel- 
lency forces  me  to  answer  directly,  I  cannot  do  it  in  a  better  manner  than  by 
relating  all  that  took  place  in  regard  to  this  affair,  which  in  substance  was 
as  follows: — When  the  geographers  first  entered  into  the  Uruguay,  they  made 
a  mistake  regarding  the  situation  of  the  Pepiri,  thinking  that  this  river  was 
one  which  is  found  nearly  ten  miles  down  the  stream  from  the  Uruguay- 
pita,  and  acting  upon  this  belief.  Doctor  Don  Joseph  Saldafia  gave  orders  to 
clear  the  woods  at  one  of  the  points  of  the  said  river,  leaving  there  the 
following  Latin  inscription:  ''  Post  facta  resurge7is-Pepiri-gtiasu-i-/88"  \\\\\\ 
the  letters  R.  F.,  towards  the  East,  as  a  sign  that  the  lands  situated  in  that 
direction  belonged  to  the  dominion  of  Portugal.  As  soon  as  the  geographers 
returned  here  I  discovered  by  the  Journal  of  the  Spanish  geographers  the 
mistake  into  which  they  had  fallen,  and  it  did  not  take  me  much  time  to 
convince  them  of  this  fact, in  Your  Excellency's  presence,  reading  to  them  an 
extract  of  the  Journal  of  the  late  demarcation,  and  of  other  papers  and  reports 
which  I  possess  relating   to  this  matter;  consequently.  Your  Excellency,  and 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archives, 
of  Alcald  de  Henares  which  in  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Madrid 
forms  part  of  group  D,  No.  12,   of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence" 


~  573  — 

I  agreed  that  the  survey  should  be  repeated,  giving  the  geographers  new 
orders  and  instructions  so  that  it  might  not  be  a  failure  as  at  first.  In  effect, 
they  returned  to  the  Uruguay  and  navigating  this  river  against  the  stream, 
they  found  on  the  northern  bank,  at  a  distance  of  six  leagues  from  the  Uru- 
guay-pita a  wide  river  that  is  one  hundred  and  ten  fathoms  in  width  at  its  mouth, 
with  a  reef  very  near  the  same  and  having  other  signs  which  convinced  the 
Spanish  geographer  that  this  river  was  the  Pepiri  which  the  late  Commis- 
sioners were  seeking,  news  which  the  Spanish  geographer  conveyed  to  me  in 
a  letter  dated  the  9th.  of  August  of  last  year,  enclosing  an  extract  of  the  course 
followed  and  a  plan  showing  the  identity  of  the  newly  discovered  river  with 
the  Pepiri  represented  in  the  map  of  the  Courts,  to  which  the  already  mention- 
ed Commissioners  had  to  conform  their  actions  in  the  execution  of  the  treaty 
of  1750. 

These  news  helped  to  confirm  me  in  the  opinion  I  always  entertained  that 
the  river  of  our  opening  was  the  Uruguay-pita,  an  opinion  to  which  Your  Ex- 
cellency immediately  agreed  by  a  process  of  reasoning  as  simple  as  it  was 
natural,  and  that  is,  down  the  stream  from  said  river  of  our  opening,  no  other 
one  exists  that  can  be  the  Uruguay-pita,  and  against  the  stream  the  geogra- 
pher did  not  find  it,  as  proven  by  the  already  mentioned  letter  of  the  Spanish 
geographer;  and  by  another  letter  which  he  afterwards  wrote  me  from  the 
pueblo  de  San  Luis. 

After  examining,  for  a  short  distance,  the  course  of  the  wide  river  which  is 
1 10  fathoms  at  its  mouth,  the  geographer  descended  the  Uruguay  as  far  as  the 
Pepiri  of  the  late  demarcation,  in  the  western  point  of  which  they  left  some 
inscription  showing  that  this  river  was  the  same  that  the  late  Commissioners 
had  recognized  as  the  Pepiri  ;  in  prpof  whereof  it  is  enough  for  me  to  say 
that  the  geographers  did  not  sign  any  document  relating  to  this  question,  or 
even  leave  in  a  tree,  the  inscription  which  has  always  been  used  to  mark  the 
respective  dominions  of  the  two  Crowns,  I  having  reserved  the  decision  of  this 
point  for  many  and  grave  considerations  which  cannot  have  escaped  Your 
Excellency's  good  judment;  from  all  of  which  must  be  inferred  that  the  above 
mentioned  inscription  has  the'same  value  in  this  case,  as  the  Post  facta 
resurgens,  etc. ,   of  which  I  spoke  before. 

After  completing  the  operations  which  I  have  mentioned,  the  geographers 
returned  to  this  village,  and  from  the  questions,  put  to  them  I  found  that  they 
had  reached  the  Pepiri  of  the  late  Commissioners ;  but  then  or  afterwards,  I 
have  never  said  by  word  of  mouth  or  in  writing  that  this  river  is  the  same 
and  identical  river  of  which  mention  is  made  in  the  Article  V  of  the  treaty  of 
1750;  about  this  matter  I  have  to  recall  to  Your  Excellency's  memory  that 
when  I  wrote  to  Lieutenant  Don  Diego  de  Albear  in  regard  to  this  subject, 
I  sent  him  a  plan  of  the  Uruguay  made  by  the  Spanish  geographer,  with  orders 
to  show  it  to  his  Portuguese  colleague  Colonel  Don  Francisco  Juan  Roscio, 
to  whom  Your  Excellency  was  unable  to  send  a  similar  plan,  the  aid,  instruc- 
ted to  draw  it,  having  become  suddenly  ill;  a  copy  of  the  plan  must  be  in  the 
possession  of  said  Colonel,  and  if  Your  Excellency  be  good  enough  to  exa- 
mine it  very  carefully,  Your  Excellency  will  find  the  true  Pepiri  marked  very 


—  574  — 

distinctly  from  the  river  which  our  predecessors  recognized  as  such,  and  the 
true  Uruguay-pita  marked  also  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  river  to 
which  they  gave  this  name,  on  account  of  the  ignorance  of  their  guide.  All 
these  facts,  which  are  irrefutable,  offer  me  an  opportunity  to  fill  many  pages, 
but  I  shall  abstain  from  doing  so,  so  that  Your  Excellency  will  not  have  cause 
to  speak  again  of  inventives,  or  tell  me  that  I  harshly  criticise  his  despatches, 
as  the  facts  are  all  the  contrary,  and  when  I  write  to  Your  Excellency,  I 
always  try  to  soften  my  words  as  much  as  possible,  and  even  the  sen§e  of  my 
discourse. 

Considering  then,  that  this  dispute  is  at  an  end,  I  write  Your  Excellency 
to  proceed  now  with  the  demarcation  of  the  lands  situated  between  Monte 
Grande  and  the  southern  bank  of  the  Uruguay,  the  only  undertaking  that 
remains  for  us  to  accomplish,  and  about  the  execution  of  which  I  write  sepa- 
rately to  Your  Excellency. — God  keep  Your  Excellency  for  many  years. — 
Pueblo  de  San  Juan  Bautista.  19th.  of  January,  1789. — ^JOSEPH  VARELA 
Y  ULLOA. — Seiior  Don  Sebastian  Xavier  da  Veiga  Cabral  da  Camara. — 
This  is  a  copy,  Varela. — This  is  a  copy,  Andres  de  Torres. 


1789 


Act  drawn  in  the  pueblo   de  San   Juan   Bautista,   the   6th  of 

October,  in  which  it  is  stated   that  de  Commissioners  not 

having  ag-reed  upon  the   situation  of  the  true   Pe- 

piri,  have  decided  to  submit  the  question  to  the 

decision  of  the  respective  Courts.  {*) 

We,  the  Chief  Boundary  Commissioners  in  Southern  America,  Don  Jo- 
seph Varela  y  UUoa,  Brigadier  of  the  Royal  Navy  of  His  Catholic  Majesty, 
for  the  part  of  Spain,  and  Don  Sebastian  Xavier  da  Veiga  Cabral  da  Camara, 
Brigadier  of  the  Royal  Army  of  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty,  and  Governor  of 
Rio  Grande  de  San  Pedro,  for  the  Crown  of  Portugal,  say  and  declare :  that 
the  operations  of  the  first  subdivisions  under  our  immediate  orders,  having 
been  completed,  and  also  having  signed  the  plans  that  show  the  exact  and 
proper  survey  made  of  the  lands  that  lie  between  the  mouth  of  Arroyo  del 
Chuy,  where  our  demarcation  was  begun,  and  the  mouth  of  the  river  Pequiri 
or  Pepiri,  where  it  should  have  ended,  these  plans  specifying  the  lands  that 
were  surveyed,  as  proven  by  the  documents  drawn  on  the  eighth  of  October 
of  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty  four,  and  on  the  30th  of 
January  of  1788,  as  well  as  those  lands  which  could  not  be  surveyed  on  ac- 
count of  doubts  which  arose  regarding  the  manner  of  executing  this  under- 
taking, doubts  which  obliged  us  to  submit  this  question  to  the  decision  of  the 
two  Crowns:  we  have  agreed,  for  the  good  of  the  service,  to  consider  this  un- 
dertaking as  finished,  obeying  orders  which  we  have  received  from  the  Vice- 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archives  of 
Alcald  de  Henares  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Madrid, 
forms  part  of  group  D,  No  13  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  576  — 

roy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  and  from  the  Viceroy  of  Janeyro,  and  deciding  also 
the  inmediate  separation  of  the  parties,  the  Spanish  one  to  return  to  the  For- 
tress of  Montevideo,  and  the  Portuguese  to  the  Village  of  Rio  Pardo.  And 
to  authorize  this  document  we  sign  it  in  the  Pueblo  de  San  Juan  Bautista,  in 
the  Misiones  of  the  Uruguay,  the  6th  of  October  of  1789. — JPH.  VARELA 
Y  ULLOA.— SEBASTIAO  XAVIER  DA  VEIGA  CABRAL  DA  CAMA- 
RA. — This  is  a  copy. — Varela. — This  is  a  copy. — Andres  de  Torres. 


Notice  appended  to  the  Map  raised  by  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  Commis- 
sioners, presented  with  the  Evidence  in   photographic  copies  duly 

leg-alized. 

Note. — This  map,  and  the  one  drawn  by  the  Spanish  geographers,  are 
not  in  accord  regarding  the  names  of  some  streams  (arroyos)  that  run  through 
the  lands  surveyed  from  the  mouth  of  the  Chuy  to  the  entrance  of  the  Pe- 
piri  into  the  Uruguay;  and  both  Commissioners  wishing  to  avoid  the  confu- 
sion that  this  circumstance  may  produce  when  the  Courts  treat  of  establishing 
the  definite  limits,  have  agreed  to  reciprocally  express  said  differences  in  the 
two  maps.  The  principal  differences  observed  by  the  Spanish  Commissioners 
are  the  following : 

First. — The  southern  branch  of  the  Piratini,  is  named  in  this  map,  Pira- 
tini  Maior,  or  Arroyo  de  Santa  Maria.  The  Spanish  Commissioner  accepts 
the  latter  denomination,  but  not  the  first,  because  when  the  said  arroyo  was 
surveyed  neither  the  guides  nor  the  geographers  recognized  it  by  the  name 
of  Piritani  Maior,  as  proven  by  the  Journals  of  the  geographers. 

Second. — The  arroyo  which  in  this  map  has  the  name  of  Icabacua-mini, 
in  the  Spanish  map  is  named  Ibira-mini. 

Third. — The  Arroyo  del  Arenal  of  this  map,  is  called  the  Vacacay-mini 
in  the  Spanish  map. 

Fourth. — The  arroyo  which  in  this  map  is  called  the  Vacacay-mini,  in 
the  Spanish  map  is  the  Ararica,  which  runs  through  the  southern  brow  of 
Monte  Grande. 

Fifth. — The  river  which  in  this  map  is  called  the  Pepiri-guazii,  is  the 
same  which  was  recognized  as  such  by  the  late  Commissioners,  but  the  Spa- 
nish Commissioner  declares  that  the  above  Commissioners  made  a  mistake, 
and  that  the  true  Pepiri  is  the  wide  river  situated  six  leagues  against  the 
stream  from  the  Urugay-pita,  and  about  this  matter  he  recalls  what  he  has 
already  written  to  his  Portuguese  colleague. 

In  all  the  rest,  the  Spanish  Commissioner  believes  the  maps  to  be  in 
accord,  and  in  witness  thereof,  signs  the  present  in  the  Pueblo  de  San  Juan 
Bautista  in  the  Misiones  of  Uruguay,  the  4th  of  October  of  1789. — JPH.  VA- 
RELA Y  ULLOA. — This  is  a  copy. — Andres  Torres. 


1789 


Letter    of  Se&or  Varela  y  UUoa,  to    the  Viceroy   of  Buenos 

Ayres,  IMEarquis  de   Loreto,  arguing  the  convenience 

of  not  accepting  any  other  limit  but  the    River 

Fepiri-guazu.     (*) 

Your  Excellency:  By  Article  V  of  the  Boundary  Treaty  of  1750,  it  was 
ordered  that  the  dividing  line  be  drawn  by  the  river  Pepiri  as  far  as  its  prin- 
cipal source,  and  from  there  by  the  nearest  of  those  rivers  which  enter  into 
the  Grande  de  Curitiba,  called  also  the  Iguazu,  an  undertaking  which  had  to 
be  performed  in  accordance  with  a  map  which  was  sent  by.  orders  of  the 
Courts,  to  the  Commissioners  Don  Francisco  Arguedas  and  Don  Joseph  Fer- 
nandez Pinto  Alpoym,  who  were  entrusted  to  carry  out  said  undertaking. 

In  this  map,  (which  the  Portuguese  cannot  challenge,  because  it  was 
'drawn  in  Lisbon),  the  said  Pepiri  was  represented  up  the  stream  from  the 
Uruguay-pita,  and  in  accordance  with  this  specification  the  Commissioners 
sought  to  find  it,  beheving,  by  the  other  reports  which  had  reached  them, 
that  it  was  a  wide  river,  and  that  it  had  a  reef  very  near  its  mouth.  But  the 
case  is  that  having  reached  the  first  river  that  flows  into  the  Uruguay  through 
its  northern  bank  after  passing  Salto  Grande,  the  guide  assured  them  that 
this  was  the  Pepiri,  telling  them  he  had  known  it  by  this  name  since  the 
time  he  had  made  an  expedition  with  the  Indians  of  his  village  to  a  place 
which  they  called  La  Espia. 

The  Commissioners  seeing  that  this  river  did  not   agree   in  any  manner 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archives  of 
AlcaM  de  Henares  which,  in  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul,  at  Madrid, 
forms  part  of  group  D,  No.  14,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence." 


-  578  - 

with  the  one  represented  in  the  map  of  the  Courts,  they  continued  the  na- 
vigation of  the  Uruguay  against  the  stream,  with  the  object  of  discovering 
if  the  information  was  correct  which  the  guide  gave  regarding  two  other  ri- 
vers which  were  higher  up,  and  which  he  said  were  the  Apiterebi  and  Uru- 
guay-pita; after  having  observed  the  situation  of  both  these  rivers,  they 
reach  a  fall  of  one  fathom  in  height,  from  whose  boulders  the  water  des- 
cended with  such  violence,  that  they  believe  it  most  impossible  to  cross  the 
canoes  to  the  other  side,  and  returned  to  the  headquarters  of  the  two  parties, 
where  the  river  indicated  by  the  guide  was  solemnly  recognized  as  the 
Pepiri. 

As  the  aforesaid  Commissioners  acted  in  this  case  against  the  faith  due 
to  the  map  of  the  Courts,  which  placed  the  Pepiri  against  the  stream  from 
the  Uruguay-pita,  and  not  down  the  stream,  as  the  river  in  question  was  si- 
tuated, they  have  left  us  in  their  Journal  the  reasons  which  they  had  to  act  in 
accordance  with  the  words  of  the  guide,  reasons  which  in  substance  can  be 
reduced  to  only  two. 

The  first  was,  having  believed  that,  in  effect,  the  Uruguay-pita  was  the  last 
river  which  the  guide  had  shown  them,  they  inferred  that  as  the  guide  had 
knowledge  of  this  river,  he  must  also  have  knowledg  of  the  one  which  he 
called  the  Pepiri,  and  which  was  further  down;  the  second  reason  being 
that  they  entertained  the  strong  belief  that  after  crossing  the  fall  of  one 
fathom  in  height,  it  was  impossible  to  find  any  wide  river  which  by  its  situa- 
tion and  other  circunstances  could  be  taken  for  the  Pepiri  mentioned  in  the 
Treaty. 

Although  I  fully  appreciate  the  work  done  by  the  Commissioners  of  the 
late  demarcation,  I  cannot  refrain  from  saying  that  in  regard  to  the  subject 
under  discussion,  they  committed  a  grave  error,  most  prejudicial  to  the  inte- 
rests of  the  Spanish  Mornarchy. 

In  effect,  the  last  river  to  which  the  guide  conducted  them,  telling  them 
it  was  the  Urugay-pita,  is  not  that  river  in  reality,  and  it  does  not  even 
spring  from  the  Cuchilla  General  (high  lands)  as  was  them  believed,  but  from 
a  mound  which  gives  waters  also  to  the  lyui-guazu,  from  which  mound  it 
flows  through  hard  and  stony  lands  until  its  confluence  with  the  Uruguay  at 
a  point  eight  leagues  in  a  direct  line  down  the  stream  from  the  Uruguay-pita, 
it  being  also  true  that  from  the  fall  of  one  fathom  in  height  upwards,  several 
wide  rivers  are  found  in  the  northern  bank  of  the  Uruguay,  and  one  in  parti- 
cular, which  is  situated  against  the  stream  from  the  already  mentioned  Uru- 
guay-pita, and  which  has  a  reef  very  near  its  mouth,  these  being  the  signs 
the  Commissioners  were  seeking,  so  that,  had  they  reached  this  river,  they 
would  infallibly  recognized  it  as  the  Pepiri. 

This  error  having  been  discovered,  I  have  been  forced  to  correct  it  in 
our  map,  asking  my  Portuguese  colleague  to  do  the  same,  and  to  accept  as 
boundary  the  wide  river  whose  situation,  as  I  have  said,  is  identical  to  that 
of  the  Pepiri  represented  in  the  map  of  the  Courts;  but  my  colleague  has  re- 
fused to  make  this  correction,  under  pretext  that  by  Article  VIII  of  the  pre- 
liminary Treaty  of  1777,  it  is  ordered   that  the  line  be  drawn  by  the  Pepiri 


—  579  — 

which  confronts  or  can  confront  with  the  river  San  Antonio;  of  all  this  Your 
Excellency  will  be  informed  by  the  copies  I  inclose  of  the  despatches  written 
by  me  to  my  Portuguese  colleague,  and  of  his  respective  answers  to  the  same, 
mine  being  designated  with  the  numbers  I,  II,  III,  and  his,  with  the  num- 
bers IV,  V,  VI. 

It  would  truly  be  of  the  greatest  advantage  for  us  if  the  boundary  line 
^should  be  drawn  by  this  new  river,  because  in  that  case  all  the  waters  of  the 
Uruguay-pita  would  belong  to  the  Crown  of  Spain,  and  as  the  waters  more 
to  the  East  come  from  Monte  Grande,  which  separates  the  grass  land  of  these 
villages  from  the  lands  of  the  Vaqueria  belonging  to  the  Portuguese,  there 
would  be  no  difficulty  in  drawing  the  dividing  line  through  Monte  Grande, 
which  is  the  only  way  I  see  of  saving  and  covering  the  settlements  of  both 
nations  in  the  terms  ordered  in  the  preliminary  Treaty,  as  your  Excellency 
will  see  by  what  I  write  to  Your  Excellency  in  a  separate  despatch.  God  keep 
Your  Excellency  for  many  years.  Pueblo  de  San  Juan  Bautista,  9th  of  Oc- 
tober of  1789.— Your  Excellency  JOSEPH  VARELA  Y  ULLOA.— To  His 
Excellency  Marquis  de  Loreto.  -  This  is  a  copy. — Andres  Torres. 


1  790 


The  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres  reports  to  the  Court  of  Spain, 

with  enclosed  documents  upon  the  differences  ocurred 

regarding-  the  River  Fepiri,   {*) 

Yonr  Excellency  ; — In  fulfilment  of  Article  I  of  the  boundary  treaty  of 
the  year  1750  and  by  order  of  the  Courts,  a  plan  was  sent,  made  at  Lisbon, 
in  which  among  other  rivers  which  flow  into  the  Uruguay,  there  appeared  at 
a  very  long  distance  from  its  great  waterfalls  and  above  the  Uruguay-pita,  the 
Pepiri  where  the  divisory  line  had  been  ordered  to  be  drawn.  Those  Com- 
missioners looked  for  it  in  the  expressed  locality  and  received  advices  that 
it  was  a  large  stream  and  had  a  reef  very  near  its  mouth.  Having  come  to 
the  first  river  that  flows  into  the  Uruguay  by  its  riothern  bank,  and  having 
been  told  by  the  Indian  they  took  as  guide  for  want  of  some  other,  that  that 
was  the  Pepiri,  they  were  not  satisfied,  as  they  saw  it  did  not  agree  in  any  way 
with  the  one  represented  in  the  said  map,  and  they  proceeded  up  the  river  on 
the  Uruguay,  to  ascertain  if  other  particulars  he  gave  of  the  rivers  Apiterebi 
and  Uruguay-pita,  which  were  farther  up,  were  true;  and  after  examining 
the  location  of  the  one  and  the  other,  they  continued  as  far  as  the  foot  of  a 
waterfall  of  a  height  of  one  fathom,  and  believing  it  insuperable  they  returned, 
and  accepted  as  the  Pepiri  the  river  pointed  out  by  the  guide,  according  to  the 
statements  in  their  journal. 

His  lack  of  intelligence  is  already  obvious  in  the  designation  made  by 
him  of  the  Uruguay-pita,  and  it  has  been  so  found  by  the  Commissioners  of 
the  first  Portuguese  party  of  the  present  demarcation,  who  in  consequence 


( *  )  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  documents  of  reference  existing  in  the  Ge- 
neral Archives  of  Indies,  which  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Se- 
vile,  forms  part  of  group  D.,  No.  15,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  5^2  — 

ordered  to  have  put  on  the  plan  over  the  said  river :  Uruguay-pita  of  the  late 
surveyors,  and  over  another  which  lies  higher  up  and  is  in  eflfect  the  true  one: 
True  Uruguay-pita.  Notwithstanding  this,  preference  is  given  to  the  infor- 
mation of  the  said  guide  over  the  actual  truth  of  the  said  map  in  the  desig- 
nation of  the  Pepiri,  which  was  discovered  with  the  greatest  effort  by  the 
present  surveyors  above  the  said  waterfall,  one  fathom  high,  and  with  all 
the  land  marks  used  in  the  search  by  the  previous  surveyors,  in  accordance 
with  the  said  map  and  data,  about  which  the  Brigadier  of  the  Navy  Don 
Joseph  Varela  and  his  concurrent  have  had  the  contestations  referred  to  in 
copies  I  to  VI,  which  I  remit  herewith  to  Your  Excellency,  together  with  the 
copy  of  the  corresponding  official  letter.  Besides  other  reasons  which  these 
Spanish  Commissioners  possesses  to  his  entire  satisfaction,  the  Portuguese 
referred  to  bases  himself  on  the  ground  that  the  Pepiri,  by  which,  according 
to  the  last  treaty  of  1777,  the  divisory  line  must  go,  is  the  one  that  was  re- 
cognized as  such  since  the  previous  demarcation,  as  the  Courts  could  not  help 
accepting  it  for  the  true  Pepiri  since  then,  while  the  causes  raising  any  doubt 
are  originated  by  a  recent  discovery,  to  which  is  added  the  consideration 
that  the  line  must  run  from  the  source  of  this  river  trough  the  highest  ground 
and,  according  to  the  rule  of  Article  VI,  to  meet  the  source  of  the  river  San 
Antonio,  all  of  which  demonstrates  that  the  mind  of  the  Courts  was  that  the 
Pepiri  of  the  late  surveyors  should  be  chosen,  as  it  is  the  only  one  that  starts 
opposite  this  one,  according  to  the  latitude  and  location  observed  as  touching 
the  one  and  the  other.  But  these  foundations,  I  believe  are  more  apparent 
than  solid,  as  I  shall  proceed  to  communicate  to  the  superior  discernment  of 
Your  Excellency. 

Notwithstanding  that  in  the  demarcation  agreed  upon  by  the  treaty  of 
1750  it  was  the  mind  of  the  Courts  that  the  line  should  follow  by  the  Pepiri 
which,  according  to  the  plans  that  were  remitted,  flows  above  the  Uruguay- 
pita,  the  said  Commissioners  drew  it  by  another  river  which  is  farther  down 
than  this,  taking  it  for  the  true  Pepiri,  and  accepting  the  only  guide  that 
was  found  and  who  was  unduly  qualified  as  an  expert  as  I  have  stated  before; 
besides,  by  the  same  rule,  although  in  effecting  the  treaty  of  1777  the  Courts 
might  have  taken  it  by  the  Pepiri  (  which  is  not  convincing  because  of  the 
best  reasons  that  ocurred  to  the  said  Commissioners  for  the  contrary,  and  of 
the  annulment  of  the  treaty  of  1750,  the  said  demarcation,  consequently,  not 
being  approved )  the  line  must  not  be  drawn  by  that  river,  the  more  so  as 
the  true  Pepiri  designated  on  the  said  plan  is  now  discovered. 

Furthermore,  the  river,  by  which  the  treaty  oi  1777  designates  the  divi- 
sory line  is  not  called  Pepiri,  as  in  that  of  1750  without  cognomen,  but 
Pepiri-guaztc,  that  is,  Great  /<?/zW,  which  denotes  that  there  is  another  smal- 
ler Pepiri ;  and  thus,  even  without  denying  that  the  small  river  pointed  out 
by  the  said  guide  is  the  Pepiri,  nor  insisting  upon  the  readiness  with  which 
the  late  Commissioners  accepted  his  information,  we  must  hold  that  the  de- 
marcacion  shall  go  by  the  said  greater  river. 

The  expression  of  Article  VIII  of  the  last  treaty  referred  to,  that,  follow- 
ing up  the  line  as  far  as  the  principal   source  of  the   Pepiri-guazu,   it  shall 


-  583  - 

continue  by  the  highest  part  of  the  ground  according  to  the  rules  given  in  the 
VI,  to  meet  the  current  of  the  river  San  Antonio,  far  from  indicating  that  the 
line  shall  go  by  the  Pepiri,  wttich  confronts  with  the  latter,  it  conveys  the 
contrary;  for  according  to  the  highest  ground  and  the  said  rules  means  to  follow- 
by  the  Cuchilia  (  high  lands)  that  divides  the  waters  towards  the  Uruguay, 
and  the  Iguazu  marking  the  neutral  space  by  the  most  visible  and  perma- 
nent landmarks  ( which  in  this  case  may  be  the  upper  ends  of  the  rivers 
that  flow  into  the  same  Uruguay  and  Iguazu),  and  comparing  the  said  Pepi- 
ri and  San  Antonio  there  would  be  no  reason  for  following  the  Cuchilia,  but 
merely  ascend  and  descend  it ;  and  as  this  operation  is  necessary  to  go  from 
the  sources  of  one  to  those  of  the  other,  the  remark  referred  to  in  Article 
VIII  would  result  inofficious;  besides,  as  neither  in  the  old  nor  in  the  present 
demarcation,  either  river  has  been  explored  high  enough,  this  pretended 
comparison  is  but  a  light  conjecture. 

The  foregoing  is  all  that  I  can  add  to  the  foundations  of  the  Spanish 
Commissioners,  to  throw  light  in  this  doubt,  and  I  hope  that  Your  Excellen- 
cy will  contribute  towards  its  speediest  decision,  as  it  is  necessary,  in  order 
to  prevent  delays  and  useless  and  heavy  expenses  than  the  same  demands 
for  the  progress  of  this  important  demarcation.  God  guard  Your  Excellency 
many  years.  Buenos  Ayres,  January  28th,  1790. — Your  Excellency. — NICO- 
LAS DE  HAREDONDO.— With  his  rubric— To  His  Excellency  Fr.  Don 
Antonio  Valdes. 

( Here  follow  the  letters  of  Varela  y  Ulloa  before  printed,  with  the 
answers  of  the  Portuguese  Commissioners  and  a  copy  of  the  Journal  of  the 
demarcation  of  1759,  from  March  5th.  to  March  14th.  ) 


1790 


Letter   of  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,   accompanying   the 
Flan  of  the  first  Party  of  Surveyors.    {*) 

The  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres  accompanies  the  General  Plan  of  the 
Survey  of  the  first  parties,  with  copies  of  the  notices  put  in  the  Portuguese 
map,  of  the  document  executed  to  authorize  this  work,  and  the  communica- 
tion, with  which  he  transmitted  every  thing  to  the  principal  Spanish  Com- 
missioner, informing  him  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  said  parties,  his  colleague 
remaining  as  attached  to  the  Second  Subdivision,  perhaps  with  some  hidden 
object. 


Your  Excellency : — The  principal  Commissioner  of  the  Survey,  Don 
Jose  Varela,  sent  me  with  a  communication  dated  the  tenth  of  last  October, 
the  annexed  General  PJan  of  the  Survey  executed  by  that  First  Subdivision 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Chuy  to  the  entrance  of  the  river  Pepiri  into  the  Uru- 
guay, and  copy  of  the  notices  put  in  the  Portuguese  map,  in  order  to  avoid 
the  confusion  arising  from  different  names  in  it,  by  which  some  rivers  and 
streams  are  designated,  and  other  copies  of  the  document  executed,  in  order 
to  authorize  this  work,  informing  me  that  the  Portuguese  Party  would  retire 
on  the  fourth  of  November  to  the  Government  of  Rio  Grande,  and  that  on 
the  fifth  he  would  do  the  same  with  his,  going  to  Montevideo ;  and  that  his 
colleague  remained  as  attached  to  the  Second  Subdivision,  by  command  of 
his  Viceroy,  in  which  order  he  considered  there  was  some  hidden  object, 
although  it  was  attributed  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  this  superio  rchief,  with  the 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  from  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Central  Archives  of 
Indies,  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States  Consul  at  Sevile,  forms  part  of 
group  D,  No.  i6  of  the  manuscript  documents  of  the  "Argentine  Evidence.* 


—  586  — • 

measures  taken  for  the  survey' of  the  rivers  Parana  and  Iguazu;  of  all  which 
I  send  copies  to  Your  Excellency  for  his  greatest  information.  May  God 
grant  Your  Excellency  many  years  of  life. — Buenos  Ayres,  January  twenty- 
eighth,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety. — Your  Excellency — NICO- 
LAS  DE  ARREDONDO.— To  His  Excellency  Don  Antonio  Valdes. 


(  Here  follow  transcriptions  of  Varela  y  Ulloa  s  Letter  of  October  gth, 
lySg,  of  the  Act  drawn  in  the  pueblo  of  San  Juan,  October  6th,  and  of  the  No- 
tice appended  to  the  Map  raised  by  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  Commissioners, 
already  printed.) 

Your  Excellency  :-^Although  it  is  some  time  since  the  Second  Engineer 
Don  Bernardo  Lecocq,  finished  the  General  map  of  the  Survey,  belonging  to 
these  First  Subdivisions,  I  have  not  wished  to  make  haste  in  signing  it,  thus 
giving  time  to  the  same  Engineer  to  draw  a  duplicate,  which  is  to  remain 
with  the  Secretary  of  the  Vice-Kingdom,  which  papers  I  thought  of  taking 
with  me  for  more  security,  and  in  order  to  have  the  honor  of  presenting 
them  myself  to  Your  Excellency,  on  my  arrival  to  that  capital.  But  my  de- 
parture having  been  delayed  for  reasons  not  unknown  to  Your  Excellency,  and 
my  colleague  having  communicated  to  me  that  he  was  going  to  send  imme- 
diately his  map  to  the  Viceroy  of  Brazil,  it  seemed  to  me  convenient  to  send 
ours  to  Your  Excellency,  by  way  of  Yapeyu,  which  I  do  to-day,  including  a 
copy  of  the  notice  that  I  put  in  the  Portuguese  map,  and  of  the  document 
which  we  executed,  in  order  to  authorize  the  work,  and  proceed  to  separate 
the  Parties.  The  one  in  charge  of  my  colleague  will  start  for  its  destination 
the  fourth  of  next  November,  and  I  will  do  the  same  the  following  day,  with 
the  Spanish,  going  to  Montevideo  by  San  Martin,  the  Fort  of  Santa  Tecla 
and  Paso  del  Rey.  I  find  that  my  colleague  remains  here  attached  to  the 
Second  Portuguese  Subdivision,  by  order  communicated  to  him  by  the  Vice- 
roy of  Brazil,  dissatisfied,  as  it  appears,  with  the  steps  taken  by  Colonel  Fran- 
cisco Juan  Roscio,  for  the  survey  of  the  Parana  and  the  Iguazu.  That  is 
what  is  said  at  present,  although  I  suspect  there  is  in. this  a  greater  mistery, 
but  Your  Excellency  will  be  informed  of  every  thing,  opportunely,  by  our  Com- 
missioner Diego  Albear.  May  God  grant  you  many  years  of  life. — Town  of 
San  Juan  Bauptista,  the  tenth  of  October,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
eighty  nine.— Your  Excellency.— JOSE  VARELA  Y  ULLOA.— To  His  Ex- 
cellency Marquis  de  Loreto. — It  is  a  copy,  Andres  de  Torres. 


1794 


Original  private  letter  of  Don  Fedro  Cervino  to  Felix  de  Azara, 

containing-  a  narrative  of  what  occurred  on  account  of  the 

survey  of  the  true  Fepiri-guazu,  made  by  the  Spanish 

engineer  Andres  de  Oyarvide,  and  other  important 

news  in  regard  to  the  settlement  of  boundaries 

in  conformity  with  the  Treaty  of  1777.  {*) 

(Private) — My  dear  Sir  and  esteemed  Commander  :  The  moment  has 
arrived  of  fulfiling  the  offer  I  made  you  of  sending  the  map  which  the  first 
surveying  parties  drew  ;  in  it  you  will  see  our  frontier  determined  by  the 
marks  placed,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Chuy  to  the  lagoon  Merin,  and  that  of 
Portugal,  by  the  posts,  from  the  shore  of  the  sea,  in  a  straight  tangent  to  the 
lagoon  of  the  Manguera,  from  there  going  to  the  falls  of  the  Tahim,  follows 
these  waters,  and  finishes  in  the  said  lagoon  Merin. 

After  fixing  these  boundaries,  the  doubts  and  debates  commenced 
among  the  Commissioners,  and  as  a  result,  they  agreed  to  draw  a  map  of  the 
lagoon  Merin  and  its  waters,  in  order  to  inform  their  respective  Courts  ;  it 
was  thus  done,  but  nothing  has  resulted  up  to  date.  The  Portuguese  took 
advantage  of  this  inaction,  and  infringing  on  what  had  been  agreed  to  in  the 
Treaty,  have  passed  the  Piratini,  which  is  the  first  and  only  stream  which 
flows  into  the  Sangradero,  near  the  mines  of  the  Portuguese  Fort  of  San  Gon- 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  of  the  Archives  of  the  Argentine 
Department  of  Foreign  Relations,  which  forms  part  of  group  D,  No.  17,  of  manuscript  docu- 
ments of  the  «  Argentine  Evidence.!)  Don  Pedro  Antonio  Cervino  was  a  principal  member 
of  the  Parties  of  Surveyors  who  were  in  the  River  Plate  to  settle  the  boundaries  between  the 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  dominions  in  South  America,  as  agreed  by  the  Treaty  of  1777. 


—  588  — 

zalo,  and  are  occupying  as  much  territory  as  they  can;  in  order  to  stop  their 
progress,  it  seemed  that  our  Government  ordered  to  build  three  forts  in  the 
highlands,  which  divides  the  waters  of  the  river  Yaguaron  and  the  large  San 
Lorenzo  ;  this  one  has  been  passed  by  our  neighbors,  and  they  have  esta- 
blished an  encampment  of  troops  of  the  Volunteer  Regiment  of  Pinto,  which 
will  be  shortly  turned  into  a  settlement,  and  they  will,  therefore,  remain 
there  forever.  If  the  object  of  our  new  forts  is  to  stop  them,  the  greatest 
care  should  be  taken  in  the  selection  of  the  persons  who  are  to  command 
them,  as  all  the  means  invented  by  bribery  will  be  employed  in  order  to 
buy  them.  The  hides  and  cattle  of  the  Sierra  are  a  powerful  temptation, 
capable  of  perverting  those  who  are  not  very  scrupulous  in  adquiring  money, 
or  caring  for  the  means,  whether  legitimate  or  not,  and  more  if  they  are  as 
some  that  I  know,  who  with  metaphysical  reasoning  want  to  excuse  their 
acts,  and  think  they  can  fool  the  rest  who  remain  silent,  because  nothing  is 
given  to  them,  or  because  they  see  that  they  can  not  remedy  it. 

The  ground  expected  to  be  covered  wnth  the  three  forts  seems  too  large, 
and  a  great  distance  must  necessarily  remain  between  each,  allowing  the 
Portuguese  to  enter  in  and  depart  from  our  territories  at  leisure,  without  the 
eight  or  ten  soldiers,  to  remain  in  each  garrison,  being  able  even  to  molest 
them  ;  for  this  reason  I  consider  this  precaution  insufficient,  and  I  fear  they 
will  finish  by  destroying  all  the  cattle  of  the  Sierra.  What  remains  entirely 
exposed  is  all  the  cattle  grounds  of  our  pueblos,  from  Santa  Tecla  to  Monte 
Grande.  As  soon  as  this  tract  was  surveyed,  the  part  lying  on  their  side  was 
immediately  occupied  by  them,  and  theysettled  the  cattle-ranches  on  the  same 
highlands,  which  serves  as  limit  and  is  neutral  :  their  cattle  mixes  with  that 
of  the  Indians,  and  they  themselves  are  continually  trespassing;  these  ranches 
will  be  the  first  to  loose  their  property,  and  if  the  Portuguese  are  reprimanded 
they  will  say,  as  usual,  that  the  robbers  are  outlaws  and  that  justice  can  not 
keep  them  in  check ;  in  this  wise  they  excused  themselves  with  the  Spanish 
Commissioner  for  the  robbery  which  they  then  committed  of  horses  and 
mules  of  the  Boundary  Expedition,  and  one  thousand  oxen  of  the  pueblo  of 
San  Juan. 

Until  we  settle  the  frontier,  as  the  Portuguese  have  done,  we  will  be  the 
victims  of  their  ambition,  and  only  by  settling  can  we  oppose  to  them  equal 
forces  ;  then  each  one  will  keep  what  belongs  to  himself,  and  they  would  not 
dare  to  rob  so  frequently,  fearful  of  being  found  out  and  punished  ;  it  is  not 
to  be  expected  that  they  will  restrain  themselves  willingly  within  the  limits 
stipulated  in  the  Treaty  ;  two  hundred  years  of  experience  proves  this  asser- 
tion ;  our  policy  as  to  this  point  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  the  wisest.  In 
all  times  our  government  has  prohibited  the  occupation  of  these  fields,  and 
this  has  been  the  cause  of  our  evils  and  of  the  opulence  and  trade  of  the  Por- 
tuguese of  the  continent  ;  to  expect  to  keep  the  fields  by  means  of  patrols  is 
a  great  error,  as  well  as  to  expect  the  Tapes  to  defend  their  farms.  The 
frontiers  occupied  by  them  should  be  settled  by  Spaniards.  Many  things 
could  be  said  as  to  this  matter,  but  as  I  do  not  want  to  make  this  very  long  I 
leave  them  to  your  judgment,  which  can  decide  them  best  and  who  will,  if 


-  589  — 

necessary,  have  ready  the  most  efficacious  and  rapid  means  for  restraining 
our  neighbors,  whose  unbounded  ambition  requires  very  prompt  and  early 
remedy,  if  we  seriously  think  of  keeping  the  cattle  which,  unfortunately  for 
us,  has  greatly  diminished,  and  which,  should  they  be  destroyed,  would  de- 
prive us  of  the  only  branch  of  commerce  that  these  places  have.  But  enough 
of  digression. 

The  parties  having  arrived  to  Santa  Tecla,  the  Commissioners  again 
agreed,  in  consequence  of  which  they  fixed  the  land  marks  of  the  territory 
between  this  fortress  and  the  Monte  Grande,  raising  the  monuments  which 
they  thought  sufficient  to  determine  both  dominions,  and  which  are  shown  in 
the  annexed  map ;  at  the  entrance  of  the  Monte  Grande  new  doubts  arose, 
and,  therefore,  they  had  to  recurr  to  surveying  the  country  and  to  report  : 
they  thus  did  it  from  the  said  Monte  Grande  to  the  southern  bank  of  the 
Uruguay,  both  Commissioners  recognizing  the  lands  and  the  rivers  by  the  names 
with  which  the  Indians  of  these  pueblos  called  than,  these  Indians  being  the 
only  ones  who  know  them. 

This  once  done,  the  experts  went  down  the  Uruguay,  coasting  the  Uru- 
guay-pita, looking  for  the  Pepiri,  which  according  to  the  last  reports  of  the 
Portuguese  Joseph  Custodio,  approved  by  the  Court,  should  flow  into  the 
Uruguay  on  the  opposite  side,  two  leagues  further  down  from  the  said  Uru- 
guay-pita ;  'up  to  this  distance  nothing  was  found,  but  continuing  six  leagues 
more  they  arrive  at  last  to  the  one  that  the  late  surveyors  had  taken  for  the 
Pepiri,  and  in  it  they  recognized  some  signs  placed  by  them,  which  yet 
existed.  This  led  our  Commissioners  to  suspect  that  the  previous  survey- 
ors had  erred  in  the  fixing  of  the  Pepiri,  not  taking  into  consideration,  or 
supposing  them  to  be  mistaken,  the  signs  placed  in  the  instructions  which 
they  were  to  follow,  and  by  which  they  were  to  identify  it. 

The  error  was  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  the  late  surveyors  started 
from  San  Xavier,  and  ascended  the  Uruguay,  having  as  a  guide  an  Indian 
who  had  been  in  those  places  once  when  a  boy ;  the  surveyors,  tired,  per- 
haps, from  overcoming  the  many  difficulties  of  the  navigation,  or  because 
the  guide  was  not  competent,  they  called  the  Bixuy  the  Uruguay-pita,  and 
another  that  flows  some  distance  down,  on  the  opposite  border,  the  Pepiri; 
this  determination  was  entirely  opposed  to  what  was  declared  in  the  Instruc- 
tions, which  affirmed  that  the  said  Pepiri  flowed  into  the  Uruguay  on  its 
western  bank,  above  the  Uruguay-pita,  that  it  had  in  its  mouth  an  island, 
and  at  some  distance  from  it  a  fall  of  water ;  for  the  island  they  took  a  bank, 
which  can  be  seen  when  the  waters  of  the  Uruguay  are  low,  and  for  the  fall 
of  the  Pepiri  a  reef  of  the  same  Uruguay,  veiy  near,  and  somewhat  below 
the  mouth  of  the  other  Pepiri. 

Our  Commissioners  being  informed  by  his  men  of  the  distance  at  which 
the  Pepiri  had  been  found,  and  that  it  differed  very  much  from  the  place 
where  the  map  put  it  and  the  instructions  given  him,  he  commenced  to  com- 
pare them  with  those  of  the  year  fifty,  and  he  suspected  that  the  true  Pepiri- 
guazu  was  to  the  east  of  the  Uruguay-pita ;  in  order  to  assure  himself,  he 
ordered  his  geographer  to  navigate  the  Uruguay  up  the  river,   to  the  place 


—  59°  — 

where  the  old  maps  place  it,  and  in  fact,  his  suspicious  were  verified,  and  the 
geograph.ers  found  the  said  Pepiri  in  the  place  given  in  the  ancient  Instruc- 
tions, to  the  east  of  the  Uruguay-pita  with  the  large  island  at  its  mouth,  and 
the  reef  or  fall  near  it. 

Being  aware  of  this,  the  Commissioner  of  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty  re- 
tracted what  he  had  before  accepted  :  that  is,  he  disapproved  the  map  which 
he  had  signed  with  the  Spaniard,  in  which  he  had  recognized  the  river  Uru- 
guay-pita, on  the  pretext  that  the  Spanish  Commissioner  had  taken  advantage 
of  him,  this  name  being  put  by  the  Spaniards  themselves,  and  substituted  in 
its  stead,  the  one  of  Trigote,  which  nobody  has  ever  heard,  and  although  I 
gave  it  in  the  accompanying  map,  it  was  done  so  that  Your  Excellency  would 
be  informed  of  it,  and  should  be  suppressed,  so  that  no  confusions  arise  in 
the  future. 

At  this  stage,  the  first  Spanish  Commissioner  determined  to  retire, 
considering  his  commission  as  finished,  entrusting,  together  with  the  Portu- 
guese, the  practical  survey  of  the  Pepiri  to  the  Commissioners  of  the  Second 
Party.  These  had  separated  from  the  first  in  Santa  Tecla,  to  survey,  as 
they  did,  the  rivers  San  Antonio,  Iguazu  or  Grande  de  Curitiba,  and  Parana 
to  its  famous  cataract,  and  they  had  returned  to  Candelaria  having  finished 
their  commission. 

They  immediately  passed  to  the  pueblo  of  San  Angel,  to  survey'the  Pepiri, 
as  entrusted  to  them,  and  at  this  time  the  debates  and  disputes  which  we  have 
sustained  for  more  than  five  years  commenced  which  reduce  themselves  to  the 
Spanish  Commissioner  affirming  that  the  Pepiri  was  not  known  by  the  ancient 
surveyors,  alleging  as  proof  the  above  reasons,  and  some  other  of  less  weight, 
which  I  consider  useless  to  state,  and  the  Portuguese  that  it  is  the  one  known 
by  them,  and  not  the  arbitrary  one  pretended  by  the  Spaniards ;  nevertheless, 
after  many  reciprocal  urgent  requests,  in  the  first  two  years  the  two  rivers  in 
dispute  were  explored,  the  Portuguese  with  the  idea  of  identifying  his  with 
the  San  Antonio,  and  the  Spaniard,  of  finding  one  which  directs  its  course  to 
the  Iguazu  ;  the  first  did  not  accomplish  his  purpose,  and  all  the  eflforts  they 
made  to  find  the  curupi  or  pine  marked  in  the  headwaters  of  the  San  Anto- 
nio, were  useless  ;  the  second's  object  was  also  frustrated,  the  Portuguese 
who  accompanied  him  openly  refused  to  make  any  further  surveys  than  the 
one  of  the  Pepiri,  and  returned  from  its  headwaters,  leaving  the  Spaniard 
alone  ;  the  latter  continued  and  found  the  sources  as  shown  in  the  map,  with 
direction  to  the  south,  and  the  nearest  ones  he  named  San  Antonio-guazu. 

This  survey,  I  think,  was  made  in  the  year  ninety,  and  since  then  the 
Parties  have  been  inactive  ;  the  Spanish  Commissioner  has  determined  to 
survey  the  river,  newly  called  |San  Antonio-guazu,  with  the  object  of 
identifying  the  work  done  by  this  side,  with  that  done  by  the  Parana  ;  the 
Portuguese  is  obstinate  and  does  not  want  to  agree  to  the  said  survey,  a 
thousand  times  asked,  and  as  many  denied  constantly.  In  the  official  com- 
munications that  have  passed,  most  singular  things  have  been  written  :  the 
principal  argument  of  our  Commissioner  is  the  Treaty,  which  wisely  orders 
that,  whenever  a  doubt  occurs,   a  map  of  the  territory  in  dispute  shall  be 


—  591  — 

made,  and  an  account  given  to  the  Courts,  so  that  they  can  accordingly 
resolve  ;  but  the  Portuguese  pretend  to  put  this  precise  and  equitable  pro- 
vision in  doubt,  alleging  that  it  does  not  include  the  present  case  ;  that  the 
Treaty  speaks  of  the  frontiers,  and  that  the  river  in  dispute  is  more  than 
thirty  leagues  inland,  in  the  Portuguese  dominions  ;  and  thus  they  remained 
unmoved,  without  being  able  to  agree,  and  resolved  never  to  yield. 

I  conceive  that  the  Spaniards  ought  not  to  solicit  the  survey  of  the 
said  San  Antonio-guazu  ;  this  exploration  might  lead  to  new  troubles,  and 
make  the  fixing  of  the  boundaries  interminable.  If  the  sources  examined 
with  direction  to  the  south  change  course,  and  turning  eastward  should  flow 
into  the  Uruguay,  the  Portuguese  will  raise  a  cry,  and  will  have  matter  of 
which  to  talk  eternally;  without  surveying  the  said  new  San  Antonio,  we 
have  sufficient  knowledge  to  inform  the  Courts  exactly,  and  if,  knowing  the 
truth,  they  determine  to  fix  as  Hmit  the  Pepiri  newly  discovered,  no  doubts 
will  then  arise,  whatever  be  the  course  the  headwaters  admitted  should 
follow  ;  and  in  this  case,  others  would  be  looked  for,  precisely  flowing  into 
the  Iguazu,  which  is  the  requirement  of  the  Treaty. 

Furthermore,  the  disputed  territory,  included  between  the  two  Pepiris, 
is  useless  to  us  at  present  and  will  remain  for  many  years  uncultivated,  and 
it  seems  as  if  it  does  not  offer  any  advantage  nor  any  trouble  in  the  near  or 
remote  future.  It  is  bad  land,  full  of  roughness  and  impenetrable  woods, 
very  far  from  our  settlements,  of  stony  roads  difficult  to  travel,  and  in  my 
judgment  will  never  be  worth  what  it  has  cost  up  to  date  to  the  King,  being 
more  than  what  was  expended  in  the  discovery,  conquest  and  settlement  of 
America.  The  party  consumes  annually  more  than  twenty-two  thousand 
dollars,  without  including  the  salaries  of  the  navy,  which  in  five  years  that  it 
has  been  here  exceeds  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand. 

What  really  concerns  us  and  upon  what  we  must  insist,  is  thai  the  bear- 
ing be  continued  from  the  place  left,  through  the  shores  of  the  Lagoon  Merin, 
leaving  the  latter  neutral  to  the  Piratini,  which  is  the  first  streatii  which 
fioivs  into  the  Sangradero,  or  channel  of  it,  and  which  flows  nearest  the  Por- 
tuguese Fort  of  San  Gonzalo,  that  the  said  Piratini  be  the  frontier  to  its  prin- 
cipal source.  From  it,  it  should  continue  by  the  highest  portions  of  the 
ground  until  it  meets  the  one  in  Santa  Tecla,  which  was  marked  by  agree- 
ment, taking  it  up  again  from  the  southern  border  of  the  Monte  Grande,  it 
should  follow  East  to  the  northern  shore,  and  thence  by  the  same  border, 
leaving  the  forest  to  the  East,  and  would  continue  until  it  arrives  to  the  pass 
which  unites  the  Monte  Grande  with  the  Yacuy,  after  traversing  this  pass, 
thence  in  the  same  way  coasting  the  grass  lands  of  the  Pueblo  of  San  Miguel 
to  the  place  where  the  Uruguay-pita  flows  r  so  that  the  Portuguese  should 
never  pass  further  in  than  the  Monte  Grande.  This  is  the  only  way  of  keep- 
ing safe  the  cattle  of  the  pueblos  and  of  establishing  an  indelible  barrier  be- 
tween both  dominions,  for  if  they  ever  pass  it  and  manage  to  establish  them- 
selves in  the  fields  which  are  to  the  West  of  the  line  which  I  have  just  indi- 
cated, they  will  be  able  to  do  us,  with  all  impunity,  any  harm  whatever.  In 
times  of  peace  they  will  rob  the  cattle  of  the  ranches,  will  recruit  the  Indians 


—  592  — 

and  will  carry  them  off  to  Brazil,  will  provide  themselves  with  mules,  horses, 
etc.,  and  will  carry  on  whatever  contraband  they  desire;  and  in  times  of  war 
it  will  be  very  easy  for  them  to  conquer  the  eastern  pueblos  of  the  Uruguay, 
without  our  being  able  to  oppose  to  them  in  these  places  forces  capable  of 
stopping  them;  and  although  some  grass  lands  remain  in  the  Portuguese 
dominions,  or  in  the  neutral  land  which  is  to  be  designated,  we  must  suffer 
this  damage  and  cut  this  knot  as  soon  as  possible,  as  it  cannot  be  untied, 
and  wait  for  the  things  to  change  of  aspect,  so  as  to  draw  a  hne  more  advan- 
tageous: the  facts  which  the  plans  and  journals  of  the  parties  furnish  us,  en- 
able us  to  do  so  with  knowledge,  when  the  opportunity  presents  itself.  The 
line  which  I  have  suggested  as  boundary,  I  have  marked  it  in  the  map  for 
your  information  with  this  sign  :...&...&...&... 

The  permanence  of  the  Spanish  Party  in  this  town  is,  in  my  opinion,  a 
political  error  of  the  greatest :  on  this  pretext  the  Portuguese  have  here  a 
most  flourishing  colony;  they  introduce  all  the  merchandise  that  they  want 
without  paying  duties  nor  any  other  tax  to  the  King,  and  without  danger  of 
confiscation  and  of  punishment  as  smugglers;  they  take  out  all  the  horses 
which  they  find,  go  for  them  as  far  as  Corrientes  with  the  greatest  easiness, 
and  barter  them  in  exchange  for  rings,  necklaces,  earrings  and  other  things 
of  this  kind,  without  their  real  value  amounting  to  a  fourth  of  what  they  as- 
sign to  it.  The  most  strange  thing  is  that  their  sagacity  found  a  way  of 
reducing  fifty  reis  each  dollar,  the  real  value  of  which  being  800,  is  not 
taken  for  more  than  750;  and  it  is  to  be  noted  above  all  that  the  Spaniards 
(of  the  party)  pretend  to  persuade  the  others  that  we  ought  to  live  very  grate- 
ful to  the  Portuguese,  because  they  furnish  us  with  everything.  What  non- 
sense ;  everybody  will  be  dumfounded  when  they  learn  that  in  San  Angel 
twenty-five  pounds  of  sugar  are  worth  sixteen  dollars. 

Another  and  greater  injury  and  of  worse  consequence  follows  the  stay 
of  the  Portuguese  Party  :  they  try  by  all  means  to  engage  the  Indians;  of  the 
pueblo  of  San  Juan  alone,  they  have  carried  away  more  than  five  hundred 
without  their  having  been  to  this  date  reprimanded  nor  remedies  having  been 
applied  to  prevent  such  a  disorder.  1  wonder  how  some  Spaniards,  who  con- 
sider themselves  enlightened  men,  and  whose  character  and  office  obliges 
them  to  notice  this,  are  not  moved  to  any  action,  and  allow  the  depopulation 
of  a  province.  I  must  add  that  this  greatly  surprises  me,  and  that  I  only  be- 
lieve it  because  I  see  it. 

It  seems  as  if  the  Spaniards  of  the  present  time  have  forgotten  the  good 
examples  of  their  ancestors;  for  them  there  were  no  difficulties,  for  us  every- 
thing is  an  impossibility;  they  were  successful  in  all  their  enterprises,  and 
we  fail  in  every  one.  I  will  cite  one  instance:  it  seems  as  if  the  present  Sur- 
veyors have  forgotten  the  object  of  their  commission;  they  allow  these  ex- 
cesses, while  their  strict  duty  is  to  watch  for  the  interests  of  the  State ;  they 
have  firmly  established  themselves,  as  if  their  office  perpetual;-  many 
have  married,  others  want  to  marry,  and  those  who  were  married  have 
brought  their  wives.  Up  to  this  date  about  forty  persons  have  been  born  of 
this  expedition.     In  this  wise  the  King  can  be  served.     They  thus  have  roof- 


—  593  — 

tiled  houses  to  live  in,  meat  to  eat  in  abundance,  paid  surgeon  to  cure  their 
ills;  they  sleep  in  all  calmness  and  in  soft  beds;  they  manufacture  children 
with  all  comfort,  and  they  enjoy  a  good  salary,  which  is  the  most  essential. 

It  short,  this  question  of  boundaries  reduces  itself,  to  make  beheve  that 
we  are  doing  something  and  let  the  months  run.  Considering  all  this,  I 
think  that  it  can  be  said  without  it  being  taken  as  a  blunder,  that  the  party 
should  be  ordered  to  retire  and  the  salaries  therefore  suspended;  and  as  the 
Governor  of  Rio  Grande  is  the  first  Commissioner  of  the  Court  of  Lisbon, 
His  Excellency,  the  Viceroy,  could  deal  directly  with  him,  and  agree  to  send 
two  experts  who  should  put  into  execution  what  has  been  determined,  be- 
cause this  is  what  is  done  here  without  adding  or  taking  anything.  After 
deciding  upon  some  survey,  all  the  party  goes  to  what  is  called  the  encamp- 
ment, thirty  leagues  from  this  town,  in  which  there  is  abundance  of  meat, 
fine  bread,  &c. ,  and  from  there  they  send  the  subalterns,  who  are  to  make  the 
survey.  Hardly  have  they  gone  into  the  woods  the  other  gentlemen  of  the 
party  return  to  the  town,  reciprocally  praising  one  another  for  their  efficacy 
and  activity,  without  forgetting  to  say  it  in  their  respective  communications, 
nor  exalting  the  immense  hardships  which  they  suffered,  and  their  painful 
trips  with  crutch  and  walking  staff  through  brambles  and  forests,  exposing 
themselves  to  be  victims  of  the  wild  beasts  or  of  the  savages,  in  order  to  carry 
out  their  charge;  and  if,  as  it  has  happened,  some  subaltern  has  asked  for  a 
certificate  of  his  work  it  is  denied  him  and  he  is  reprimanded,  and  being 
asked  what  has  he  done,  and  insisted  to  reflect,  so  that  he  will  see  that  he 
has  done  nothing,  not  admitting  that  the  subalterns  and  no  others  have  been 
the  ones  who  have  made  the  surveys,  who  have  put  in  order  the  plans,  who 
have  suffered  hunger  and  misery  in  the  deserts,  because  aid  was  not  sent 
them  in  time,  in  a  word,  that  they  have  done  everything  excepting  to  write 
the  reports.  If  I  were  of  a  satirical  disposition,  I  could  say  something  very 
good  as  to  this  matter. 

This  letter  is  already  very  long.  As  I  do  not  want  to  trouble  the  atten- 
tion of  Your  Excellency,  I  do  not  specify  certain  things  causing  some  thou- 
sands of  dollars  to  be  yearly  consumed,  which  could  and  even  should  be 
saved.  According  to  the  last  news  from  Europe,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the 
money  in  the  treasury  of  Buenos  Ayres  will  be  scarce,  and  for  that  reason  I 
shall  delay  in  this  capital  until  the  coming  of  the  new  Viceroy.  Should  Your 
Excellency  come  down,  as  it  is  the  custom,  I  will  have  the  satisfaction  of  in- 
forming Your  Excellency  by  word  of  everything  relating  to  this  subject. 
Your  office,  the  commission  to  which  you  are  destined,  your  love  for  the 
King  and  the  State,  the  straightforwardness  of  your  judgment,  the  integrity 
of  your  actions,  are  powerful  reasons  for  informing  you,  in  case  Your  Excel- 
lency should  be  able  to  remedy  it,  hoping  that  your  zeal  will  make  of  these 
news  the  most  Christian  and  reasonable  use,  and  in  this  way  many  things 
will  be  avoided  which  are  not  good,  and  others  notoriously  bad  will  be  reme- 
died. 

I  have  drawn  the  meridians  of  the  map  converging,  so  that  Your  Excel- 
lency will  see  how  they  are  in  the  original;  but  I  must  advise  Your  Excqllen- 


—  594  — 

cy,  for  your  information,  that  it  is  a  plain  surface,  and  that  the  said  meridians 
were  those  drawn  after  the  map  was  constructed.  No  other  calculations  or 
elements  were  employed  but  the  bearings  and  distances,  prolonging  or 
shortening  these  so  as  to  make  the  hnes  agree  with  the  observations  made. 

Your  Excellency  will  notice  two  ancient  San  Antonios,  one  according 
to  the  Portuguese  and  the  other  according  to  the  Spaniards;  the  latter  placed 
it  by  the  course  they  followed  from  the  mouth  of  the  Iguazu,  the  latitude  and 
longitude  of  which  has  been  reckoned,  and  the  former  by  the  course  they 
took  from  Candelaria.  Roscio  did  it  thus  because  he  says  he  has  more  con- 
fidence in  the  course  than  in  the  observation,  and  because  that  way  it  is 
nearer  to  the  Pepiri,  which  is  his  object.  The  ones  and  the  others  have 
erred,  and  having  gone  a  greater  distance  than  the  one  that  results  from  their 
calculations,  they  were  not  able  to  find  the  famous  piheiro,  which  they  des- 
ignated as  mark,  at  the  headwaters  of  the  first.  From  the  fact  that  they 
trusted  more  to  such  a  long  course,  through  a  river,  the  velocities  of  which 
change  every  moment,  making  it  almost  impossible  to  estimate  distances. 
Your  Excellency  will  deduce  the  consequences  which  legitimately  must  be 
inferred;  and  I  believe  Your  Excellency  will  judge  as  I  do,  although  our 
opinion  will  not  agree  with  that  of  some  of  San  Angel,  who  speak  of  every- 
thing in  a  magisterial  and  decisive  tone,  without  taking  into  consideration 
that  the  mere  office  does  not  convince,  and  that  reasons  founded  on  true 
principles  are  the  ones  which  persuade. 

The  longitude  of  the  map  is  reckoned  from  the  western  point  of  the  Island 
of  Ferro,  which  was  supposed  20°  30''  west  of  Paris. 

What  is  included  between  the  34°  30''  to  the  35°  is  copied  from  the  chart 
of  the  River  Plate,  drawn  recently  by  Joaquin  Gundin. 

I  do  not  send  the  one  of  the  Parana,  Iguazu  and  San  Antonio,  because 
there  is  no  time  and  because  it  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  late  Surveyors. 
Nevertheless,  if  Your  Excellency  wants  it,  I  will  send  it  with  the  best  of 
wishes  after  returning  from  Buenos  Ayres. 

As  my  knowledge  is  limited  I  do  not  have  confidence  that  my  way  of 
thinking  is  correct.  I  know  that  it  is  very  easy  to  censure  other  people's 
works,  and  that  for  this  no  talent  is  needed;  but  I  am  also  satisfied  of  the 
straightforwardness  of  my  intentions  and  that  my  pen  was  moved  by  the  de- 
sire of  bemg  useful  to  the  King  and  to  the  State.  I  therefore  request  Your 
Excellency  to  let  me  know  the  errors  he  may  notice  so  that  I  may  detect  them. 
I  never  do  things  for  a  whim  or  obeying  plans;  the  truth  alone  I  love,  and 
it  will  always  be  my  idol;  I  will  never  abandon  it  for  worldly  authorities  or 
considerations.  In  the  ten  years  that  I  have  had  the  honor  of  serving  under 
your  orders,  I  have  seen  that  God  has  endowed  Your  Excellency  of  the  high- 
est qualities,  and  of  a  marvelous  tact  to  resolve  wisely  in  the  most  obscure 
and  abstract  things.  The  King  himself  has  given  the  most  authentic  proof, 
showing  that  the  labors  of  Your  Excellency  have  called  his  Royal  attention. 
Your  Excellency  is  the  only  one  among  the  Commissioners  of  Boundaries 
who  has  received  the  approbation  of  the  Sovereign  to  everything  he  has  pro- 
posed as  to  this  and  other  matters,  notwithstanding  the  desire  to  underate 


—  595  — 

the  talents  of  others,  prevalent  in  some  persons,  who  only  think  of  censuring 
what  they  are  not  capable  of  doing.  The  knowledge  of  this  and  of  the  fact 
that  all  what  I  know  I  have  it  from  Your  Excellency,  persuaded  me  to  sub- 
mit my  opinions  to  your  censure,  in  order  to  convince  myself  if  they  are 
worthy  or  not  of  being  approved,  in  which  former  case  I  will  be  very  much 
pleased.  I  hope  that  Your  Excellency  will  do  what  I  ask  him,  enlightening 
me  as  you  have  always  done,  then  I  will  feel  assured  that  the  darkness  which 
might  confuse  my  intelligence  will  be  dissipated.  The  desire  of  pleasing 
Your  Excellency  by  imitating  you  has  moved  me  to  this  activity,  and  if  I  de- 
serve the  approbation  of  Your  Excellency,  I  will  be  more  than  repaid  for  the 
labors  I  have  employed  in  obtaining  it. 

I  remain  to  serve  Your  Excellency  with  the  most  faithful,  delicate  and 
constant  affection,  and  with  the  same  I  beg  God  to  extend  the  life  of  Your 
Excellency  many  years.  San  Angel,  October  fourteenth,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  ninety-four. — Your  most  affectionate,  obliged  and  grate- 
ful servant,  PEDRO  ANTONIO  CERVINO.— Senor  Don  Felix  Azara. 


1  800 


Extracts  about  the  fourth  dispute  (survey  of  the  rivers  Pepiri 

and  San  Antonio),  taken  firom  the   Requena  y  Ju- 

rado's  IKEemoir.  (*) 

Fourth  dispute. — About  the  true  rivers  Pepiri  and  San  Antonio. 

1 30. — An  omission  made  by  the  Commisioners  appointed  to  mark  out  the 
dividing  line  agreed  upon  in  the  treaty  of  1750,  and  an  agreement  reached  in 
consequence  of  this  and  the  document  signed  by  the  Commissioners,  has  gi- 
ven rise  to  this  dispute. 

131. — The  Commissioners  received  by  common  agreement  of  the  Courts, 
instructions  to  the  effect  that,  in  accordance  with  the  Treaty,  the  dividing  Hne 
should  be  marked  out  by  entering  through  the  Uruguay  into  the  Pepiri- 
guazu  and  navigating  this  river  as  far  as  certain  springs,  and  from  this  point 
find  the  springs  of  the  San  Antonio,  that  flows  into  the  Iguazu  or  Curitiba, 

132. — The  characteristics  of  the  Pepiri-guazu,  as  given  in  the  above  ins- 
truction and  in  the  accompanying  map,  were  as  follows:  "  a  wide  river,  with 
a  woody  island  opposite  its  mouth,  and  a  great  reef  at  the  entrance  of 
its  bar,    which   mouth  is   found  up  the  stream  from  the  Uruguay-pita. 

133. — During  the  survey  made  by  the  said  Commissioners  in  the  year 
fifty-four,  they  were  not  accompanied  by  any  experienced  person  other  than 
an  Indian  of  the  neighboring  Misiones,  who  had  only  made  one  journey  of 
the  Uruguay.     Navigating  then,  against  the  stream,  they  found  in  the  nor- 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  part  referring  to  the  dispute  about  the  river  Pepiri,  of  the 
Lieutenant  General  Requena  y  Jurado's  Memoir,  whose  original  exists  in  the'  Central  Ar- 
chives of  Alcala  de  Henares;  and  a  part  of  which,  in  a  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United 
States  Consul  at  Madrid,  forms  part  of  group  D,  No.  18,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the 
"  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  598  -- 

them  bank  of  that  river  the  mouth  of  another  river  which  the  guide  told 
them  was  the  Pepiri-guazu. 

134. — Finding  that  it  did  not  have  the  already  mentioned  characteristics, 
the  Commissioners  doubted  the  assertion  of  the  guide,  and  for  this  reason 
they  continued  the  navigation  of  the  Uruguay  against  the  stream,  and  after 
proceeding  for  a  few  miles,  found  in  the  southern  bank  the  mouth  of  another 
river,  which  the  guide  said  was  the  Uruguay-pita;  but  their  doubts  were  in- 
creased by  the  circumstance  that  this  river  was  above  the  other  to  which  the 
guide  had  given  the  name  of  Pepiri-guazu,  contrary  to  what  was  shown  in 
the  above  mentioned  map;  and  consequently  they  continued  the  navigation 
until  they  came  to  a  fall  of  one  fathom  in  height  from  which  the  waters  des- 
cend with  sqch  violence  that  it  is  most  difficult  to  cross  to  the  other  side. 

135. — With  this  motive,  and  in  the  belief  that  further  on  it  was  doubt- 
full  to  find  in  the  northern  bank  any  river  having  the  characteristics  des- 
cribed in  the  instructions  and  map  as  corresponding  to  the  Pepiri-guazu.  the 
Commisioners  descended  the  Uruguay,  and  retiring  to  their  headquarters, 
they  signed  a  document  by  which,  although  the  rivers  found  did  not  have 
the  characteristics  and  signs  spoken  of  in  the  said  instructions  and  map,  they 
were  nevertheles  recognized  as  the  Pepiri-guazu  and  Uruguay-pita,  the  Com- 
missioners placing  more  faith  in  the  words  of  the  guide  than  upon  such  con- 
vincing proofs  as  the  instructions  and  map  afforded.  (There  is  a  note  which 
says:  "  Letter  of  Varela  of  the  fifth  of  August,  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  ninety  one)." 

136. — This  indiscreet  lack  of  confidence  of  the  Commissioners  in  the 
execution  of  the  Treaty  of  the  year  fifty,  which  prevented  them  from  con- 
tinuing the  navigation  of  the  Uruguay,  and  induced  them  to  make  such  a 
hasty  agreement  and  draw  the  document  they  afterwards  signed,  which  they 
should  not  have  done  without  special  permission  of  the  Courts,  has  given  co- 
lor to  the  present  arguments  of  the  Portuguese  for  not  agreeing  with  the  Spa- 
niards regarding  the  course  and  situation  of  the  true  rivers  Pepiri-guazu  and 
Uruguay-pita  (H.  H.) ;  but  it  can  be  truly  .said  that  the  Portuguese  knew, 
and  cannot  help  knowing  how,  the  mistake  made  by  the  late  Commissioners, 
as  shown  by  the  fact  of  their  having  agreed  to  the  survey  of  the  Uruguay,  as 
related  in  the  first  part.  (There  is  a  note  that  isays:  "  See  number  seven- 
teen and  following  of  this  extract")  but  as  in  the  second  survey,  and  even 
more  so  in  the  third  one,  the  identity  of  the  true  Pepiri-guazu  was  indisputa- 
bly established,  the  second  Portuguese  Commissioner  Don  Juan  Francisco 
Roscio,  had  no  recourse  to  prevent  the  demarcation  which  should  have  fo- 
llowed, and  which  the  Court  of  Portugal  has  always  tried  to  elude,  but  to  re- 
fuse to  find  the  springs  of  the  river  San  Antonio,  when  the  Commissioners 
were  in  the  waters  of  the  true  Pepiri-guazu.  (There  is  a  note  which  says: 
"  See  the  number  thirty  first  of  the  same  ;")  although  according  to  the  Treaty 
this  was  the  very  operation  which  should  have  followed,  and  which  should 
hAve  been  performed  by  the  second  Commissioners  of  both  parties,  who 
were  charged  with  the  execution  of  Article  VII  of  the  Treaty. 

137. — Although  for  the  reasons  mentioned,  this  part  of  the  boundary 


—  599  — 

line  was  not  marked  out,  the  surveys  made  by  the  astronomers  and  other 
clerks  of  the  parties  of  the  two  principal  Commissioners,  and  those  made  af- 
terwards by  the  second  Commissioners,  and  lastly  by  the  Spanish  party  under 
the  orders  of  Don  Diego  Albear,  leave  no  doubt  that  the  true  rivers  Uruguay- 
pita,  Pepiri-guazii  and  San  Antonio,  are  those  which  are  thus  named  in  the 
map,  and  are  situated  higher  up  than  those  recognized  as  such  by  the  Com- 
missioners appointed  to  execute  the  treaty  of  the  year  fifty.  (There  is  a  note 
which  says:  "  Letter  from  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  of  the  twenty-eighth 
of  January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety,  number  ten)." 

138. — For  these  reasons,  and  by  virtue  of  what  was  expressly  agreed  in 
Articles  IV  and  VIII  of  the  Treaty  of  seventy-seven,  it  is  indisputable  the 
right  of  Spain  to  have  the  demarcation  made  by  the  above  mentioned  rivers. 


The  Fepiri  of  the  mistake,  in  the  interior.  ( * ) 


Considering. their  commission  at  an  end,  the  Commissioners  retired  to 
the  moutif  of  the  Pepiri  of  Arirapi,  on  the  7th  of  April,  with  the  idea  of  pas- 
sing to  the  Iguazu,  ascending  the  said  Iguazu  to  a  river  that,  by  its  situation, 
would  permit  them  to  go  up  to  the  interior  in  search  of  the  source  of  that 
false  Pepiri. 

On  the  twelfth  of  July  they  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  Fall  of  the  Iguazu 
and  there  established  their  general  headquarters,  on  the  27th  of  the  same 
month  they  despatched  a  party  under  the  orders  of  the  geographers  of  both 
nations,  Manuel  Pacheco  de  Christo,  Portuguese,  and  Francisco  Milhau  y 
Maraval,  Spanish,  so  that,  penetrating  in  the  woods,  they  would  look  for  the 
river  Pepiri,  trying  to  find  the  mark  left  on  its  bank  on  the  first  of  April,  and 
once  found  they  would  ascend  it  to  its  headwaters,  passing  from  these  to  the 
nearest  river  running  northwards. 

"  As  the  object  of  this  party  (says  the  journal  of  demarcation)  was  only 
to  determine  by  the  source  of  the  Pepiri,  the  nearest  river  to  this  one  which 
would  flow  into  the  Iguazu,  so  that  with  this  fact  and  sure  knowledge,  the 
surveyors  could  immediately  enter  it,  the  strongest  people  and  most  accos- 
tumed  to  the  woods  were  chosen,  so  that  they  could  overcome  the  diffi- 
culties." 

This  party  penetrated  about  fifteen  leagues,  without  any  result  whatever 
as  to  their  mission,  and  it  was  retired,  arriving  at  headquarters  on  the  26th  of 
September. 

In  the  meanwhile,  a  party  which  had  separated,  on  exploration  of  the 
Fall  of  the  Iguazu,  and  had  navigated  this  river,  discovered  the  larger  one  of 
the  two  which  they  found  in  the  southern  bank  to  which  the  name  of  San 
Antonio  was  given,  calHng  the  smaller  one  which  they  found  further  down, 
San  Francisco  ;  and  considering  that  the  said  San  Antonio,  by  its  volume 
and  situation,  could  have  its  source  very  near  to  that  of  the  Pepiri,  the  Com- 
missioners resolved  to  arrive  up  to  its  mouth,   and  ascending   in  search   for 


(*)  This  is  a  translation  from  a  chapter  of  the  book  entitled  "  La  Cuestion  de  Misio- 
nes. — Trabajos  publicados  en  el  Boletin  del  Institute  Geografico  Argentino.n-Ruenos  Ayres, 
1892,"  which  accompanies  the  "  Argentine  Evidence."  Page  125  and  following.  Its  author 
is  Mr.  Valentin  Virasoro,  third  Argentine  Commissioner  for  the  survey  of  the  disputed  terri- 
tory in  accordance  with  the  Treaty  of  1885. 


6o2    

that  river :  but  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Spanish  geographer,  the  party  that 
was  to  go  up  to  San  Antonio  under  the  orders  of  the  geographers  of  both 
nations,  went  ahead,  with  the  instructions  extracted  in  the  following  literal 
form,  in  the  journal  of  demarcation: — "That  ascending  by  the  said  river 
San  Antonio  (the  map  of  which  they  were  to  draw,  as  well  as  the  one  of  the 
Iguazu,  by  common  consent)  all  the  distance  permitted  by  its  waters,  they 
were  to  leave  the  canoes  in  the  place  where  they  could  no  further  navigate 
and  they  were  to  order  the  necessary  openings  to  be  made,  giving  the  laborers 
the  bearing  which,  according  to  their  charts,  would  lead  most  directly  to  the 
Pepiri ;  of  which  they  were  to  assure  themselves  by  recognizing  the  very  mar^ 
which  was  left  in  it,  when  it  was  entered  by  its  mouth,  or  if,  on  account  of 
the  difficulty  of  the  roads,  the  marks  were  not  to  be  seen,  they  were  to  as- 
sure themselves  by  other  signs  such  as  the  distance  at^  which  the  river  was 
found,  the  direction  in  which  it  flows,  the  outline  of  its  waters,  the  disposi- 
tion of  its  banks  and  all  other  things  noticed  in  its  course,  from  the  mouth 
to  the  source,  signs  which  could  be  very  well  distinguished  by  the  men  they 
took  with  them,  of  large  experience  of  woods  and  rivers.  Once  positive  that 
the  Pepiri  was  the  river  found  with  its  course  towards  the  South,  they  were 
to  ascend  it  to  its  source,  and  from  it  they  were  to  pass  in  search  of  the 
nearest  river,  flowing  to  the  Iguazu.  which  was  judged  to  be  the  same  river 
San  Antonio,  entering  which  the  Commissioners  were  to  go  as  far  as  the 
place  where  the  canoes  were  left,  and  there  wait  for  the  success  of  their  en- 
terprise, from  there  they  would  receive  the  needed  aid  to  finish  that  part  of 
the  demarcation,  the  most  difficult  on  account  of  the  uncultivation  of  the 
country,  the  abruptness  of  its  ridges  and  woods,  the  absence  of  news  and 
the  absolute  want  of  help  to  overcome  the  difficulties." 

Treating  afterwards  of  the  natural  obstacles  which  the  expedition  was  to 
encounter,  the  journal  says:  "On  the  other  hand,  it  was  not  known  how 
much  time  it  would  be  necessary  to  employ  in  the  discovery  of  the  Pepiri 
and  the  nearest  river  which  would  connect  with  the  dividing  line  ;"  consider- 
ing this  and  fearing  that  this  exploration  might  last  to  December  or  January, 
in  which  the  overflow  of  the  Parana  might  occur,  and  hamper  the  survey 
upon  that  river,  they  resolved  to  follow  the  demarcation,  while  the  Pepiri 
was  looked  for,  and  they  called  the  Portuguese  geographer  who  formed  part 
of  the  expedition  to  the  Pepiri,  so  that,  together  with  the  Spanish  astrono- 
mer, the  chart  would  be  drawn  in  the  demarcation  of  the  Parana. 

The  Spanish  Geographer  Maraval  thus  remained  alone  in  the  labor  of 
searching  for  the  Pepiri,  and  we  shall  now  see  how  he  fulfilled  it. 

From  the  15th  of  October  to  the  28th  of  December  he  made  explorations, 
and  following  the  course  of  a  current  running  South,  at  about  three  leagues 
from  its  source,  they  found  the  confluence  of  a  larger  stream,  with  the  volume 
of  a  river,  "  which  as  soon  as  they  examined  it,  seemed  to  all  to  be  the  Pepiri, 
by  the  signs  above  mentioned,"  judging  that  from  there  to  the  mark  looked 
for,  there  could  not  be  but  six  or  seven  leagues,  the  river  was  examined  to  a 
league  and  a  quarter  further  down,  and  receiving  there  the  order  of  examin- 
ing the  headwaters,  the  Spanish  geographer  ascended  the  said  river  or  stream, 


—  6o3  — 

which  he  already  considered  to  be  the  same  Pepiri  of  Arirapi,  he  followed  it 
through  its  principal  branch  to  its  source,  which  he  found  at  about  four  leagues 
from  the  said  confluence. 

"  The  principal  source  of  the  Pepiri  being  found,  says  the  Journal,  the 
nearest  water-course  flowing  northwards,  was  looked  for,  and  it  was  found  at 
one  half  of  a  quarter's  league  in  a  spring  of  sufficient  water,  which  gushed 
forth  among  great  rocks,  and  following  its  course  for  some  distance,  it  was 
seen  to  continue  to  the  north,  receiving  smaller  streams  on  both  sides."  Con- 
tinuing the  exploration  of  this  stream,  the  confluence  of  the  San  Antonio 
where  the  headquarters  were  stationed,  was  reached,  and  the  demarcation, 
on  that  part,  was  thus  considered  united. 

If  the  Spanish  geographer  had  continued  his  exploration  on  the  supposed 
Pepiri,  at  least  for  four  or  five  leagues  more,  noticing  its  cdurse  westwards, 
he  would  have  convinced  himself  that  it  was  not  the  one  of  the  Arirapi,  and 
the  one  known  which  flowed  towards  the  Parana, 

A  further  slight  effort  would  have  taken  him  out  of  the  doubts  with 
which  he  accepted  the  said  river  as  the  Pepiri  of  Arirapi ;  but  the  suffering 
already  borne,  the  scarcity  of  provisions  and  the  fear  of  the  Indians, 
discouraged  him  and  caused  him  to  submit  again  to  the  opinion  of  the 
guides,  and  by  letter  of  the  5th  of  December  he  communicated  to  the 
Commissioners  the  news  as  to  a  water  course  which  flowed  southwards,  and 
which  he  followed,  afterwards  entering  in  a  larger  one  "which  formed  a 
river,  and  after  its  union  continued  the  same  direction  of  where  the  mark 
should  be  ;  that  by  the  distance  travelled,  the  color  of  its  waters,  position  of 
the  mountains  bordering  the  banks  and  other  circumstances,  he  thought 
that  it  could  be  no  other  one  but  the  Pepiri,  for  it  had  all  the  signs  which 
had  been  noted  in  the  lower  part  of  the  said  Pepiri,  when  it  was  navigated 
from  its  moiith  upwards;  and  that  of  this  opinion,  the  trailers  and  guides, 
whom  he  had  with  him,  were  so  convinced  that  they  assured  it  as  certain  . 
and  that  no  other  rivers  of  the  ones  seen  which  flow  into  the  Uruguay  by 
that  longitude  could  have  its  headwaters  so  distant  and  so  high,  because 
they  were  all  small  rivers."  (Page  302.) 

These  considerations,  made  in  such  a  hap-hazard  way,  decided  the  Span- 
ish geographer  to  take  this  other  river  as  the  Pepiri  ;  being  far  from  imagin- 
ing, without  doubt,  that  the  former  flowed,  as  it  flows,  in  the  bed  of  the 
Parana. 

Notwithstanding  this  belief,  the  Spanish  geographer  asked  for  reinforce- 
ments of  men  and  means  to  continue  his  exploration;  but  the  Commissioners, 
the  two  astronomers  and  the  Portuguese  geographer,  after  having  an  inter- 
view as  to  the  matter  resolved  to  suspend  that  expedition,  and  called  the 
Spanish  geographer,  after  hearing  again  the  opinions  of  two  guides  sent  by 
him,  who  said  "that  from  their  knowledge  and  experience,  it  could  be  no 
other  but  the  Pepiri  ;  because  the  shape  of  the  mountains  among  which  it 
ran,  going  up  by  one  side  and  descending  by  the  other,  the  color  of  the 
waters  which  appeared  to  come  from  swamps,  the  rocks  of  its  bed,  the  trees 
and  shrubs  which  they  had  noticed  in  the  Pepiri,  when  they  ascended  it,   so 


—  6o4  — 

much  resembled  in  everything,  what  they  saw  in  this,  that  they  sometimes 
had  deceived  themselves,  believing  that  they  had  been  in  those  places  before; 
and  that  the  bearing,  which  they  knew  by  the  place  where  the  sun  rose  or  set, 
was  the  same  as  that  of  the  Pepiri.  Considering  this  they  unanimously  said 
that  there  could  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  it  was  the  Pepiri,  the  river  in 
which  the  Spanish  geographer  was,  and  that  its  verification,  by  the  examina- 
tion of  the  said  mark,  although  a  physical  evidence,  was  not  absolutely  ne- 
cessary in  view  of  the  conformity  of  so  many  signs,  nor  could  it  be  obtained 
under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  but  by  exposing,  without  special  neces- 
sity, that  officer  and  all  his  party  to  the  danger  of  perishing  at  the  hands  of 
the  unfaithful  or  from  sheer  need."     (Pages  305  and  306.) 

In  consequence  of  this  original  reasoning,  the  Spanish  geographer  was 
ordered  to  ascend  and  explore  the  headwaters  of  his  supposed  Pepiri,  as  he 
did,  as  we  have  already  said. 

In  the  same  journal,  page  336  of  the  book  previously  mentioned,  the 
following  is  said. — "  In  the  same  chart  in  which  is  the  spring,  source  of  the 
Pepiri,  there  is  found  at  300  paces,  towards  the  north,  another  abundant 
spring  which  gushes  forth  from  great  rocks,  and  from  it  rises  the  river  called 
San  Antonio "   (Page  389) 

From  these  irregular  proceedings,  from  these  surveys  always  unfinished, 
the  conduct  of  the  Commissioners  appears  most  censurable  ;  and,  above  all, 
the  little  diligence  in  the  Spaniard,  is  unjustifiable,  the  conduct  of  the  Portu- 
guese being  at  least  explicable  by  the  conveniences  resulting  in  favor  of  his 
cofintry. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  also  that  in  these  inconceivable  levities,  the  Span- 
ish functionaries  were  the  ones  who  acted  and  spoke,  accepting  facts  evidently 
contrary  to  their  instructions,  and  disadvantageous  for  their  country,  while 
the  Portuguese,  seeing  that  their  colleagues  so  satisfactorily  placed  themselves 
at  the  service  of  the  interest  of  Portugal,  maintained  themselves  in  an  ap- 
parent and  calculated  pacific  attitude. 

Bnt  on  the  whole,  this  Joint  Commission,  incurred  in  a  censurable  irre- 
gularity, which  has  left  open  to  attack,  its  technical  and  directory  personell 
in  the  sense  of  competency  and  dedication  to  work. 

That  Commission  had  the  expressed  charge  of  uniting  all  the  determin- 
ing points  of  its  demarcation,  so  as  not  to  give  rise  by  facts  nor  by  doubts  as 
to  a  solution  of  continuity,  which  would  produce  ruptures  or  want  of  meeting 
in  the  frontier  line, 

Nevertheless,  in  the  boundary'  included  between  the  Uruguay  and  the 
Iguazu,  which  should  run  by  the  Pepiri  Guazu  and  the  nearest  water  course 
flowing  on  the  opposite  direction  to  the  Iguazu,  the  Commissioners  proceeded 
against  that  charge,  and  not  satisfied  with  having  recognized  as  authentic, 
with  all  levity,  the  Pepiri  of  Arirapi,  they  not  even  explored  it  to  its  source, 
so  as  to  take,  afterwards,  with  all  security,  the  nearest  river  which  would  flow 
to  the  Iguazu;  and  adopting  a  more  troublesome  way,  full  of  uncertainties 
for  the  investigation  on  hand,  and  fraught  with  more  difficulties  and  dangers, 
they  passed  to  the  Iguazu,  so  as  to  enter  by  that  part  among  intricate   woods 


—  6o5  — 

and  abrupt  ridges,  to  the  principal  height  of  the  water  course,  and  to  feel 
aud  trail  among  the  hundred  of  streams  which  there  have  their  sources,  the 
source  of  the  Pepiri  of  Arirapi. 

It  is  true  that  for  the  efficacy  of  that  trail,  of  original  idea,  they  counted 
with  sure  signs  for  their  guidance,  as  the  color  of  the  waters,  the  rocks  of  the 
beds,  the  shape  of  the  mountains  among  which  it  ran,  that  went  up  on  one 
side  and  descended  by  the  other,  the  trees  and  shrubs  of  its  banks;  and  with 
these  characteristic  signs,  it  was  not  possible,  in  their  judgment,  to  make  a 
mistake. 

Such  was  the  result  at  which  they  arrived,  notwithstanding  that  the  guide 
found  a  complete  similitude  of  these  characteristic  signs  in  the  lower  Pepiri 
of  Arirapi  with  the  upper  Pepiri  of  the  mistake,  for  they  took  both  as  a  sole 
river,  while  the  first  flows  into  the  Uruguay  and  the  second  into  the  Parana. 

The  acceptance  of  such  indications  as  signs  of  the  authenticity  of  the 
river  they  looked  for,  shows  scant  judgment  and  a  complete  ignorance  of  the 
physical  and  manifest  character  of  the  region  in  which  they  operated,  since 
the  signs  which  determined  their  conviction  are  generally  found,  and  with 
the  greatest  resemblance  in  all  the  rivers  of  the  mountainous  part  of  Mis- 
iones.     Several  facts  of  primaiy  importance  are  to  be  taken  into  account. 

The  insistency  in  searching  for  a  way  of  penetrating  to  the  central  ridge, 
looking  for  the  source  of  the  Pepiri  of  Arirapi,  made  them  try  to  find  upon 
the  great  fall  of  the  Iguazu,  a  river  which  by  its  situation  could  agree  in  its 
sources  with  the  said  Pepiri. 

The  officers  who  separated  for  that  exploration,  returned  on  the  tenth  of 
September,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  nine,  ((having  navigated 
twenty  leagues  to  the  mouth  of  a  river,  the  largest  one  they  found,  which 
flows  into  the  southern  bank,  which  they  called  the  river  San  Antonio,  and 
it  seeming  to  them  that  as  it  was  the  largest,  its  course  would  be  more  ex- 
tended, and  its  headwaters  would  be  further  to  the  interior  southwards,  they 
entered  it  and  they  explored  a  part  of  two  branches  which  formed  a  fork,  at 
two  leagues  from  its  mouth,  it  seeming  to  them  that,  according  to  the  direc- 
tion in  which  it  flowed,  its  source  could  not  be  very  distant  from  the  head- 
waters of  the  Pepiri.)) 

In  view  of  this  information  it  was  that  the  Commissioners  resolved  to 
send  the  geographers  of  both  nations,  with  the  order  of  ascending  the  river 
San  Antonio,  navigating  it  to  where  its  waters  would  permit  it ;  and  leaving 
the  canoes  where  they  could  not  navigate  it,  to  make  openings  in  the  direc- 
tion which,  according  to  their  charts,  would  lead  more  to  the  south,  and  to 
follow  the  openings  until  assuring  themselves  that  it  was  the  same  Pepiri,  by 
the  identification  of  the  mark  left  oft  its  bank  when  it  was  entered  by  its  mouth  ; 
(( that  once  assured  that  it  was  the  Pepiri,  the  river  found  with  its  course  to- 
wards the  south,  they  were  to  ascend  it  to  its  source,  and  from  it  to  pass  to 
the  nearest  river,  which  would  be  Judged  to  be  the  same  river  San  Atttonio.n 

Those  instructions  were  signed,  together,  by  the  two  Commissioners,  and 
their  very  clear  terms,  destroy  the  importance  which,  in  the  question,  it  is 
pretended  to  be  given  to  the  river  San  Antonio. 


—  6o6  — 

This  river  could  not  serve  as  frontier,  unless  in  case  that  its  source  was 
the  nearest  to  the  one  of  the  Pepiri. 

From  the  headwaters  of  this  the  exploration  was  to  proceed,  in  order  to 
look  for  the  nearest  river,  which  would  run  to  the  Iguazu. 

The  San  Antonio,  according  to  the  Treaty,  the  general  instructions  of 
the  demarcation,  the  special  ones  of  the  Commissioners,  and  the  intentions, 
clearly  and  by  common  agreement,  manifested  by  them,  could  not  be  recog- 
nized as  boundary  but  on  condition  that  it  were  the  river  flowing  into  the 
Iguazu,  whose  headwaters  were  found  nearest  to  those  of  the  Pepiri. 

If  it  was  accepted  as  frontier  by  the  Commissioners  Arguedas  and  Al- 
poim,  it  was  under  the  belief  that  its  greatest  proximity  to  the  Pepiri  was  a 
fact. 

If  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  geographers  would  have  found  the  source 
of  the  Pepiri  of  Arirapi,  or  be  it  of  the  one  they  had  explored  by  the  part  of 
the  Uruguay,  they  would  have  not  recognized  the  San  Antonio  as  the 
frontier,  but  the  river  which  in  the  annexed  chart  is  marked  with  the  letter 
C,  or  be  it  the  one  which  in  the  Brazilian  chart  is  called  «Capanema.» 

This  is  the  one  which  has  its  sources  near  the  ones  of  the  Pepiri  of  Ari- 
rapi, and,  therefore,  the  chosen  one  by  the  intention  of  the  demarcators. 

Those  who  have  written  in  defense  of  the  rights  of  Brazil  show  special 
insistence  in  proving  that  the  demarcation  of  1759-1760  was  complete,  as 
determining  the  frontier  line,  and  correct  as  the  execution  of  the  Treaty 
which  it  should  obey. 

The  Argentine  Government  in  its  memorandum  of  the  thirtieth  of 
January,  1883,  said,  in  reference  to  this  erroneous  demarcation  :  ((The  ope- 
ration was,  therefore,  in  manifest  contradiction  with  the  rules  to  which  it 
should  have  adjusted  itself  in  the  discharge  of  its  labors,  and  suffered,  as  it 
has  been  said,  of  capital  errors  of  nullity." 

And  the  contra-memorandum  answered  :  (( That  no  rule  whatever  was 
violated,  for  the  Treaty  established  none.  The  Treaty  described  the  divid- 
ing line,  and  did  it  without  interruption,  because  it  should  be  thus,  but  it  did 
not  determine  that  in  the  demarcations  they  should  proceed  in  the  same  way, 
although  .it  would  be  impracticable.  The  general  instructions  did  not  pres- 
cribe anything  either.  Yet  the  demarcators  did  what  it  was  possible  in 
order  to  go  on  with  their  work  by  the  upper  Pepiri,  to  find  the  principal 
source  of  the  nearest  river,  descending  it  to  the  Iguazu.)) 

In  the  collection  of  editorial  articles  of  ((A  Tribuna,"  criticising  the 
Bocayuva's  Mission,  which  is  found  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  (( A  Questao  das 
Missoes,))  in  the  same  part  in  which  is  found  what  has  been  copied  of  those 
two  memorandums,  the  author  of  those  articles  ( the  Baron  of  ...  ) 
makes,  as  from  his  own  opinion,  the  following  declarations : 

((From  the  Journal  of  the  works  of  1 759-1 760,  there  results  :  ist.  As  to 
the  Pepiri,  that,  overcoming  extreme  difficulties,  the  said  demarcators  were 
able  to  discover  and  point  out  the  source,  not  by  the  direction  of  all  the  river 
as  they  ascended  it,  but  turning  from  the  point  where  they  had  arrived,  en- 
tering in  the  Uruguay,  descending  it,  following  the  Iguazu  to  the  mouth  of 


—  6o7  — 

the  San  Antonio,  and  ascending  the  latter  to  where  it  was  possible :  after 
which,  by  the  exatu'iiation  of  all  the  surrounding  territory,  the  desired  head- 
waters were  deteiinined. » 

.  And  the  same  author  in  a  confirmative  note  of  the  part  of  the  Brazilian 
contra-memorandum,  which  we  have  transcribed,  says  :  ((The  fact  is  that, 
on  the  3rd  of  January,  1760,  the  demarcators  signed  the  minutes  of  explora- 
tions, from  which  it  appears  that  the  principal  source  of  Pepiri-guazu  being 
found,  and  the  San  Antonio  being  immediately  explored,   the  dividing  line 

WAS  TIED. 

We  shall  prove  the  errors  that  all  this  contains. 

The  Argentine  Government,  had  great  reason  to  say  that  the  rules 
which  the  demarcators  were  to  have  followed  in  the  discharge  of  their  com- 
mission had  not  been  complied  with. 

The  operation  had  not  been  made  with  reasonable  adherence  to  the 
provisions  of  the  Treaty. 

According  to  the  Treaty  the  line  should  be  fixed  from  the  mouth  of 
Pepiri  to  its  principal  source,  should  pass  from  it  to  the  nearest  river  flowing 
to  the  Iguazu,  following  it  to  said  nearest  river  to  where  it  flows  into  the 
Iguazu. 

It  was  necessary  to  proceed  in  the  same  order,  so  as  to  assure  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  frontier  line. 

In  that  region  of  woody  mountains,  it  was  not  possible  to  arrive  with 
certainty  to  the  principal  source  of  the  river,  without  completely  navigating 
it,  by  ascending  to  its  source. 

The  author  of  the  articles  of  ((ATribuna))  knows  this  perfectly,  for  he 
can  not  have  forgotten  the  uneasiness  which  he  suffered,  due  to  the  capri- 
cious directions  of  the  San  Antonio-guazu  ofOyarvide. 

The  demarcators  of  1 7 59- 1 760,  therefore,  violated  the  reasonable  rules 
to  which  they  should  have  adhered,  in  order  not  to  incurr  in  the  ugly  error  of 
leaving  established  a  frontier  line  with  solutions  of  continuity  in  its  course. 

And  the  facts  now  discovered  show,  as  a  consequence  of  that  fault,  an 
error  which  weighs  w^ith  overwhelming  responsability  on  the  memory  of  the 
unsteady  and  very  weak  Commissioners  of  1759. 

The  author  of  the  quoted  articles  says  that  those  demarcators  arrived 
finally  to  the  sources  desired ;  and  this  affirmation  is  not  exact. 

The  Joint  Commission  entrusted  with  the  demarcation  of  1759,  ^^s 
never  at  the  source  of  the  supossed  Pepiri,  and  we  challenge  all  the  defenders 
of  the  rights  of  Brazil  to  prove  to  us  the  contrary. 

The  Commissioners  abandoned  feebly  the  only  sure  road  of  arriving  to 
its  discovery. 

There  is  also  want  of  exactness  in  the  assertion  that  the  principal  source 
being  found  of  the  Pepiri-guazu  and  the  one  of  the  San  Antonio  being  imme- 
diately explored,  the  dividing  line  was  tied. 

We  already  know  that  this  principal  source  wds  not  found,  and  as  to 
\\\dii  the  dividing  li7te  was  tied,   it  is  an  assertion   of  fancy,    revealing  little 


—  6o8  — 

seriousness,  as  it  can  not  be  imputed  to  ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  ex- 
ponent. 

The  dividing  line  in  the  interior  was  not  tied  between  the  headwaters  of 
the  San  Antonio,  and  the  one  of  the  supposed  Pepiri,  but  between  the  former 
and  one  rising  from  the  Uruguay,  flowing  into  the  Parana. 

This  uniting  or /z>/«^  of  the  line  is,  at  least,  original,  and  we  believe 
that  it  is  the  only  one  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 

There  is  no  one  who  can  reasonably  and  with  justice  be  able  to  hold 
that  the  false  knot  made  in  the  headwaters  of  the  rivers  in  1759-60  has 
united  the  frontier  between  the  Iguazu  and  the  Uruguay,  since  the  knot  was 
made  by  mistake  between  rivers  flowing  into  the  Iguazu  and  the  Parana. 

The  Brazilian  contra-memorandum,  already  quoted,  arrives  among  other 
conclusions  to  the  following  : 

((2nd.  The  demarcation  of  1759-60  was  very  regularly  made  and  in 
complete  conformity  with  the  Treaty  of  1750,  with  the  instructions  given  for 
its  execution  with  the  local  tradition  and  with  the  map  drawn  and  published 
by  the  Jesuits  in  1722  and  1726.)) 

We  have  already  seen  with  what  regularity  this  demarcation  was  made, 
which  was  not  only  incorrect,  incomplete  but  erroneous  even  as  to  the  facts 
which  I  have  already  indicated,  as  taking  as  a  tributary  of  the  Uruguay 
another  of  the  Parana,  and  of  accepting  as  frontier  a  Pepiri  on  the  Uruguay 
and  another  different  Pepiri  at  the  headwaters. 

And  as  to  obeying  the  instructions,  the  demarcators  themselves,  in  the 
very  Portuguese  Journal,  declare  that  they  departed  from  these  instructions 
in  order  to  follow  the  vague  news  of  an  Indian,  as  it  is  also  unquestionable 
that  it  was  not  the  map  of  the  Jesuits,  but  the  one  of  the  Courts  the  one  they 
carried,  and  the  one  they  were  to  follow  in  order  to  recognize  the  true  river. 

This  document  also  says  that  on  this  demarcation  whic/i  had  not  fault 
whatever,  the  Treaty  of  1777  was  based.  If  it  had  not  been  vicious,  as  it 
was,  and  impracticable  in  fact,  as  it  has  been  shown,  the  execution  of  the 
Treaty  of  1777  might  have  been  based  upon  it  ;  but  what  is  there  that  can 
be  founded  upon  error  ? 

What  is  true  and  undeniable  is  that  that  demarcation  presents  to  us  two 
different  rivers,  as  if  indeed  they  were  only  the  same  one. 

Which  of  those  two  is  the  true  Pepiri,  according  to  that  denmrcation,  as 
both  can  not  be  the  one  at  the  same  time,  no  matter  how  much  it  be  so 
desired. 

Is  it  the  one  explored  by  the  mouth,  that  is  to  say,  the  Arirapi  ? 

Then  the  one  of  the  interior,  the  one  explored  at  the  headwaters,  is  the 
false  one  ;  and  as  the  San  Antonio  owes  to  this  one  its  existence  as  bound- 
ary, it  is  as  false  as  the  one  from  which  it  derived  its  character. 

It  results  that  that  San  Antonio  was  not  looked  for  from  the  headwaters 
of  the  Pepiri,  but  from  those  of  another  river- which  is  completely  out  of  the 
terms  of  the  Treaty. 

Is  the  true  Pepiri,  jJerhaps,  the  one  explored  as  such  at  the  headwaters  ? 

But  then  it  results  that  it  is  not  a  tributary  of  the  Uruguay,   but  of  the 


—  6og  — 

Parana  ;  and  we  suppose  that,  however  hvely  the  desires  of  our  neighbors  be, 
and  however  insatiable  their  spirit  of  absorption,  they  will  not  hold  that  the 
frontier  was  united  or  h'ed  in  that  part  by  the  said  Pepiri  and  the  Parana  to 
the  Uruguay,  and  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  those  two  Pepiri,  in  what 
concerns  the  historical  documentation  of  the  demarcators  of  1759- 1760,  have 
each  the  same  authority,  because  each  one  of  them  was  recognized  as 
frontier  in  special  minutes,  signed  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  two  nations. 

They  are  two  Pepiris  as  a  geographical  fact,  but  only  one  in  the  historical 
documentation  of  the  demarcation. 

As  the  two  can  not  be  at  one  time  the  same  Pepiri,  which  one  of  them 
is  the  true  one  ? 

If  it  is  the  one  having  its  mouth  in  the  Uruguay,  the  San  Antonio  is 
therefore  false. 

If  it  is  the  one  of  the  interior,  then  the  frontier  is  falsified. 

In  view  of  the  documents  left  by  the  demarcators,  both  have  the  same 
authority,  because  they  were  acknowledged  as  frontier  rivers  in  the  respective 
minutes. 

The  defenders  of  the  demarcators  of  1759  are  invited  to  explain  these 
confusions,  and  to  tell  us  clearly  and  definitely,  without  any  digressions, 
which  are  the  rivers,  at  which  headwaters  those  gentlemen  //ed  the  dividing 
line  between  the  Uruguay  and  the  Iguazu. 

We  hold,  as  decisive  conclusion,  that  the  demarcators  of  1 759-1 760  were 
never  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Pepiri  of  Arirapi,  nor  even  suspected  its  true 
situation,  and,  therefore,  they  could  not  fie  the  dividing  line. 

But  we  have  already  said  that  the  Treaty  of  1750,  and  every  thing  done 
in  its  consequence,  was  annulled  by  that  of  1761,  the  demarcation  of  1759 
being,  therefore,  also  null. 

If  we  have  stopped  to  show  the  grave  errors  of  that  work,  it  is  because 
the  defenders  of  the  rights  of  Brazil  intend  to  base  upon  it  their  defense. 

For  us  the  work  is  twice  null :  first,  because  it  was  disauthorized  by  the 
Treaty  of  1761  ;  second,  by  the  want  of  correctness  of  the  proceedings  fol- 
lowed by  the  demarcators  and  the  errors  which  make  it  impossible,  in  pract- 
ice, to  repeat  the  frontier  line  in  the  vicious  form  in  which  it  was  established. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  demarcation  was  the  origin  of  the  troublesome 
question  which  we  inherited  from  Spain,  and  which  has  been  the  only  cloud 
in  our  relations  with  Brazil,  endangering  that  peace  of  which  both  countries 
are  in  need. 


OF  THB 


;UHIVBRSIT7] 


1880 


Official  correspondence   of  the  Argentine  Legation  in  Rio  Ja- 
neiro, about   the   settlement  of  IMEilitary   Colonies 
on  the  disputed   territory.     (*) 

Argentine  Legation  in  the  Empire  of   Brazil. 

No.  333.  Rio  de  Janeiro,  October   17th  1880. 

■  Mr.  Minister. — In  the  Diario  Q/f«rt/ of  to-day's  date  a  notice  has  ap- 
peared from  the  War  Department.announcing  the  appointment  of  two  officers 
of  the  army,  who  shall  leave  to  found  two  military  colonies  on  the  line 
of  the  rivers  Pepiri  and  San  Antonio,  which  the  treaties  of  1750  and  1777  es- 
tablished as  the  divisory  line  of  the  dominions  of  Spain  and  Portugal  at  the 
north-east  end  of  our  territory.  The  said  notice  refers  to  the  decree  of  the 
Imperial  Government  of  November  i6tli  1859  which  created  two  military  colo- 
nies in  the  province  of  Parana,  west  of  the  rivers  Chapeco  and  Chopim, which 
are  the  names  given  in  the  Brazilian  charts  to  the  two  rivers  denominated 
Pepiri-guazu  and  San  Antonio-guazu  by  the  surveyors  in  1777. 

I  enclose  Spanish  translations  of  the  said  notice  published  to-day, together 
with  the  decree  of  1859  and  the  instructions  given  at  the  time  for  the  esta- 
blishment of  the  said  two  colonies. 

When  these  colonies  are  established  there  will  be  a  sort  of  cordon  of 
miUtary  colonies  protecting  the  frontier  line  which  the  Government  of  Bra- 
zil claims  to  have  a  right  to,  and  which  it  says  to  be  in  possession  of.  I  beg 
to  remind  Your  Excellency  that  I  have  reported  to  the  Government  the  pro- 
gress of  these  establishments  in  the  last  two  years,  as  per  my  despatches  Nos. 
222,  226,  290  and  291. 

On  this  occasion  I  must  say  to  Your  Excellency  that  so  far,  the  Depart- 

«     ment  has  not  aknowledged  the  receipt  of  my  despatch  No.  3 1 3  dated  July 

22nd  of  this  year,  wherein  I  sent  the  extracts  made  by  me  of  the  journal  of  the 

demarcators  of  17  59  relative  to  the  Pepiri,  with  copy  of  the  plan  kept  by  the 

Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  Government.      I  should  thank  Your  Ex- 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  of  the  Archives  of  the  Argentine 
-Department  of  Foreign  Relations,  which  forms  part  of  group  D,  No.  19,  of  manuscript  docu- 
ments of  the  «  Argentine  Evidence. » 


6l2    

cellency  or  advising  me  of  its  timely  arrival,  not  only  on  account  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  document,  but  because  the  loss  of  the  map  would  be  a  great 
one. 

I  reiterate  to  Your  Excellency  the  assurances  of  my  most  distinguished 
consideration.     Signed.— LUIS  L.   DOMINGUEZ. 

To  His  Excellency  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argentine 
Republic. 


Argentine  Legation  in  the  Empire  of  Brazil. 

No.  I.  Annex  to  despatch  No.  333,  dated  October  17th  1880. 

By  order  dated  the  i6th  instant,  the  following  officers  were  appointed 
for  the  commissions  charged  with  the  establishment  of  two  mihtary  colonies 
in  the  province  of  Parana,  created  by  decree  No.  2502  under  date  of  Novem- 
ber 1 6th  1859: 

For  the  colony  denominated  Los  Chapeos,  the  captain  of  the  body  of  the 
Chief  Staff  of  the  first  class,  Jose  Bernardino  Bormann,  as  Chief;  the  Lieute- 
nant of  the  second  battalion  of  the  foot  artillery,  Agricola  Ewerton  Pinto,  as 
adjutant ;  and  the  honorary  lieutenant  of  the  army  Jose  Lucas  Barboza,  as 
Clerk  and  Treasurer  of  the  colony. 

For  the  colony  denominated  del  Ere,  the  Captain  of  the  Chief  Staff  of 
artillery,  Francisco  Clementino  de  Santiago  de  Dantas,  as  Chief  ;  the  first 
Lieutenant  of  the  first  battalion  of  foot  artillery,  Tertuliano  da  Silva  Mello.as 
Adjutant;  and  the  honorary  Captain  of  the  army,  Felismino  Jose  Caldas,  as 
Clerk  and  Treasurer  of  the  colony. 

{Diario   Oficial oi  Oclohtr  ijih  1880.) 


Argentine  Legation  in  the  Empire  of  Brazil. 

(Translation.) 
No.   2.   Annex  to  Despatch  No.  333,  dated  October  17th   1880. 
Decree  No.  2502  of  November    i_6th    1859,    creates  two  more   military 
colonies  in  the  province  of  Parana  west  of  the  rivers  Chapeco  and  Chopim, 
at  such  points  as  may  be  designated  by  the  President  of  the  province. 


I  have  seen  fit  to  create  two  military  colonies  in  the  province  of  Para- 
na; which  shall  be  established  as  follows:  one  in  the  fields  of  Ere  west  of 
the  rivers  Chapeco  and  Chopim,  and  the  other  in  the  fields  of  Xagu,  west 
of  those  of  Guarapuava,  at  such  points  as  may  be  designated  by 
the  President  of  the  province ;  and  they  shall  abide  by  the  instructions 
accompanying  this  decree,  signed  by  Joao  de  Almeida  Pereira  junior, 
of  my  Council,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  Empire,  who  shall  so  unders- 
tand it  and  have  it  executed.  Palace  of  Bahia,  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  No- 
vember eighteen  hundred  and  fifty  nine,  and  thirty  eighth  year  of  the  Inde- 
pendence and  of  the  Empire. 

With  the  rubric  of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor,  signed. — ^JOAO  DE  AL» 
MEIDA  PEREIRA,  junior. 


—  613  — 

Instructions  for  the  establishment  of  two  military  colonies  in  the  province 
of  Parana,  referred  to  in  the  decree  of  this  date. 

I  Article. — The  President  of  the  province  of  Parana  shall  establish  two 
more  military  colonies  in  the  said  province,  one  west  of  the  river  Chapeco  in 
the  fields  of  Ere  or  still  further  west  and  at  a  point  which  he  may  judge 
proper,  and  the  other,  west  of  the  fields  of  Guarapuava,  on  those  of  the  Xagu 
or  still  farther  west  and  also  at  the  most  convenient  point. 

II  Article. — These  colonies  are  destined  for  the  defense  of  the  frontier, 
for  the  protection  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  fields  of  Palma,  Ere,  Xagu  and 
Guarapuava  against  the  invasion  of  Indians,  and  to  convert  the  said  Indians 
into  civilization  with  the  help  of  the  catechesis. 

III  Article. — In  each  of  them,  headquarters  shall  be  established  with 
the  necessary  comfort  for  the  lodging  of  the  unmarried  colonists,  and  also 
for  those  married,  so  long  as  they  have  no  houses  of  their  own,  and  for  the 
storing  of  arms  and  ammunition  of  war  and  fire-arms  belonging  to  the 
colonies. 

IV  Article. — Each  colony  may  have  as  many  as  fifty  soldiers  and  the 
necessary  officers  to  command  them:  the  general  command  of  the  same  will 
be  given  to  one  officer  only  who  shall  reside  in  the  one  most  convenient  to 
the  service,  in  the  judgment  of  the  President  of  the  province. 

V  Article. — In  case  of  scarcity  of  people  fit  for  the  first  settlement  of  the 
said  colonies,  the  President  of  the  province  may  hire  the  necessary  number 
of  colonists  up  to  the  number  given  in  Article  IV. 

VI  Article. — The  hired  military  colonists  shall  serve  two  years  and  shall 
receive  their  corresponding  military  salaries  payable  by  the  War  Department 
if  the  colonists  are  in  the  service  of  the  army,  and  by  the  State  Department 
if  they  belong  to  those  specified  in  Article  V. 

The  wives  and  children  of  both  shall  have  right  to  one  half  ration  during 
the  first  year  of  their  settlement  in  the  colony,  the  officers  shall  have,  besides 
their  military  salaries,  an  extra  pay  to  be  suggested  by  the  President  of  the 
province  and  approved  by  the  Imperial  Government. 

VII  Article. — Besides  their  salary,  each  one  of  the  hired  colonists  shall 
be  given,  once  only,  an  ax,  a  sickle,  a  hoe,  a  machete,  a  gun  or  carbine,  one 
pound  of  powder,  four  pounds  of  lead,  and  a  lot  of  land  six  fathoms  front  by 
fifty  deep,  fit  for  building  houses  in  the  spot  where  the  colony  may  be  estab- 
lished, and  another  lot  of  land  destined  for  cultivation  or  raising  of  cattle, 
which  shall  never  exceed  one  fourth  of  a  square  league  on  the  ground  for 
cultivation,  and  one  square  league  on  lands  fit  for  raising  cattle. 

Art.  VIII. — Ten  leagues  west  of  the  left  bank  of  the  Pepiri-»guazu,  and 
ten  leagues  west  of  the  right  bank  of  the  river  San  Antonio,  a  parallel  with 
the  said  rivers  shall  be  drawn,  as  far  as  their  sources;  and  on  these  zones 
the  President  of  the  Province  of  Parana,  and,  with  his  authority,  the  Com- 
mander General  of  the  Colonies  shall  give  the  military  colonists  the  grants 
referred  to  in  the  foregoing  article,  and  besides  the  same,  the  very  President 
may  grant  to  other  Brazilian  citizens  who  may  not  be  colonists,  the  lands  they 
may  ask  for  in  the  same  zone,  not  exceeding  one  square  league  to  each,   if 


—  6 14  — 

they  are  lands  for  raising  cattle,  and  one  fourth  of  a  square  league,  if  they 
are  lands  for  cultivation,  and  the  total  of  these  concessions  to  one  hundred 
square  leagues.  All  these  concessions  include  the  condition  that  they  are 
lands  to  be  inhabited  immediately  and  cultivated  by  the  concessionaries,  or 
provided  with  cattle  if  they  are  pastures. 

If  this  concession  is  not  filled  within  one  year  from  the  date  when  it  was 
drawn,  or,  if  its  settlement  and  cultivation  should  be  interrupted  for  more 
than  one  year  after  it  was  filled,  the  concession  shall  expire,  and  the  land 
granted  will  return  to  the  public  domain. 

Art.  IX. — The  first  fifty  families  who  go  out  to  settle  in  the  zone  of 
lands  above  described,  shall  have,  for  the  first  year,  the  right  to  rations,  the 
chief  receiving  one  full  ration  and  the  members  of  famiUes  one-half  ration. 
The  rations  for  the  colonists  of  the  latter  class  will  be  guided  by  that  of  the 
military  colonists. 

Art.  X. — The  persons  to  whom  lands  may  be  granted  according  to  Arti- 
cle VIII,  will  be  subject  to  military  rule;  the  unhired  peasants,  although  they 
are  also  subject  to  the  same  rule,  will  be  only  obliged  to  do  police  service 
and  one  day's  labor  every  month  in  the  works  of  general  utility  to  the  col- 
ony. 

Art.  XI. — The  Direction  of  Public  Lands  will  give  further  necessary  in- 
structions towards  the  best  execution  of  these,  and  to  accomplish  the  ends 
which  these  colonies  are  destined  for. 

Palace  of  Bahia,  November  sixteenth,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
fifty-nine.— (Signed)  JOAO  ALMEIDA  PEREIRA,  Junior. 


Argentine  Legation  in  the  Empire  of  Brazil. 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  October  25th,  1880. 

No.  335. 

Mr.  Minister : 

In  my  official  communication  333  I  said  to  Your  Excellency  that  one  of 
the  colonies  which  had  been  ordered  to  settle  on  the  line  of  the  Pepiri,  was 
called  de  los  Chapeos.  On  the  following  day  the  Diario  Oficial  announced 
that  there  was  a  mistake  in  the  name,  and  that  the  true  one  was  CJtapcco. 

In  the  Diario  Oficial  of  yesterday  it  is  stated  that  the  Department  of 
War  has  given  the  necessary  orders  for  the  appointed  Commissions  to  be 
provided  with  the  instruments,  ambulances  and  other  necessary  objects  for 
the  settlement  of  said  colonies. 

I  renew  to  Your  Excellency  the  assurances  of  my  highest  consideration. 

LUIS   L.  DOMINGUEZ. 

To  His  Excellency,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argentine 
Republic. 


Annexed  to  the  Official  Communication,  No.  335. 
Military  Colonies. — Department  of  War. 

Rio  DE  Janeiro,  October  i8th,  1880. 
Most  Illustrious  and  Excellent  Sir:     Sending  to  Your  Excellency  a  copy 


-6i5- 

of  the  instructions  which  on  this  date  are  given  to  the  chiefs  of  the  Commis- 
sions charged  with  settHng  the  colonies  of  Chapeco  and  Ere,  created  by  de- 
cree 2,502  of  the  sixteenth  of  November,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
fifty-nine,  I  declare  to  Your  Excellency,  for  your  knowledge  and  due  effect, 
that  you  are  authorized : 

First — To  order  that  the  necessary  materials  be  provided  for  the  settle- 
ment and  work  of  the  Commissions  which  have  not  been  sent  from  this  Court 
or  have  been  sent  already  by  the  Intendence  of  War. 

Second — To  provide  means  of  transportation,  not  only  to  the  personnel 
of  the  Commission  of  the  colonies,  but  also  for  the  material,  including  horses 
and  beasts  of  burden. 

Third — To  order  ten  soldiers  of  the  second  corps  of  cavalry  to  appear 
before  each  one  of  the  Chiefs  of  the  Commissions,  being  careful  that  said 
soldiers  be  taken  from  the  most  moral  and  disciplined,  who  have  a  trade  of 
carpenter  or  blacksmith,  or  any  other  necessary  for  the  settlement  of  the  col- 
onies and  aptitudes  for  the  services  of  transportations.  These  detachments 
will  be  commanded  by  sub-officers  or  corporals  of  acknowledged  confidence, 
those  who  may  satisfy  the  conditions  above-mentioned,  to  be  preferred,  not 
only  for  the  commands  of  the  detachments,  but  as  well  for  its  composi- 
tion; soldiers  who  are  soon  to  finish  their  term  of  service,  who  may  wish  to 
settle  in  the  colonies  which  are  going  to'  be  founded ;  or  who,  on  account  of 
having  families  who  will  accompany  them,  may  give  warrant  of  their  remain- 
ing. The  soldiers  above-mentioned  will  go  with  the  Commissions,  besides 
those  who  may  embark  from  this  Court  with  the  same  purpose. 

Fourth — To  order  to  provide  the  cattle  of  every  kind  which  would  be 
needed  for  the  settlement  of  the  colonies.  This  provision  must  be  made  in 
the  most  convenient  time  and  manner. 

Fifth — To  resolve  upon  the  payment  of  the  wages  of  the  personnel  of 
the  Commission  and  colonies  or  of  other  authorized  expenses  in  the  most 
convenient  manner. 

Sixth — To  order  funds  to  be  advanced  to  the  Chiefs  of  the  Commission 
in  the  exact  amounts  for  the  payments  which  they  may  have  to  make  in  the 
first  months. 

God  may  guard  Your  Excellency. 

VISCOUNT  OF  PELOTAS. 

To  the  President  of  the  Province  of  Parana. 


To'  of  Santa  Catalina,  determining  that  the  tools  belonging  to  the  Seven- 
teenth Battalion  of  Infantry,  be  sent  to  the  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  which  tools 
remained  kept  in  the  armory  of  the  Company  of  the  same  arm  which  existed 
there,  when  the  said  Battalion  went  to  that  province. 


To'  of  Rio  Grande  do  Sul. 
Department  of  War, 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  October  i8th,  1880. 

Most    Illustrious    and     Excellent   Sir:        A   military    colony    is    to    be 
founded  in  the  vicinity  of  the  mouth  of  the  river  Chapeco,  in  the  Province  of 


—  6i6  — 

Parana,  and  I  declare  to  Your  Excellency  that  Captain  Jose  Bernardino  Bor- 
mann,  charged  with  the  establishment  of  the  said  colony,  to  whom  it  is  ordered 
that  as  soon  as  he  arrives  there  to  communicate  it  to  that  Presidency,  Your  Ex- 
cellency must  give  him  all  the  aid  for  the  good  fulfilment  of  the  Commission 
with  which  he  is  entrusted ;  it  being  also  convenient,  that  Your  Excellency 
give  the  necessary  orders  tor  the  authorities  of  the  north  of  that  province, 
who  are  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  referred  to,  so  that  they  may  help 
equally  the  said  officer. 

God  may  guard  Your  Excellency.— VISCOUNT  OF  PELOTAS. 


Senor  President  of  the  Province  of  Rio  Grande  do  Sul. 

To  the  Councillor  Adjutant  General  of  the  Army,  determining  that  forty 
soldiers  of  infantry  be  ready  to  embark  for  the  Province  of  Parana,  destined 
to  the  colonies  which  are  going  to  be  founded  there;  said  soldiers  must  be 
taken  from  the  moral  and  disciplined  ones,  who  have  trades  useful  to  the 
colonies,  preferring  those  who  satisfy  the  conditions  above-mentioned,  who 
aro  soon  to  end  their  term  of  service,  and  who  will  oblige  themselves,  and  so 
declare,  to  settle  in  the  said  colonies;  said  soldiers  must  go  armed,  ammuni- 
tioned, equipped,  and  paid  of  their  salaries  which  have  become  due. 


To  the  Direction  of  the  Military  Archives,  ordering  to  provide  each  one 
of  the  Commissions,  charged  with  the  foundation  of  the  militaiy  colonies  in 
the  Province  of  Parana,  with  an  instrument  of  those  which  are  referred  in  its 
communication  of  this  date,  number  213;  providing  that  those  which,  perhaps, 
do  not  exist  in  the  said  Archives  may  be  bought. 

To  the  Captain  Francisco  Clementino  de  Santiago  Dantas. 


Department  OF  War.  Rio  Janeiro,  October  i 8th,  1880. 

You  having  been  appointed  Chief  of  the  Commission  charged  with  the 
foundation,  in  the  Province  of  Parana,  of  the  Military  Colony  of  Ere,  created 
by  Decree  2502  of  the  1 6th  of  November,  1859.  I  declare  to  you,  that,  in 
the  fulfilment  of  the  Commission  referred  to,  you  must  observe  the  enclosed 
instructions,  and  I  send  to  you,  for  your  acknowledgement,  a  copy  of  the 
notice  which  I  address  to  the  Presidency  of  that  Province  in  regard  to  the 
said  affair. 

Moreover,  I  declare  to  you  that  an  order  has  been  given  to  the  Inten- 
dency  of  War,  the  Military  Archives  and  to  the  Military  Hospital  of  this 
Court  for  the  instruments  and  the  other  objects,  which  are  stated  in  the  an- 
nexed accounts,  to  be  delivered  to  you.     God  may  guard  Your  Excellency. 

VISCOUNT  OF  PELOTAS. 

Seiior  Francisco  Clementino  de  Santiago  Dantas. 


In  the  same  terms  to  the  Captain  Jose  Bernardino  Bormann,  appointed 
Chief  of  the  Commission  charged  with  founding  the  Military  Colony,  send- 
ing to  him,  also,  a  copy  addressed  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Province  of  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul,  referring  to  the  same  object. 

{Diario  Oficial,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  October  26th,  1880.) 


—  6x7  — 

Argentine  Legation  in  the  Empire  of  Brazil. 

No.  368.  Petropolis,  March  nth,  1881. 

Mr.  Minister  : 

The  3d  instant  I  had  a  private  conversation  with  the  Emperor,  in  which, 
after  he  asked  me  for  news  of  my  country,  as  it  is  his  custom,  he  talked  to  me 
about  our  boundary  question.  It  is  necessary,  he  said,  that  we  settle  this 
question,  because  it  is  convenient  for  all,  and  in  this  there  is  no  difficulty.  I 
answered  him  that  the  Argentine  Government  was  in  the  best  disposition  to 
do  so  ;  and  His  Majesty,  after  adding  some  words  which  showed  his  great 
wish  of  arriving  at  such  a  conclusion,  ended  by  saying  to  me  that  the  Minis- 
ter of  Foreign  Affairs  would  talk  with  me,  very  soon,  upon  the  matter. 

In  fact,  Senor  Pedro  Luis  came  to  this  city  the  6th,  and  on  the  same  day 
he  called  on  me,  without  referring  to  the  affair  ;  but  on  the  following  day,  we 
met  twice  and  then  he  declared  spontaneously  to  me,  that  he  wished  to  inform 
me  about  what  had  happened  in  regard  to  the  two  military  colonies  which 
were  ordered  to  be  established  on  our  frontier  of  the  river  Chapeco  and  Cho- 
pim.  He  assured  me  that  he  knew  nothing,  when  the  Minister  of  War  re- 
solved to  send  there  Captains  Bormann  and  Dantas  to  found  those  military 
colonies  ;  that  as  soon  as  he  knew  it,  he  declared  to  the  Minister  of  War  that 
such  a  measure  was  inconvenient,  that  such  an  affair  appertained  to  his  De- 
partment and  not  to  that  of  War;  and  that  immediately,  orders  had  been 
given  for  those  officers  to  withdraw  from  the  frontier.  He  added  that  at  the 
same  moment  that  such  an  order  was  being  given,  news  arrived  that  Captain 
Dantas  and  all  those  who  accompanied  him,  had  been  murdered  in  the  Cam- 
po  de  Palmas,  or  Ere  ;  that  this  has  alarmed  the  Government  very  much,  but 
that  in  these  days  he  had  received  a  telegram  from  the  President  of  the  pro- 
vince of  Parana,  communicating  to  him  that  the  news  were  utterly  false.  I 
said  that  it  was  probably  an  invention  of  those  who,  for  some  time,  have 
been  propagating  by  means  of  Hes  and  false  news,  in  order  to  cause  a  con- 
flict between  the  two  countries  ;  that  I  am  sure  that  the  Argentines  who  work 
in  the  j^r^«/^j  of  San  Javier,  or  in  others  more  to  the  north,  do  not  even 
reach  near  those  fields  which  remain  at  eighty  or  a  hundred  leagues  distant 
through  deserts  and  mountainous  places  and  only  occupied  by  some  tribes  of 
wild  Indians. 

We  mutually  declared  to  each  other  our  best  wishes  for  preserving  the 
good  friendship  between  the  two  countries,  and  the  Minister  ended  saying 
that  he  hoped  that  the  way  would  be  found  to  settle  the  boundary  question  in 
a  convenient  manner,  without  hurting,  in  the  least,  the  self  esteem  or  the  sus- 
ceptibilities of  any  one.  Then  I  declared  to  him  that  I  thought  very  convenient 
the  withdrawal  of  those  two  colonies  and  that  this  done  I  believed  also  that 
there  would  be  no  difficulties,  in  the  friendly  conclusion  of  the  question. 

I  again  renew  to  Your  Excellency,  the  assurances  of  my  greatest  con- 
sideration.—LUIS  L.  DOMINGUEZ.— To  His  Excellency  Senor  Doctor 
Don  Bernardo  de  Irigoyen,  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argentine 
Republic. 


1882 


ARaExvTZNz:  FossESSzosr  irr  nazszoims, 

RECOamZED  BY  BRAZIL. 


Declarations   of  Brazil   that  its   military  Colonies,  which  the 
Argentine  Government  considered  as  lying  within  the  dis- 
puted territory,  for  which  reason  it  made  claims  and 
commenced    to  take    defensive  measures,   were   si- 
tuated outside  of  the  territory  in  dispute.     (*) 

Imperial  Legation  of  Brazil. 

Buenos  Ayres,  June  2nd  1882. 
Honorable  Minister: 

The  Argentine  Government  issued,  with  date  of  the  i6th  of  last  March,  a 
Decree,  dividing  in  five  Departments  the  Territory  of  Misiones,  transferred  a 
short  time  before,  from  the  provincial  dominion  to  that  of  the  nation,  and 
that  a  Governor  for  that  territory  has  already  been  appointed. 

The  Imperial  Government  can  not  assent  to  any  act  whatever  of  juris- 
diction of  the  Argentine  authorities  in  the  territory  as  to  which  is  the  ques- 
tion between  the  Confederation  and  the  Empire;  and  desiring  to  avoid  com- 
plications and  maintain  the  relations  of  friendship  which  happily  exist  be- 
tween the  two  countries,  request  me  to  propose  to  Your  Excellency,  the 
opening  of  negotiations  for  a  definitive  adjustment  of  the  question  of  boun- 
daries. 

I  request  Your  Excellency  to  answer  me  with  the  urgency  that  the  mat- 
ter requires;  and  I  take  advantage  of  this  opportunity  to  have  the  honor  of 
again  assuring  you  of  my  highest  consideration. 

BARON  DE  ARAUJO  GONDIM. 

To  His  Excellency  Doctor  Victorino  de  la  Plaza,  Secretary  of  State  in 
the  Department  of  Foreign  Relations, 


(*)  These  are  translations  from  the  documents  printed  in  pages  3,  4,  6,  7,  8,9  and 
10  of  the  official  publication  entitled:  "  Documentos  sobre  la  Question  de  limites  en  Misiones 
entre  la  Repiiblica  Argentina  y  el  Impcrio  del  Brasil.  Buenos  Aires:  Imprenta  de  Juan  A. 
Alsina,  1883."  which  accompanies  the  "  Argentine  Evidence." 


620    

Ministry  of  Foreign  Relations.  Buenos  Ayres,  June   loth   1882. 

Honorable  Minister: 

On  Saturday  the  3rd  instant,  I  received  from  Your  Excellency,  a  note 
^ated  the  2nd,  in  which  you  state  that  this  Government  issued,  with  date  of 
the  1 6th  of  last  March,  a  Decree  dividing  in  five  departments  the  territory 
of  Misiones,  transferred  a  short  time  before,  from  the  provincial  dominion  to 
that  of  the  nation,  and  that  a  Governor  for  that  territoiy  has  already  been 
appointed — 

That  the  Imperial  Government  can  not  assent  to  any  act  whatever  of  ju- 
risdiction of  the  Argentine  authorities  in  the  territory  as  to  which  is  the  ques- 
tion between  the  Confederation  and  the  Empire ;  and  desiring  to  avoid  com- 
plications and  maintain  the  relations  of  friendship  which  happily  exist 
between  the  two  countries,  has  requested  you  to  open  negodations  for  the 
definitive  adjustment  of  the  question  of  bouadaries. 

I  have  informed  the  President  of  the  said  note  of  Your  Excellency,  and 
he  requests  me  to  answer  you  as  follows : 

The  Government,  in  fact,  issued  the  Decree  to  which  Your  Excellency 
refers,  and  appointed  Governor  for  the  administration  of  those  territories, 
giving  due  execution  to  the  Law  of  December  22nd  of  last  year,  sanctioned 
by  the  Honorable  Congress,  fixing  the  boundaries  of  that  national  territory, 
without  understanding  that  by  this  any  motive  whatever  of  complication  or 
conflict  in  the  friendly  relations  which  happily  exist  could  arise. 

And  as  to  to  the  proposition  of  opening  negotiations  for  the  settlement 
of  the  question  of  boundaries,  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  communicate  to  Your 
Excellency  that  this  Government  has  always  been,  and  is,  ready  to  reopen 
them,  so  as  to  end,  as  soon  as  possible,  a  question  which  none  of  both  na- 
tions has  any  object  in  postponing. 

To  this  end,  be  it  allowed  me  to  remind  Your  Excellency  that  in  the 
year  1875,  negotiations  were  also  opened  and  propositions  exchanged,  al- 
though of  private  character,  between  the  distinguished  predecessor  of  Your 
Excellency,  Baron  Aguiar  d'Andrada,  and  the  then  Minister  of  Foreign  Re- 
lations in  this  capital,  Doctor  Don  Bernardo  de  Irigoyen,  and  they  were  sus- 
pended by  suggestion  of  the  Seiior  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  at  that  time  Minister 
of  the  Imperial  Government,  as  can  be  seen  by  the  correspondence  dated  the 
5th  of  October  1876,  from  the  Baron  Aguiar  d'Andrada  addressed  to  Minister 
Irigoyen,  in  which  he  expressed  the  folloing : 

"  By  the  last  steamer  which  arrived  from  Rio,  I  have  received  from  the 
Baron  de  Cotegipe,  the  answer  to  the  last  proposition  of  Your  Excellency  for 
the  settlement  of  the  question  of  boundaries. 

"  In  that  despatch,  His  Excellency  tells  me  the  following: 

"  After  duly  weighing  all  the  circumstances,  of  the  question,  the  most 
prudent  course  is  to  leave  it  in  the  state  in  which  it  is,  and  wait  for  time  to 
give  it  a  convenient  solution. 

"  I  therefore  recomend  Your  Excellency  to  declare  to  Doctor  de  Irigo- 
yen that  the  Imperial  Government  can  not  accept  his  last  proposition,  and 
considers  as  ended  the  negotiation  with  which  you  were  charged." 


621    

Later,  in  March  of  the  year  1881,  the  Minister  of  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment, Pedro  Luis  de  Souza  stated  to  the  Minister  Plenipotentiary  near  the  Go- 
vernment of  Your  Excellency,  that  he  believed  a  convenient  way  could  be 
found  of  arranging  the  question,  without  wounding  in  the  least  anybody's 
self  esteem  or  susceptibilities. 

The  Minister  declared  further;  on  account  that  the  establishment  at 
that  time,  of  two  military  colonies  upon  the  frontier  of  the  territory  in  ques- 
tion, had  been  ordered,  he  assured  Seiior  Dominguez,  that  he  had  not  known 
when  the  Minister  of  war  resolved  to  send  there  Captains  Bormann  and  Dan- 
tas  to  establish  those  military  colonies;  and  that  as  soon  as  he  was  advised  of 
it,  he  declared  the  measure  inconvenient,  orders  having  been  given  imme- 
diately for  those  officers  to  retire  from  the  frontier. 

Seiior  Dominguez  answered  that  the  withdrawal  of  those  colonies  was 
convenient,  and  that  this  once  made  he  believed  also  that  the  friendly  termi- 
nation of  the  question  would  not  be  difficult. 

Nevertheless,"  as  Your  Excellency  knows  it,  these  Colonies  still  exist, 
and  they  have  been  increased. 

These  facts  being  communicated  to  the  Ministry,  Seiior  Dominguez  was 
advised  to  communicate  to  the  Minister  of  Forcing  Relations  that  this  Go- 
vernment accepted  the  idea  of  fixing  definitively  the  dividing  line  of  the  Em- 
pire with  this  Republic.  This  declaration  was  transmitted  by  Seiior  Domin- 
guez, in  a  note  dated  the  5th  of  April  of  that  year,  and  he  was  answered  with 
date  of  the  12th  of  the  same  month,  by  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations 
who  expres.sed  that,  on  the  part  of  the  Imperial  Government,  the  friendly 
intention  which  it  had  declared  in  regard  to  this  matter,  still  subsisted;  but 
that,  nevertheless,  it  did  not  considered  convenient  to  go  any  further  until 
he  knew  the  result  of  an  interview,  which  Your  Excellency  was  to  hold  with 
the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  in  this  capital;  and  thus  the  investigation 
remained  pending. 

I  have  reminded  Your  Excellency  of  these  facts  simply  to  show  what  has 
been  always  the  decision  of  this  Government  to  end  this  question ;  and  I  can 
'add  yet  that  to-day,  before  the  necessity  of  delivering  that  territory*  to  civili- 
zation and  industry,  it  is  indispensable  to  arrive  at  a  settlement,  for  the  evi- 
dent reason  that  neither  to  the  interests  of  the  Empire  nor  to  those  of  the 
Republic  can  it  be  convenient  to  maintain  it  sterile. 

Therefore,  if  as  I  ought  to  suppose.  Your  Excellency  is  authorized  and 
provided  of  the  necessary  instructions  to  treat  of  this  affair,  I  take  pleasure  in 
communicating  to  you,  complying  with  the  ones  I  have  received  from  the 
President,  that  we  can  commence  negotiations,  and  I  await,  for  that  purpose, 
your  suggestions. 

I  take  advantage  of  this  opportunity  to  have  the  honor  to  renew  to 
Your    Excellency    the   assurances  of  my  most  distinguished  consideration. 

V.  DE  LA  PLAZA. 

To  His  Excellency,  the  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipoten- 
tiary of  Brazil,  Baron  de  Araujo  Gondim. 


622    

Imperial  Legation  of  Brazil.  Buenos  Ayres,  July  29th,  1892. 

Honorable  Minister: 

I  hastened  to  communicate  to  the  Imperial  Government  the  note  which 
Your  Excellency  addressed  me  with  date  of  the  tenth  of  last  month,  in  which 
you  replied  to  mine  of  the  third,  that  Your  Excellency  is  ready  to  enter  into 
a  new  negotiation  for  the  definitive  adjustment  of  the  pending  question  of 
boundaries  between  Brazil  and  the  Argentine  Republic. 

The  Imperial  Government  was  sure  that  its  invitation  would  be  accepted 
with  the  good  will  shown  on-  all  occasions.  The  Argentine  Government,  in- 
deed, accepted  the  invitation  of  1857,  and  as  Your  Excellency  recollects, 
those  of  1876  and  1880.  I  must,  nevertheless,  observe  that  it  refused  to 
ratify  that  of  1857,  although  it  had  deserved  its  approbation  and  that  of  the 
Congress.  In  the  second  one  is  made  propositions  which,  not  being  accept- 
able, prevented  the  celebration  of  a  settlement ;  and  in  the  last,  for  reasons 
independent  of  the  Imperial  Government,  it  failed  to  decide  as  to  a  sugges- 
tion which  1  made  to  Dr.  Gonzalez  in  one  of  the  several  interviews  which  I 
had  with  him,  from  the  month  of  January,  and  in. which  I  confidentially  pre- 
pared, complying  with  the  instructions  I  had  received,  the  negotiation  to 
which  Councillor  Pereira  de  Souza  refers  in  the  note  to  Seiior  Dominguez  of 
the  fifth  of  April,  quoted  by  Your  Excellency. 

Passing'  to  another  point,  allow  me  to  assure  Your  Excellency  that  he  is 
not  vrell  informed  w^hen  he  says  that  the  military  colonies  subsist  and  are  in- 
creased, notixrithstanding'  the  declaration  made  to  Senor  Dominguez.  Those 
colonies  are  founded  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river  Chapeco  and  on  the  right  of 
the  Chopim ;  that  is,  in  territory  recognized  as  Brazilian,  outside  of  the  one  in 
question,  betwrecn  the  two  countries. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  speak  of  the  mission  with  which  I  have  been  en- 
trusted: In  the  feeling  of  the  Imperial  Government,  the  negotiations  pre- 
pared by  me  in  1880  can  betaken  at  the  point  where*  they  were  left,  on 
account  of  the  suggestion  to  which  I  have  referred,  which  was  to  substitute 
the  Article  II  of  the  Treaty  of  1857,  with  another,  the  tenor  of  which  I  sub- 
mitted. I  have,  therefore,  the  order  to  propose  to  Your  Excellency  the  said 
article  to' be  substituted,  which  is  the  following:  • 

«  The  rivers  Pepiri-guazu  and  San  Antonio,  of  which  the  preceding  article 
treats,  are:  the  first,  the  tributary  which  flows  on  the  right  and  northern  bank 
of  the  Uruguay,  a  little  more  than  a  league  further  up  of  its  great  fall,  and  in 
latitude  27°  9''  23''^;  and  the  second,  running  opposite  to  the  former,  and  the 
first  important  tributary  which  flows  by  the  southern  or  left  bank  of  the 
Grande  de  Coritiba  or  Iguassu,  starting  from  the  confluence  of  this  one  with 
the  Parana,  and  in  latitude  25°  35^.  Both  spring  from  the  sarrie  plateau  in 
the  mountains,  dividing  the  waters  of  the  Uruguay  and  Iguassu  rivers,  and 
their  sources  are  hardly  distant  from  each  other,  five  hundred  paces  between 
26°  10^  and  26°  12'  of  latitude;  the  Pepiri-guazu  running  with  straight  bear- 
ing of  15°  degrees  southwest,  and  the  San  Antonio  with  the  one  of  26°  north- 
west. »  I  have  the  honor  to  renew  to  Your  Excellency  the  assurances  of  my 
most  distinguished  consideration.—  BARON  DE  ARAUJO  GONDIM. 

To  His  Excellency,  Dr.  D.  V.  de  la  Plaza,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 


1885 


Preliminary  neg-otiation  of  the  Treaty  celebrated  between 
the  Argentine  Republic  and  Brazil  in  the 
year  above  mentioned.    (^) 

Protocol.-^— In  the  City  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of 
January  of  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-five,  the  following  gentlemen  assem- 
bled in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Relations,  to  wit  :  The  Envoy 
Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  Dr. 
Don  Vicente  G.  Ouesada,  and  the  President  of  the  Council  of  Ministers 
filling  ad  interim  the  office  of  Foreign  Affairs  the  Councillor  Manuel 
Pinto  de  Souza  Dantas,  to  confer  confidentially  and  privately  upon  the  nego- 
tiation about  boundaries  which  was  still  pending  in  the  same  character,  and 
they  agreed  that  the  written  exposition  of  the  first  conference  should  be  held 
as  definitely  authenticated  through  the  letters  mutually  exchanged,  as  its 
contents  are  correct,  which  is  hereby  confirmed   for  the  greater  clearness  in 

this  act. 

His  Excellency  the  President  of  the  Council  stated  :  That  according 
to  the  promise  made  by  him  to  the  Argentine  Minister  at  the  first  meeting, 
he  conferred  with  his  colleagues  of  the  Cabinet  regarding  the  confidential 
and  private  proposal  to  His  Excellency,  augmented  and  modified  sub  condi- 
tione  touching  the  first  basis;  that  after  considering^ the  proposal  thus  modi- 
fied, the  Government,  notwithstanding  it  sees  in  the  same  a  new  proof  of  the 
Ar""entine  Minister's  wishes,  which  on  his  part  are  sincerely  reciprocated,  to 
adopt  an  arbitrage  which, in  his  judgment,may  determine  a  definitive  solution 


( » )    This  is  a  translation  from    the   document  which  duly   legalized  forms   part   of 
group  D,  No.  20,  of  manuscript  documents   of  the  "Argentine  Evidence." 


—  624  — 

of  the  question  of  boundaries,  with  all,  he  still  believes  that  for  the  reasons 
stated  at  the  foot  of  the  note  of  December  the  30th.  of  last  year  which  are 
now  referred  to,  it  should  stand  on  this  ground,  thus  honoring  the  convic- 
tion with  which  the  Imperial  and  Argentine  Governments  have,  on  either 
part,  made  efforts  to  demonstrate  the  right  they  believe  to  have,  always  prompt- 
ed by  the  best  intentions.  In  fact,  in  the  proposal  of  December  the  30th, 
the  Imperial  Government  said  very  distinctly  that  it  is  their  mind  to  resolve 
the  question  in  accordance  with  the  principle  of  justice  and  right. 

The  Argentine  Minister  stated  : 

That  the  President  of  the  Couuncil  may  allow  him  to  express  his  sur- 
prise at  seeing  the  very  proposition  which  has  been  officially  made  to  the  Ca- 
binet of  Buenos  Ayres,  brought  to  a  debate  in  the  confidential  negotiation,  as 
it  was  not  logical  to  treat  about  one  and  the  same  topic  confidentially,  both 
here  and  officially  at  Buenos  Ayres,  that  regarding  this  proposition  he  abs- 
tains from  entering  into  discussion,  not  only  for  what  he  has  stated  but 
because  he  has  not  nor  could  he  have  had  authorization  from  his  Government 
to  whom  the  right  exi:lusively  corresponds  to  appreciate  its  merit  and  discuss 
it  ;  that,  meantime,  he  begs  permission  of  the  President  of  the  Council  to 
remember  the  particulars  of  the  confidential  negotiation  which  the  Argentine 
Minister  always  sustained,  as  was  acknowledged  by  His  Excellency  at 
the  first  conference;  that  this  negotiation  was  different  from  the  official,  so  that 
he  could  not  suppose  that  it  was  ever  intended  to  join  and  confound  them  ; 
that  the  Baron  of  Cabo  Frio,  with  the  authorization  from  the  ex-Minister 
Councillor  Soares  Brandao  presented  in  writing  the  bases  for  the  private 
negotiation,  he  declared  with  frankness  that  he  had  no  authorization  from 
his  Government  to  treat  the  boundary  question,  radicated  at  Buenos  Ayres, 
stating  however  that,  if  a  solution  putting  an  end  to  this  question  could  be 
found  privately,  he  would  agree  to  transmit  it  to  his  Government  and  re- 
port in  person  if  necessary;  that,  this  negotation  was  promoted  in  good  faith 
and  loyalty,  and  that  confidentially  he  was  advised  that  the  Council  of  State 
had  been  called  to  be  consulted  as  to  its  merits,  that  he  begs  leave  to  remind 
His  Excellency  that  he  himself  stated  afterwards  that,  before  all,  it  has  been 
resolved  to  reply  to  the  Argentine  Memorandum,  after  which  the  Imperial 
Government  would  be  in  a  position  to  give  an  answer  to  the  bases  referred 
to  ;  that  the  same  was  transmited  to  him  by  the  ex-Minister  Councillor  Matta 
Machado,  with  whom  he  had  the  honor  to  confer  several  times  in  private  ; 
that  compelled  by  personal  affairs  to  leave  Buenos  Ayres,  and  as  he  went  to 
take  leave  from  His  Excellency,  the  latter  asked  him  to  postpone  his  trip  five 
days,  as  the  moment  of  treating  about  the  confidential  negotiation  had  arrived; 
that  being  unabled  to  accdde.  His  Excellency  asked  him  to  return  soon  in 
view  of  the  ulterior  matters  still  pending,  which  was  the  reply  to  the  Written 
bases,  and  that  His  Excellency  was  so  kind  as  to  write  in  this  sense  to  the 
Minister  of  the  Empire  at  Buenos  Ayres,  who  so  expressed  it  to  the  Minister 
of  Foreign  Relations  and  to  the  President  of  the  Republic  ;  that,  in  fact,  he 
only  remained  eleven  days  in  Buenos  Ayres,  and  upon  his  return  he  placed 
himself  at  the  disposal  of  His  Excellency  to  treat  about  the  pending  negotia- 


—  62  5  — 

tion ;  that  it  is  well  that  the  President  of  the  Council  remember,  that  when 
he  had  the  kindness  to  go  to  his  house  and  stated  the  proposition  the  Govern- 
ment of  Brazil  was  making  to  the  Argentine,  both  agreed  that  the  said  pro- 
position excluded  the  confidential  negotiation,  and  the  Argentine  Minister 
added,  that  even  if  it  was  accepted  by  his  Government,  the  confidential  ne- 
gotiation could  be  continued,  as,  in  fact,  the  general  study  that  is  contem- 
plated of  the  four  rivers  and  the  territory  lying  within  them,  did  not  exclu- 
de the  commisions  from  laying  out  a  convenient  line  of  demarcation  subject 
to  the  approval  of  both  Governments  for,  on  the  contrary,  it  fixed,  bona  fide, 
the  object  of  that  study,  which  is  not  a  definitive  resolution;  that  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Council  will  allow  him  to  repeat  that  he  is  now  surprised  that 
in  view  of  the  answer  to  the  written  bases,  the  same  proposal  of  the  prelimi- 
nary study  is  now  presented  as  indeclinable  ;  that  if  such  was  the  mind  of 
the  Cabinet  he  cannot  understand  the  object  of  asking  him  to  return  soon 
from  Buenos  Ayres,  when  that  proposal  was  precisely  the  official  negotiation 
about  which  the  Argentine  Minister  has  neither  right  nor  authorization  to 
treat;  that  he  must. leave  these  particulars  clearly  established,  to  save  his 
reputation,  as  his  Government  would  be  unable  to  understand  why  his  quick 
return  was  asked,  simply  to  repeat  the  same  proposition  that  was  made  in  an 
official  manner  by  Seiior  Alencar  at  Buenos  Ayres;  that  the  question  being 
placed  on  this  ground,  he  cannot  continue  discussing  the  same,  and  it  only 
remains  for  him  to  once  more  assever  the  loyalty  of  his  proceeding  and  the 
good  intentions  of  the  Argentine  Government  to  whom  he  will  give  an 
account  of  all  that  has  occurred,  thus  closing,  on  his  part,  what  he  has  to 
state  at  this  conference,  and  withdrawing  de  facto  and  expressly  the  bases  of 
the  private  negotiation. 

The  President  of  the  Council  asks  leave  to  say  that  he  considers  with- 
out foundation  the  surprise  expressed  by  His  Excellency  in  seeing  the  same 
proposal  made  officially  to  the  Cabinet  of  Buenos  Ayres,  brought  to  debate 
at  the  confidential  negotiation. 

The  Argentine  Minister  expressing  the  desire  to  obtain  from  the  Impe- 
rial Government  a  reply  to  the  confidential  proposition,  lately  augmented 
and  modified  stib-conditione,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  President  of  the  Council 
to  accede  to  it,  which  he  did  after  conferring  with  his  colleagues  of  the  Cabi- 
net. In  reality,  the  President  of  the  Council,  in  his  reply,  referred  to  the  of- 
ficial proposition  contained  at  the  end  of  the  note  of  December  30th,  but  it 
was  not  his  intention  to  bring  about  a  debate  with  the  Argentine  Minister 
regarding  the  said  proposal ;  he  merely  wanted  to  advise  him  that  even  if  the 
private  and  confidential  proposition  was  not  accepted,  the  idea  contained  in 
the  official  proposal  emanated  from  its  examination  and  the  study  of  the 
boundary  question.  And  the  reasons  by  which  the  Imperial  Government 
thought  thus,  were  frankly  expressed  in  the  referred  note  of  December  the 
30th.  From  what  he  exposes,  the  Minister  sees  well  that  there  was  not,  nor 
is  there,  a  mind  to  join  and  confound  the  proposals;  on  the  contrary  the  con- 
clusion might  be  drawn  that  the  confidential  was  substituted  by  the  official. 

The  President  of  the  Council  asked  leave  to  remark  that  according  to 


—  626  — 

the  information  of  Baron  de  Cabo  Frio,  the  bases  presented  by  him  privately, 
by  virtue  of  the  denomination  of  the  Councillor  Scares  Brandao,  hardly  re- 
produced in  regular  and  complete  form,  for  a  better  understanding,  the  idea 
also  previously  suggested  in  private  by  the  Argentine  Minister  to  the~sanie 
Baron  in  personal  conversation. 

The  Imperial  Government  offered  the  greatest  consideration  for  the  con- 
fidential proposition,  without  contradiction,  it  being  also  true  that,  when 
questioned  by  the  Argentine  Minister  as  to  how  the  very  Government  faced 
it,  he  answered  that,  the  Council  of  State  having  been  consulted  regarding 
the  particular  bases,  the  very  Government  resolved  to  answer,  first  of  all, 
the  Argentine  Memorandum,  which  when  done  would  give  -the  Minister  the 
reply  regarding  the  confidential  and  private  bases. 

That  from  the  fact  referred  to  by  the  Argentine  Minister,  that  the  Pre- 
sident of  the  Council  asked  His  Excellency  to  delay  his  departure  for  Bue- 
nos Ayres  some  days,  it  could  not  be  concluded  but  that  on  the  part  of  the 
Imperial  Government  there  existed  all  the  desire  to  arrive  at  an  understand- 
ing with  the  Minister  about  the  advisability  of  the  Argentine  Republic  accep- 
ting the  official  proposal. 

That,  being  acquainted  with  all,  in  such  a  case,  the  Minister  would 
leave  for  Buenos  Ayres  on  the  promise  to  return  immediately.  This  is  why, 
besides  the  request  to  the  Minister,  the  President  of  the  Council,  in  a  letter 
to  the  Brazilian  Minister  in  that  city,  expressed  the  desire  that  His  Excellency 
should  return  in  a  short  period  to  continue  the  ulterior  terms  of  the  negotia- 
tion. It  is  quite  true  that  in  the  words  "  ulterior  terms  of  the  negotiation," 
which  were  used  in  the  letter  to  the  Brazilian  Minister  and  were  repeated  by 
the  latter  in  the  reply  wherein  he  advised  him  having  complied  with  the  orders 
he  received,  all  the  mind  of  the  Imperial  Government  was  expressed,  and  it 
is :  that  on  its  part,  if  the  official  proposal  was  preferred,  the  negotiation 
could  be  accomplished  at  this  Court,  to  which  end  the  Minister  is  authorized 
with  full  powers.  And  the  President  of  the  Council  still  continues  to  be- 
lieve so.  The  cause  of  the  request  made  to  the  Minister  to  delay  his  depar- 
ture, recommending  Sefior  Alencar,  Brazilian  Minister  to  intervene  in  order 
that  the  stay  of  the  Argentine  Minister  at  Buenos  Ayres  might  be  short,  be- 
ing explained  in  this  form,  nothing  remains  for  the  President  of  the  Council 
but  to  expect  that  His  Excellency  shall  continue  seeing  in  all  the  proceedings 
of  the  Brazilian  Government  an  incontestable  proof  of  the  conviction  it  pos- 
sesses of  the  good  faith  and  loyalty  with  which  the  Minister  has  treated  this 
question. 

The  Argentine  Minister,  after  hearing  the  exposition  of  the  President  of 
the  Council,  asked  leave  to  state  that  perhaps  that  was  the  thought,  but  it 
was  not  expressed  with  such  clearness  as  would  allow  him  to  understand  it, 
for  he  would  have  not  agreed  with  it,  as  the  two  negotiations  were  different 
in  their  means  and  object.  (Signed).— VICENTE  G.  QUESADA.— M.  P. 
DE  SOUZA  DANTAS. 


1891 


IMEIMOZR 

of  the  Argentine  Commission  of  Boundaries  with  the  United 
States  of  Brazil.   ( * ) 

By  virtue  of  the  Treaty  of  September  28th,  1885,  the  following  gentle- 
men met  in  Montevideo  in  the  beginning  of  September  1886,  to  wit:  the 
Argentine  Commissioners,  Colonel  Don  Jose  Ignacio  Garmendia,  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Don  Arturo  Seelstrang  and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Don  Valentin  Vira- 
soro,  and  the  Brazilians  Senor  Baron  de  Capanema,  Commander  Don  Jose 
Candido  Guillobel  and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Don  Dionisio  Evangelista  de 
Castro  Cerqueira ;  at  the  meetings  the  following  third  Commissioners  of 
both  nations  acted  as  Secretaries,  to  wit :  Lieutenant  Colonels  Don  Valentin 
Virasoro  and  Don  Dionisio  Evangelista  de  Castro  Cerqueira. 

At  the  meetings  which  took  place  the  method  to  be  pursued  when  pro- 
ceeding to  work  was  agreed  upon,  adopting  the  limit  of  toleration  in  the  sur- 
vey ;  it  was  agreed  that  Palmas  should  be  the  center  of  reunion  of  the  Com- 
missions, and  that  they  should  not  definitely  begin  work  until  the  following 
March,  employingin  themselves  in  the  meanwhile,  until  that  date,  in  the  pre- 
parations for  the  expedition,  among  which  was  the  study  of  the  resources,  that 
might  be  found  in  the  places  to  be  surveyed,  and  of  the  supply  and  means  of 
transportation  that  would  be  necessary  to  concentrate,  at  adequate  points, 
towards  this  object. 

It  was  also  agreed  that  paths  should  be  opened  at  the  banks  of  rivers 


( * )  This  is  a  translation  of  the  original  document  existing  in  the  Archives  of  the  Ar- 
gentine Department  of  Foreign  Relations,  which,  in  copy  duly  legalized  by  the  United  States 
Consul,  forms  part  of  group  G,  No.  21,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the  «  Argentine  Evidence." 


V 


—  628  — 

where  canoes  could  not  be  used,  so  that  the  different  parties  might  not  lose 
time  suspending  their  topographical  operations  thus  delaying  the  progress  of 
the  explorations. 

In  view  of  these  deliberations,  th<i  Argentine  Commission  sent  the  third 
Commissioner  Lieutenant  Colonel  Don  Valentin  Virasoro  with  his  adjutants, 
who  proceeded  : 

1st. — To  open  paths  to  facilitate  the  transportation  of  provisions  from 
Paggi  to  the  mouth  of  the  Pepiri-guazu,  where  they  built  a  depot  for  storing 
provisions  and  materials. 

2d. — Another  path  from  San  Pedro  running  from  West  to  East  as  far  as 
the  bank  of  the  said  river  Pepiri-guazu,  with  the  same  purpose. 

3d. — Another  from  the  Pass  of  the  Raft  over  the  Chopim  to  the  Port 
of  Moraes. 

4th. — Another  from  the  source  of  the  Pequiri-Guazu  to  the  San  Antonio 
Guazu  de  Oyarvide  or  Jangada.  * 

5th. — The  paths  that  run  from  Campinas  de  Americo  to  San  Pedro,  Paggi 
and  Pirai  were  cleaned  in  part  and  freshly  opened. 

6th. — The  path  running  from  the  Estancia  of  Lucio  Mendez  to  the  Baths 
of  the  Pequiri-guazu  ;  although  this  path  was  an  old  one  it  was  found  almost 
closed. 

7th. — From  the  source  of  the  Pepiri-guazu  the  survey  waa  continued  of 
the  rivers  that  descend  from  the  division  of  waters,  and  the  raising  of  the 
preliminary  plan  was  conducted  as  far  as  the  source  of  the  Pequiri-guazu  and 
that  of  the  Chopim  which  were  surveyed,  as  also  those  of  the  San  Antonio 
Guazii  de  Oyarvide  or  Jangada  of  the  Brazilians,  as  this  is  the  river  which 
appears  under  that  name  in  the  memoir  of  Oyarvide. 

8th. — They  proceeded  to  construct  nine  canoes  at  Port  Moraes  for  the 
party  descending  by  the  Chopim,  four  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pepiri-guazu,  and 
eight  at  Reyuno  Pass. 

The  Brazilian  Commission  on  their  part  prepared  all  the  necessary  ma- 
terial sending  at  once  some  aides  given  them  by  the  telegraph  department  to 
initiate  the  following  works : 

I  St. — Surveying  of  the  Pepiri-guazu,  and  when  this  was  done,  they 
opened  a  path  from  its  source  to  the  last  waterfall  they  could  reach  with 
canoes,  not  only  to  facilitate  the  measure,  but  also  to  facilitate  sending  resour- 
ces if  necessary. 

2nd. — They  proceeded  to  the  opening  of  the  path  along  the  Chapeco  or 
Pequiri-guazu  from  its  first  great  waterfall  to  its  source. 

3d. — From  the  source  of  the  Chopim  or  San  Antonio  Guazu  to  the  Raft, 
the  spot  where  the  said  river  is  crossed  by  the  road  of  Guarapuava  to  Boa- 
Vista,  a  path  was  also  opened  at  the  same  place. 

4th. — Canoes  were  ordered  to  be  ready  at  the  Port  of  Chalanas  on  the 
Uruguay  for  the  exploration  of  the  Pepiri-guazu  or  Pequiri-guazu  and  Cha- 
peco and  the  stretch  between  the  Uruguay.  At  the  Raft,  canoes  were  also 
ordered  to  be  ready  for  the  exploration  of  the  Chopim  or  San  Antonio  Guazu 
and  of  the  Iguazu  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  San  Francisco. 


—  629  — 

On  the  1 2th  of  March,  1887  the  Argentine  Commission  started  from 
Buenos  Ayres  arriving  at  Santo  Tome  on  the  i8th,  where  it  was  delayed  on 
account  of  the  quarantine  estabhshed  on  the  frontier  of  Rio  Grande  ;  they 
crossed  the  Uruguay  at  San  Borja  and  continued  their  march  as  far  as  Nono- 
hay,  where  they  arrived  on  the  ist  of  June,  the  Brazilian  Commission  meet- 
ing them  at  this  point. 

This  delay  was  not  only  caused  by  the  disappointment  which  are  unavoid- 
able in  a  long  journey  and  the  inclemency  of  the  season,  but  by  having  had 
to  wait  at  San  Jacobo  for  the  results  of  the  telegraphic  conference  in  progress 
at  the  time,  between  the  first  Brazilian  Commissioner  and  the  third  Ar- 
gentine Commissioner  regarding  the  agreements  about  the  meeting  of  the 
parties. 

On  the  27th  of  March,  1887,  the  Brazilian  Commission  left  Rio  Janeiro, 
having  been  preceded  by  the  Secretary  the  Major  Don  Esteban  Joaquin  de 
Oliveira  Santos  and  his  aides,  with  the  miUtary  contingent  of  fifty  men,  with 
the  object  of  contracting  and  preparing  the  supplies  and  all  that  might  be 
necessary  ;  the  Brazilian  Commission  arrived  at  Palmas  on  the  21st  of  April. 

The  Commissioners  of  both  nations  meeting  at  a  conference  in  Nonohay, 
determined  to  make  use  of  the  triangulation  as  much  as  possible,  without  as- 
serting the  obligation  to  extend  the  net  over  all  the  territory  ;  and  also  to 
divide  the  personnel  of  the  Joint  Commission  in  five  parties  with  the  object  of 
reducing  the  duration  of  the  work  and  prevent  the  inconveniences  that  might 
be  found  in  an  exploration  made  in  an  unsettled  and  particularly  irregular 
country,  as  also  numerous  groups  ;  and  that  these  should  not  separate  in  de- 
tached parties  to  prevent  interruptions,  and  that  they  should  meet  only  at 
points  of  juncture. 

The  parties  were  then  composed  as  follows  : 

The  1st.  The  second  Argentine  Commissioner,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Don 
Arturo  Seelstrang,  his  Adjutant  Lieutenant  of  the  Navy,  Don  Juan  C.  Picasso, 
and  the  Aides,  Naval  Ensigns  Don  Fernando  L.  Dousset  and  Don  Manuel 
J.  Lagos,  and  the  third  Brazilian  Commissioner,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Don 
Dionisio  E.  de  Castro  Cerqueira,  his  Aide  second  Lieutenant  Don  Juan  de 
Rego  Barros,  and  Lieutenant  Don  Antonio  Leite  Ribeiro.  This  party  would 
ascend  the  Pepiri-guazu  and  continue  from  its  principal  source  by  the  high- 
est ground,  as  far  as  the  principal  source  of  the  San  Antonio,  and  descend  by 
the  latter  as  far  as  the  Iguazu. 

The  2nd.  The  third  Argentine  Commissioner,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Don 
Valentin  Virasoro,  with  his  Adjutant  Major  Don  Jorge  J.  Rhode,  and  the 
Aid  Ensign  Don  Jorge  Victorica,  and  the  second  Brazilian  Commissioner, 
Captain  Don  Jose  Candido  Guillobel,  and  his  Adjutant  the  first  Lieutenant 
of  the  Navy  Don  Federieo  Ferreira  de  Oliveira.  This  party  would  ascend 
the  Uruguay  and  the  Pequiri-guazu,  or  Chapeco,  as  far  as  its  source,  and 
from  there  pass  to  that  of  the  San  Antonio-guazu  or  Chopim,  descending  by 
the  latter  as  far  as  the  Pass  of  the  Raft. 

The  3rd.  The  Adjutant  Lieutenant  of  the  Navy,  Don  Manuel  Doniecq 
Garcia,  and  the  Aides,  Naval  Ensign  Don  Juan  A.  Martin,  and  second  Lieu- 


—  630  — 

tenant  Don  Benjamin  Garcia  Aparicio,  and  on  the  part  of  the  Brazilians,  the 
Adjutant  Major  Don  Jose  Jardin,  the  Ensign  of  the  contingent  Don  Sebas- 
tian Basilio  Pyrrho,  and  the  Aide  Don  Teodoro  Kleine,  who  should  descend 
by  the  Chopim  or  San  Antonio-guazu.  This  party,  after  leaving  the  Pass  of 
the  Raft  by  the  Chopim,  should  continue  by  the  Iguazu  as  far  as  the  mouth 
of  the  San  Francisco. 

The  fourth  party  under  the  direction  of  the  Chief  of  both  Commissions 
consisted  of  the  technical  Aides  Naval  Ensign  Don  Vicente  E.  Montes  under 
Senor  Colonel  Garmendia  and  Don  Emilio  Odebrecht  under  Baron  de  Capa- 
nema,  who  were  charged  with  the  geodesical  work,  principally  for  the  deter- 
mination of  the  cardinal  points  of  the  intermediate  land,  with  the  purpose  of 
bindihg  with  the  same  the  explorations  to  the  centre,  in  view  of  the  inability 
to  determine  longitudes  with  sufficient  accuracy,  owing  to  the  impossibility 
of  transporting  chronometers  by  rivers  full  of  reefs,  with  such  care  as  is  indis- 
pensable to  preserve  their  regularity.  It  was  thus  necessary  to  be  satisfied 
with  determining  frequently,  by  astronomical  observation,  the  true  azimuths 
in  order  to  ascertain  the  polygon  surveyed,  the  sides  of  which  were  all 
measured  twice,  as  a  matter  of  confirmation. 

The  chiefs  of  both  Commissions  agreed  upon  taking  Palmas  as  the 
center  of  operations,  where  at  any  moment  they  could  give  account  to  their 
Governments  by  telegraph  of  the  state  of  the  work. 

Latter,  a  fifth  party  was  organized  on  agreement  between  the  two  first 
Argentine  and  Brazilian  Commissioners,  and  the  first  was  divided,  as  the 
second  Argentine  Commissioner  remained  at  the  source  of  the  San  Antonio, 
owing  to  his  state  of  health  not  permitting  the  exposure  and  fatigues  that 
would  be  caused  by  the  descent  on  that  river.  This  was  accomplished  by 
the  third  Brazilian  Commissioner,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Don  Dionisio  Cer- 
queira,  and  the  Argentine  Adjutant  Lieutenant  Don  Juan  C.  Picasso. 

The  second  Argentine  Commissioner,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Don  Arturo 
Seelstrang,  with  his  Aide  the  Ensign  Don  Fernando  L.  Dousset,  the  third 
Brazilian  Adjutant  Don  Juan  Rego  Barros,  the  Lieutenant  Don  Antonio 
Leite  Ribeiro  Junior,  and  the  Cadet  Don  Jose  Leandro  Braga  Cavalcante, 
officers  of  the  detachment,  as  Aides,  busied  themselves  with  the  raising  of 
the  longitudinal  profile  and  the  transversals  between  the  principal  sources  of 
the  San  Antonio  and  Pepiri-guazu,  in  order  to  leave  the  highest  spot  bet- 
ween the  two  rivers  perfectly  determined. 

With  this  object,  a  large  extension  of  path  had  already  been  opened 
with  the  personnel  of  both  parties,  and  this  was  also  entrusted,  in  case  of 
necessity,  to  take  help  to  the  party  ascending  the  Pepiri-guazu. 

It  was  also  resolved  to  proceed  to  the  exploration  of  the  Chopim  or  San 
Antonio-guazu  in  two  parties,  as  the  crossing  of  the  raft  was  a  point  which 
could  be  perfectly  determined  by  the  party  descending  from  there,  to  be  met 
by  the  other  which,  ascending  the  Chapeco  or  Pequiri-guazu,  would  pass 
from  its  source  by  the  highest  spot,  to  those  of  the  Chopim  or  San  Antonio 
Guazu. 

Besides,  all  these  points  would  be  determined  by  triangulation. 


-  631  - 

The  distribution  of  the  work  being  thus  organized,  it  was  begun  on  the 
seventh  of  June,  1887,  the  first  and  second  parties  descending  the  Uruguay 
as  far  as  the  Pepiri-guazu  ;  both  proceeded,  with  all  the  details  of  the  case, 
to  the  determination  of  the  mouth  of  that  river,  making  careful  notes  of  all 
the  particulars,  and  once  the  plan  traced  by  the  second  Argentine  Commis- 
sioner with  soundings  and  levelings,  it  was  signed  by  the  two  Argentine  Com- 
missioners and  the  two  Brazilians  and  the  respective  Aides. 

This  being  done  the  party  separated,  the  second  ascending  the  Uruguay 
up  to  the  mouth  of  the  Pequiri-guazu  or  Chapeco,  and  there,  they  equally 
determined  all  the  accidents  of  the  soil  very  carefully.  By  common  accord 
the  measurings  were  made  with  the  diastimetricals  of  the  Brazilian  Commis- 
sion and  every  Commissioner  kept  his  note-book  up  to  date  duly  compared, 
and  authenticated  with  the  respective  signatures  ;  in  this  manner  the  identity 
of  their  books  was  made  sure. 

The  first  party  were  only  able  to  begin  to  ascend  the  Pepiri-guazu  on 
the  fourth  of  August,  1887,  and  at  its  mouth  is  was  delayed  on  account  of 
the  work  being  done  in  the  survey  of  that  point,  and  because  the  Argentine 
surveyor  had  delayed  the  supplies  which  it  was  necessary  to  procure  at  the 
Colonia  of  the  Upper  Uruguay. 

A  little  beyond  half  the  way  the  supplies  of  the  Brazilians  ran  short  ;  a 
freshet  of  the  river  prevented  the  party  from  continuing  their  march,  and 
delayed  the  ascent  of  the  canoes  with  the  help,  as  they  had  orders  to  bring 
if  they  received  no  news  from  the  party  by  the  end  of  August. 

This  party  arrived  well  at  its  first  destination,  although  with  many  dis- 
appointments, the  Lieutenant  Rego  Barros,  owing  to  sickness,  being  com- 
pelled to  go  back  by  the  path  which  the  Argentines  had  opened  as  far  as 
San  Pedro,  in  the  same  manner  that  the  Commissioners  Seelstrang  and  Cer- 
queira  arrived  at  the  source  of  the  Pepiri-guazu. 

In  the  ascent  of  the  Pepiri-guazu  this  party  found  two  tributaries  of  this 
river  which  also  looked  very  large,  for  which  reason  the  volume  of  their 
waters  was  measured;  out  of  the  western  tributary  ran  eleven  thousand  litres, 
ard  out  of  the  eastern  nine  thousand.  The  former  came  from  the  west  and 
then  from  the  southwest.  It  was  ascertained,  however,  that  farther  up  its 
course  was  from  north  to  south. 

A  path  was  ordered  to  be  opened  by  its  bank,  and  afterwards  its  plan 
was  drawn  by  the  Adjutants  between  the  bifurcation  and  its  source,  which 
lies  on  the  same  sierra  that  binds  the  source  of  the  Pepiri-guazu  with  that  of 
the  San  Antonio;  with  that  source  the  said  sierra  bifurcates  towards  the  east, 
forming  a  division  of  waters  between  the  Iguazu  and  the  Uruguay.  At  a 
short  distance  from  the  Pepiri-guazu,  a  tributary  ot  the  Uruguay  starts  run- 
ning westward  and  flows  into  the  Parana. 

On  account  of  the  third  Brazilian  Commissioner  having  arrived  ill,  he 
was  accompanied  in  the  descent  of  the  San  Antonio  by  the  Brazilian  apothe- 
cary, Captain  Don  Antonio  Ribeiro  de  Aguiar;  this,  after  having  verified 
which  was  the  principal  source  of  that  river.  The  party  arrived  at  its  mouth, 
descended   the    Iguazu    and   also    the    Parana  river  as  far  as  the  Port  01 


—  632  — 

Piray,  where  it  arrived  on  the  eighteenth  of  January,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  eighty-eight,  finding  the  store  of  supphes  which  had  been  pro- 
vided for  previously  by  the  chief  of  the  Argentine  Commission  for  the  parties 
that  might  descend  by  the  San  Antonio  and  the  Chopim  or  San  Antonio- 
guazu,  returning  by  San  Pedro,  Campinas  de  Americo,  Campo  Ere,  to 
Palmas,  where  it  arrived  on  the  thirty-first  of  January.  The  second  party 
continued  the  ascent  of  the  Chapeco  or  Pepiri-guazii  as  far  as  the  first  great 
waterfall,  from  which  point  it  was  very  difficult  to  proceed  in  canoes  owing 
to  the  great  falls  that  obstruct  it. 

At  this  point  the  Brazilian  party  with  their  chief  and  the  greater  part  of 
his  personnel  arrived  suffering  from  fever,  as  well  as  the  chief  of  the  Argen- 
tine party;  but  fortunately  the  path  which  had  been  ordered  to  be  opened 
commenced  there,  and  it  was  of  great  usefulness,  as  it  allowed  to  carry  by 
the  same  the  sick  men  to  the  first  settlement,  whither  the  physicians  of  both 
commissions  were  immediately  sent,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  possible  they  were 
taken  to  Palmas,  where  they  were  taken  care  of. 

Meanwhile  the  Argentine  party  with  Major  Rhode  continued  the  explor- 
ation and,  although  with  some  difl[iculties,  ascended  the  river  as  far  as  the 
Colecturia. 

As  soon  as  the  sick  were  established,  the  survey  of  the  river  was  contin- 
ued by  the  path,  and  it  was  seen  that  it  agreed  with  the  plan  made  by  the 
Argentine  Preliminary  Commission  and  that  drawn  by  the  Surveyor  having 
in  charge  the  opening  of  the  path.  The  same  happened  with  the  plan  of  the 
Chopim  or  San  Antonio-guazu,  drawn  from  the  source  to  the  crossing  of  the 
raft. 

The  verification  of  these  plans  and  the  passage  from  one  source  to  the 
other  was  facilitated  by  the  juncture  of  several  points  of  the  same  plans,  and 
by  the  numerous  vertexes  of  the  triangulation  which  were  already  finished, 
thus  saving  considerable  time. 

When  this  work  was  terminated,  the  Adjutants  Rhode  and  Oliveira  pro- 
ceeded to  determine  the  highest  land,  between  the  two  principal  sources  of 
those  two  rivers.  In  the  meantime  the  Commissioners  joined  the  principal 
source  of  the  Chapeco  or  Pepiri-guazu  with  that  of  the  Jangada  or  San  An- 
tonio-guazu de  Oyarvide,  the  two  breaking  forth  very  near. 

The  third  party  started  from  the  Pass  of  the  Raft,  descending  by  the 
Chopim  or  San  Antonio-guazu,  a  river  entirely  unknown,  having  to  vanquish 
great  difficulties,  and,  as  on  account  of  these  they  were  delayed  more  than 
they  had  expected,  they  were  able  to  establish  a  depot  of  provisions  on  the 
bank  of  the  said  river,  with  the  help  of  the  Director  of  the  military  colony  of 
the  Chopim,  Captain  Don  Alberto  Ferreira  de  Abreu  getting  some  Indians 
Corvados  to  travel  upwards  by  land  to  meet  the  party  which  was  coming 
down,  all  well,  without  any  notable  accident,  except  the  loss  of  a  Brazilian 
soldier  drowned  below  a  waterfall. 

In  the  colony  referred  to,  they  provided  themselves  with  victuals,  and 
continued  the  descent  of  that  river  as  far  as  its  mouth  by  the  Iguazu,  and  de- 
scended by  this,  drawing  its  plan  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  San   Francisco, 


—   633  — 

and  continued  towards  the  Parana,  and  by  this  as  far  as  the  Port  of  Piray, 
where  they  replenished  their  stores,  returning  by  San  Pedro,  Campiiias  de 
Americo,  and  Campo  Ere  to  Palmas. 

The  geodesic  group  had  carried  the  triangulation  as  far  as  a  line  which 
ended  at  the  east,  by  a  source  of  the  Pepiri-guazu,  and  beyond  those  of  the 
Chopim  by  the  north  and  south,  comprising  these  two  rivers,  and  by  the 
west  on  the  line  of  the  pass  of  the  Colecturia  Vieja  to  the  Sierra  of  La  Fac- 
tura,  and  from  there  to  the  proximities  of  the  Pass  of  the  Raft  on  the 
Chopim. 

Buoys  had  already  been  placed  on  Sierra  de  Santa  Ana  on  the  old  terre- 
plain  of  Campo  Ere,  the  military  colony  of  the  Chopim,  and  some  on  the 
military  colony  of  Xanxere,  the  Sierra  of  Gregorio,  and  the  fields  of  Nono- 
hay,  in  order  to  be  able  to  include  the  Uruguay  in  the  net  of  triangles,  and 
also  the  mouth  of  the  Chapeco  or  Pepiri-guazu,  and  above  all  the  source  of 
the  San  Antonio  and  Pepiri-guazii.  This  would  also  serve  to  mark  the  salient 
points  of  the  intermediate  land,  and  possibly  permit  knowing  the  direction 
of  the  Sierras  which  separate  between  them  the  affluence  of  the  Uruguay  and 
Iguazu. 

These  buoys  were  not,  however,  utilized  by  the  geodesic  group,  as  they 
could  not  be  seen  one  from  the  other,  and  intermediate  points  were  not 
chosen,  as  the  work  would  thus  result  excessively  long  and  expensive. 

In  view  of  the  difficulties  that  this  work  would  offer  when  extending  in- 
to the  the  thick  woods  at  the  west  of  the  fields  of  Palmas,  its  long  duration 
and  the  expenses  arising  therefrom,  and  besides,  taking  into  account  the 
stipulation  of  the  conference  at  Nonohay,  the  first  Argentine  Commissioner 
stated  the  necessity  of  limiting  the  same,  being  satisfied  with  the  work  done 
on  the  open  fields  towards  the  east,  as  the  interrupted  polygon  at  the  Colec- 
turia Vieja  and  at  the  Pass  of  the  Raft  on  the  Chopim  was  already  closed, 
and  a  sufficient  number  of  points  of  reference  had  been  left  in  the  section 
surveyed  only  by  the  Brazilian  Aides. 

The  first  Brazilian  Commissioner,  taking  these  reasons  into  account, 
expressed  a  desire  that  at  least  the  source  of  the  San  Antonio  should  be 
joined  to  one  of  the  vertexes  of  the  the  triangulation,  which  might  be  easy 
to  be  obtained  with  marks  of  heliotrope,  proposing  to  the  first  Argentine  Comw 
missioner  that  the  diflference  of  longitude  of  the  sources  of  the  rivers  at  the 
West  with  the  last  point  of  the  triangulation  should  be  determined  by  means 
of  light  signals. 

These  signs  however  would  require  intermediate  stations  at  the  highest 
point  of  the  central  belt,  which  would  consume  some  time. 

But  in  the  day  when  the  geodesic  group  started  to  accomplish  this 
work,  the  two  Commissioners  decided  to  suspend  it  for  the  time  being,  on 
account  of  the  difficulties  just  mentioned. 

All  these  buoyings  were  executed  by  the  Brazilian  soldiers  of  the  escort 
for  account  of  the  Brazilian  Commission,  under  the  direction  of  Captain  Don 
Joaquin  Fernandez  de  Andrade  y  Silva,  Commander  of  the  said  escort. 

The   two    Commissions  made,    in    the    same   manner,  the  paths  of  the 


—  634  — 

intermediate  land  between  the  Chapeco  or  Pequiri-Guazu,  the  Chopim  or 
San  Antonio  Guazu  aad  the  transversals  of  the  intermediate  land  between  the 
San  Antonio  and  Pepiri-Guazu,  as  also  the  paths  of  the  Jangada  or  San 
Antonio  Guazu  de  Oyarvide,  and  by  the  Brazilians  only  those  of  the  Cha- 
peco or  Pepiri-Guazu. 

As  there  existed  already  a  plan  of  the  highest  land  between  the  four 
rivers,  previouslymade  by  an  engineer  of  the  Telegraph,  it  was  rectified 
and  the  remaining  part  was  completed  by  the  first  Argentine  Adjutant 
Major  Rhode  together  with  the  second  Brazilian  Adjutant  the  first  Leiitenant 
Don  Federico  de  Oliveira. 

The  Argentine  Commissioners  considering  that  the  work  was  incom- 
plete so  long  as  the  San  Antonio  Guazu  de  Oyarvide  or  Jangada  was  not 
explored,  the  principal  source  of  which  concurs  at  a  short  distance  with  that 
of  the  Pequiri-Guazu,  they  insisted  in  asking  for  the  exploration  of  the  said 
river  as  they  considered  it  the  true  San  Antonio  Guazu  determined  in  the 
instructions,  and  no  the  Chopim  which  by  an  error  takes  the  place  of  the  former 
in  the  treaty  of  September  28th  1885,  as  the  latter  was  never  known  or  explored 
by  Oyarvide,  nor  is  it  ever  mentioned  in  his  memoir.  The  Brazilians  agreed 
that  the  source  of  the  river  which  was  denominated  San  Antonio  Guazu  by 
Oyarvide  was  that  of  the  river  which  in  Brazil  is  known  by  the  name  of  Jan- 
gada, but  they  supposed  they  could  not  assent  to  this  exigency,  as  the  treaty 
referred  to  makes  no  mention  of  that  river,  nor  could  they  admit  that  the 
interpretation  of  Article  III  of  the  instructions  accompanying  the  said  treaty 
wherein  it  is  recommended  to  the  Commissioners  to  guide  themselves  hy 
the  work  of  Oyarvide,  was  to  oblige  the  drawing  of  a  plan  of  a  river  of 
which  Oyarvide  only  mentions  the  source,  the  more  so  as  that  exploration 
demanded,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  the  exploration  of  the  Iguazu  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Chopim  or  San  Antonio  Guazu  to  that  of  the  Jangada  or 
San  Antonio  Guazii  de  Oyarvide. 

Besides,  they  believed  that  they  had  fuUfiled  the  provisions  of  the  said 
article  of  the  instructions  with  the  joint  survey  of  the  source  of  the  Jangada  or 
San  Antonio  Guazu  de  Oyarvide.  Owing  to  this,  the  Brazilian  Commissioners 
did  not  admit  further  work  in  conjunction,  without  an  express  order  fiom 
their  Government,  ordering  only  the  survey  of  a  few  more  kilometers  ;  and 
the  Argentines  with  their  officers  proceeded  to  the  survey  of  a  greater  extension 
and  of  some  tributaries. 

This  divergence  was  carried  to  the  knowledge  of  their  respective 
governments  according  to   the  form  of  article  thirteenth  of  the  instructions. 

Both  Governments,  finding  the  exigency  of  the  Argentine  Commissioners 
reasonable,  resolved  later  that  the  first  Commissionners  of  both  Commissions 
should  accomplish  the  exploration  of  this  river,  the  following  being  appointed 
for  the  purpose  :  the  third  AdjCltant  Lieutenant  of  the  navy  Don  Vicente  E. 
Montes  on  the  part  of  the  Argentines,  and  the  Engineer  Don  Emilio  Ode- 
brecht  on   the  part  of  Brazil,  who  finished  their  mission  in  November  1888. 

Later,  at  the  request  of  the  Brazilian  Government,  the  third  Commis- 
sioner of  the  joint  Commission  again  explored  tne  source  of  the  Jangada  or 


-  635   - 

San  Antonio  Guazu  de  Oyarvide  and  that  of  the  Pequiri-Guazii  or  Chapeco, 
with  the  intermediate  land  and  their  counter-springs,  which  work  was  finished 
the  first  part  of  January  1890. 

Among  the  members  of  the  Joint  Commission  the  most  perfect  har- 
mony always  prevailed,  resulting  in  the  great  rapidity  with  which  the  field 
work  was  finished,  and  they  separated  with  the  same  mutual  feeling,  carrying 
with  them  the  remembrance  of  their  arduous  work,  of  the  dangers  to  which 
they  were  many  times  exposed,  and  of  the  privations  they  had  to  suffer. 
Buenos  Aires,  September  24th  1891. 
(Signed)  JOSE  IGNACIO  GARMENDIA,  First  Commisioner.— (Signed) 
ARTURO  SEELSTRANG,  Second  Commissioner.— (Signed)  VALENTIN 
VIRASORO,  Third  Commisioner.— (Signed)  BARAO  DE  CAPANEMA, 
Firts  Commissioner.— (Signed)  JOSE  CANDIDO  GUILLOBEL,  Second 
Commissioner.— (Signed)  DIONISIO  E.  DE  CASTRO  CERQUEIRA. 
Third  Commissioner. 


1891-1893 


Document  concerning-  the  reopening-  of  the  negotiations  on  the 

Treaty  of  1890,  after  being  rejected  by  the  Brazilian 

Congress.   ( * ) 

Department  of  Foreign  Relations. 

Buenos  Ayres,  December  29TH,   1891. 
(Private.) 

Mr.  Minister:— I  send  herewith  a  note  wherein  I  advise  Your  Excellency 
of  the  initiative  of  Senor  Cyro  de  Azevedo,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Min- 
istet  Plentpotentiary  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil,  in  the  sense  of  reaching 
a  compromise  in  the  matter  of  Misiones. 

I  place  such  antecedents  within  the  knowledge  of  Your  Excellency,  in 
order  that  Your  Excellency  may  know  accurately  what  has  occurred,  avail- 
ling  yourself  of  the  first  opportunity  to  acquaint  the  Honorable  Minister  of 
Foreign  Relations  of  that  country,  with  the  conversations  that  have  taken 
place  here.  Your  Excellency  may  add  that  the  Argentine  Government  has  no 
interest  whatever  in  delaying  the  arbitrage,  and  that  it  anxiously  wishes,  as 
is  expressed  in  the  said  note,  to  bring  about  a  solution  of  the  controversy 
recurring  to  the  said  resource  as  soon  as  possible. 

At  the  conference  which  Your  Excellency  may  have  regarding  the 
matter,  with  the  Honorable  Minister  of  Foreing  Relations,  you  may  read  the 


( * )  These  are  translations  from  the  documents  referred  to  the  original  and  copies  of 
which,  duly  legalized,  form  part  of  the  group  D,  No.  22,  of  manuscript  documents  of  the 
"  Argentine  Evidence." 


—  638  — 

said   note  if  you  should   consider    it  advisable,    but  without  leaving  him  a 
copy. 

I  repeat  to  Your  Excellency  the  assurances  of  my  distinguished  esteem, 
(Signed)         ESTANISLAO  S.   ZEBALLOS, 
To  His  Excellency    Don     Agustin    Arroyo,   Envoy    Plenipotentiary    of   the 
Argentine  RepubHc  in  the  United  States  of  Brazil. 


Department  of  Foreign  Relations. 

Buenos  Ayres,  December  28th,  1891. 

Mr.  Minister, — I  deem  it  opportune  to  advise  Your  Excellency  of 
certain  facts  alluded  to  in  a  previous  and  confidential  note  of  mine. 

During  the  term  of  offlce  of  Seiior  Dr.  D.  Eduardo  Costa,  the  Honora- 
ble Minister  of  Brazil  in  this  capital  inidated  an  exchange  of  ideas  touching  a 
new  and  direct  settlement  of  the  Misiones  question,  declaring  categorically 
that  he  did  not  act  in  instructions  of  his  government,  but  in  a  spontaneous 
and  personal  manner,  impelled  by  trascendental  feeling  in  favor  of  the 
sincere  confraternity  of  the  two  countries.  He  added  that  he  would  not  com- 
municate the  case  to  his  government  except  after  the  project  should  be 
considered  feasible  by  the  Argentine  Government. 

The  Honorable  Minister  had  occasion  later,  to  speak  of  the  same 
matter  and  in  the  same  form  with  the  President  of  the  Republic,  vi^ho 
declared  to  him  that  any  other  direct  settlement  appeared  to  him  impossible, 
since  the  Argentine  Republic  would  in  no  case  effect  one  giving  up  a 
larger  territory  than  that  already  conceded,  from  its  legitimate  sovereignty, 
by  virtue  of  the  compromise  of  Montevideo. 

At  the  time  when  I  took  charge  of  this  Department,  and  at  the  first 
ordinary  call,  the  Honorable  Minister  of  Brazil  related  to  me  those  ante- 
cedents, and  in  the  same  character  he  asked  me  if  I  might  be  disposed  to 
occupy  myseif  with  the  case.  I  deferred  his  wishes  courteously,  assuming 
that  the  case  was  one  of  patriotic  and  personal  initiative  of  His  Excellency, 
and  I  promised  to  study  it  up  in  the  same  character  and  without  informing 
my  government, 

I  thought  it  judicious,  at  once,  to  manifest  privately  to  His  Excellency 
that  I  should  not  consider  his  idea  feasible,  except  on  previous  bases,  which 
Brazil  should  courteously  accept  for  obvious  reasons,  after  the  rejection  of  the 
said  treaty. 

Those  preliminary  bases  should  be  the  following: 

1st.     The  new  negotiation  must  be  initiated  by  Brazil, 

2nd.  The  treaty  giving  form  to  the  same  would  be  first  submtited  to 
and  approved  by,  the  Congress  of  Brazil. 

3rd.  The  area  conceded  by  us  in  case  of  a  new  arrangement  would  not 
be  greater  than  that  conceded  in  the  Zeballos-Bocayuba  Treaty. 

The  first  two  bases  amount  to  a  deference  which  can  not  be  resisted  by 
Brazil  after  the  rejection  of  the  treaty,  because  it  presents  to  their  statesmen 


—  ^39  — 

an  opportunity  to  demostrate  that  the  said  action  has  not  cooled  their  good 
will  towards  the  Argentine  Republic.  The  third  basis  is  a  natural  one,  and 
requires  no  commentaries. 

These  ideas  being  heard  by  Sefior  Cyro  de  Azevedo,  we  agreed  to  meet 
one  day  to  confer,  always  privately,  about  the  matter,  and  as  this  interview 
was  delayed  by  the  gravity  and  urgency  of  other  affairs,  His  Excellency 
asked  me  if  I  had  formed  any  ideas  about  the  matter,  whereupon  I  invited 
him  to  a  conference. 

This  took  place  with  the  chart  of  Misiones  before  us.  He  proposed  to 
me  a  line  from  North  to  South,  which  resulted  impracticable,  and  I  proposed 
another  more  feasible  which  might  be  discussed,  after  first  establishing  a 
preliminary  agreement  upon  the  bases  which  we  should  arrange  in  due  time, 
in  order  to  reach  the  direct  settlement,  or  to  hasten  the  arbitrage,  which  we 
in  our  part  anxiously  desire,  and  for  which  we  shall  prepare  as  soon  as  the 
Congress  of  1892  shall  meet  and  vote  the  necessary  funds. 

Your  Excellency  must  remember  that  the  documents  upon  which  the 
Repubhc  rests  for  its  rights,  are  conclusive,  and  that  the  direct  settlement 
was  but  the  means  of  hastening  the  political  and  material  solution,  con- 
sidering the  limited  extension  of  the  territory  in  dispute. 

I  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  reiterate  to  Your  Excellency  the 
■assurances  of  my  distinguished  consideration. 

(Signed)         ESTANISLAO  S.   ZEBALLOS. 
To  His  Excellency  Don  Agu-stin  Arroyo,    Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  of  the  Argentine  Republic  in  the  United  States  of  Brazil. 


Buenos  Aires,  October  4TH,  1893. 

Mr.  Minister  : — Replying  to  Your  Excellency's  note  of  yesterday's  date, 
in  which  you  asked  me  to  inform  your  Department,  regarding  the  pro- 
position of  a  direct  settlement  of  tlie  boundary  question  as  made  by  the 
government  of  Brazil  during  my  administration,  I  must  manifest  to  Your 
Excellency  that  there  was  no  official  proposition,  The  Honorable  Minister 
of  Brazil,  Doctor  Cyro  de  Azevedo,  when  announcing  to  me  that  the  treaty 
of  a  direct  settlement  made  by  Zeballos-Bocayuva  had  been  rejected  by  the 
Congress  of  Brazil,  manifested  to  me  confidentially  that  the  fundamental  rea- 
sons for  the  rejection  was  that  certain  settlements  of  Brazilians  remained, 
through  that  line,  within  Argentine  territory,  and  that  if  we  were  disposed  to 
alter  that  line  in  such  a  manner  that  after  leaving  to  each  country  an  exten- 
sion of  territory,  equal  to  that  of  the  former  line,  the  said  settlements 
remained  in  Brazilian  territory,  he  should  think  that  it  would  be  easy  to 
resume  the  negotiations  and  arrive  at  a  direct  settlement. 

I  manifested  to  him  that  in  my  opinion  any  modification  of  the  line, 
after  the  rejection  by  the  Brazilian  Congress,  would  be  refused  by  the 
Argentine  Congress,  and  that  we  in  our  part  had  resolved  to  put  into  effect 


—  640  — 

the  previous  treaty  of  arbitration  and  to  submit  the  question  without  further 
delay  to  the  decision  of  the  President  of  the  United  States ;  that  he  should 
kindly  communicate  this  to  his  government  and  we  would  give  instructions  in 
this  sense  to  our  Minister  in   Rio;  which  was  done. 

These  are  all  the  antecedents  regarding  the  matter  which  Your  Excel- 
lency desires  to  know,  and  if  there  was  no  record  kept  in  the  archives  of  the 
Department  regarding  this  conversation,  it  was  due  to  its  confidential 
character, 

I  salute  the  Honorable  Minister  with  all  consideration. 

(Signed)     C.  PELLEGRINI. 


Note  of  the  Arg'entine  Minister  as  to  the  Exposition  of  the  Minister  of  For- 
eign Relations  of  Brazil,  printed  in  1882.    (  *  ) 

Petropolis,  March  nth,  1892. 
Honorable  Mmister: 

I  have  the  honor  of  sending  to  Your  Excellency,  under  separate  and 
certified  cover,  a  package  containing  the  « Apontamentos  sobre  os  limites 
entre  o  Brazil'e  a  Republica  Argentina,  »  which  is  the  book  published  in 
1882  by  the  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  and  that  Your  Excellency  requested  me  to 
send  to  your  Ministry  at  the  greatest  possible  brevity. 

I  must  advise  Your  Excellency  that  of  the  said  publication  the  author 
only  printed  sixty  copies,  which  were  distributed  among  his  friends.  The 
one  I  send  Your  Excellency  has  been  obtained  with  much  difiiculty,  and  it 
would  be  useless  to  pretend  acquiring  others. 

I  again  assure  Your  Excellency  of  my  most  distinguished  consideration. 

AGUSTIN  ARROYO. 

To  His  Excellency,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Aflfairs  of  the  Argentine  Re- 
public, Dr.  Estanislao  S.  Zeballos. 


(*)     This  is  a  translation  from  the  document  which  is  hand-written  in  the  fly-leaf  of 
the  book  above  referred  to. 


1890 

Department  of  Foreign  Relations 

ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC. 


LIMITS 

between  the  Argentine  and  Brazilian 
Republics. 

Abstract  from  the  Report  presented  to  the 

Congress  of  the  Nation 

by 

ESTANISLAO    S.   ZEBALLOS, 

Minister  of  Foreign  Relations. 


BRAZIL. 
I 

The    "Misiones"    Question. 

Summary  I.  Records  of  this  suit  between  Spain  and  Portugal. — II. 
Seiior  Paranhos'  Mission  in  Rio  de  la  Plata. — Paranhos'  Negotiation. — Lopez 
and  Derqui. — Treaty  of  Limits  of  1857. — Erroneous  Interpretations  of  this 
solution. — Inedited  documents  and  records  favorable  to  the  Argentine  Con- 
federation.=— Mission  of  Seiior  Don  Jose  Luis  de  la  Pena  to  Rio  de  Janeiro. — 
Plan  of  aUiance  between  the  Confederation,  Brazil  and  Uruguay,  against 
Buenos  Ayres. — III.  Irigoyen  Aguiar  d'Andrada's  Negotiation  in  1876. — Baron 
de  Cotegipe's  policy,  and  the  question  of  Misiones. — I V.  Negotiations  of  Seiior 
Dominguez  at  Rio  de  Janeiro. — V.  Foundation  of  Military  Colonies  of  Brazil 
on  the  disputed  ground. — VI.  The  Government  of  Brazil  hints  at  a  direct 
settlement  of  the  question. — Instructions  to  the  Argentine  Minister  at  Rio 
about  compromise. — Subsequent  negotiations. — VII.  Altitude  of  the  Argentine 
Government. — Reincorporation  of  the  Territory  of  Misiones  fo  the  national 
sovereignty. — New  government,  its  limits  and  capital. — Parliamentary  Agita- 
tion in  Brazil. — Proclamation  of  the  necessity  to  prepare  the  Empire  for  war. 
— Speeches  of  the  eminent  statesmen  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  Saraiva  and  Silveyra 
Martins. — Accusations  against  the  government. — Its  declaration  in  the 
Diario  Oficial. — -VIII.  The  Minister  of  the  Empire,  in  Buenos  Ayres,  proposes 
to  open  negotiations. — Acceptance  of  the  Argentine  Government. — Basis  and 
Memorandum  of  B^ron  de  Araujo  Gondim,  accepting  the  treaty  sanctioned  by 
the  Congress  of  Parana  in  1857,  and  disproving  the  foundation  of  colonies  upon 
contested  grounds.— Erroneous  citation  of  Moussy,  Burmeister  and  Napp. — 
Argentine  official  declaration  regarding  maps. — Effective  reply  from  the 
Argentine  Minister. — Silence  of  the  Imperial  Diplomacy. — IX,  Baron  de 
Alencar  presents  in  1884,  in  the  name  of  his  government,  a  Counter  Memo- 
randum.— Its  three  cardinal  points. — Its  errors. — The  demarcations  of  1759 
and  1778. — The  map  of  the  Courts. — New  publication  about  the  results  of  the 
last  operation. — Note  from  Baron  de  Alencar. — Interpretation  of  the  sanctions 
of  the  Congress  of  1857  upon  the  subject. — The  validity  of  the  treaties  between 
Spain  and  Portugal  acknowledged  by  Brazil. — The  latter's  negotiations  with 
Peru,  Bolivia,  Paraguay  and  Eastern  State. — Antecedents  of  American  Public 
Right. — Contradictions  of  the  Brazilian  policy  in  that  respect. — Proclamation 
of  the  treaty  of  1777,  as  a  criterion. — The  demarcation  of  last  century  before 
the  nullity  of  the  treaties. — The  doctrine  of  the  uti possidetis. — Its    instability. 


—  644  — ^ 

—  Inapplicability    to    the   Misiones    question. — X.  The   Empire   proposes   a 
preliminary   idea  suggested  in   1876  by  Doctor   Irigoyen,   which   was   cate- 
gorically rejected. — International  exploration  of  the  contested  territory. — A 
fifth   river   in   dispute. — Its    necessary    elimination. — Treaty   of    1885. — XI. 
Doctor  Quesada's  mission  to  Rio  de  Janeiro. — Survey  of  the  ground  and  parti- 
cular insinuations. — The  Brazilian  Cabinet's  basis  for  a  direct  compromise. — 
Perusal  and  red  tape  of  the  same. — The  negotiations  in  Buenos  Ayres. — Post- 
ponement of  the  same. — XII.  Exploration  of  the  disputed  territory. — Results. 
— Reports  and  plans. — The  Chopin  and  Oyarvide's   San  Antonio  Guazu. — 
Rectification  of  error  in  the  treaty  of  1885. — Favorable  results  to  the  Argentine 
Republic.  —  XIII.  Doctor   Quesada's  recall.  —  Sefior   Moreno's  mission.  — 
Reserved  attitude  of  the    Argentine  Government. — Instructions   to   its   new 
Minister  not  to  open  nor  accept  negotiations. — Plan  to  locate  the  question  in 
Buenos  Ayres. — Initiative  of  Brazilian  diplomacy  for  a  direct  settlement. — 
Advanced   ideas   upon   the   subject. — Project   of  conference   in    Montevideo 
between  the  Ministers  of  Foreign   Relations  of  both  countries,  initiated  by 
Brazil. — Failure  of  the  idea. — The  Argentine  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations 
promises  to  go  to  Rio  de  Janeiro,  to  celebrate  the  direct  settlemeiit. — Com- 
bination of  this  scheme  with  arbitration. — Brazil  proposes  the  choice  between 
Chili  and  the  United  States  as  arbitrators. — The  Argentine  government  asks 
that  the  negotiation  be  made  in  Buenos  Ayres. — Commercial  treaties  between 
Brazil  and  the  United  States. — Treaty  of  the  seventh  day  of  September,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-nine. — Its  significance. — XIV.  Treaty  of 
arbitration. — Impressions  of  the  Emperor  and  of  Brazilian  statesmen. — Basis 
for  a  compromise  projected  by  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  Brazil. — 
Ministerial  modification  in  Buenos  Ayres. — General   resolution  of  the  govern- 
ment.— Political  plan  adopted. — Instructions  to  the  Argentine  minister  at  Rio 
de  Janeiro. — He  is  called  to  Buenos  Ayres. — Sefior  Diana's  suggestion  is  not 
accepted. — Possible  basis  for  a  direct  settlement. — Antecedents  of  this  scheme 
at  the  Court  of  Rio. — Acts  erroneously  attributed  to  the  Argentine  government 
under  the  ministry  of  Doctor  Quirno  Costa. — Rebougas'  scheme. — Emperor's 
opinion  on  the  same. — Consultation  of  the  State  Council. — Opinions  in  favor  of 
the  direct  settlement. — Viscount  of  Ouro  Preto,  Chief  of  the  Cabinet,  and  the 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Relations,  Viscount  of  Cabo  Frio,  adhere  to  the  trans- 
action, as  a  means  to  avoid  war. — XV.  New  rectifications. — Declarations  at- 
tributed to  the  Argentine  minister,  Sefior  Moreno,  against  the  rights  of  the 
Republic  to  the  Misiones.— ^Impression  caused  by  the  fact  at  Rio  de  Janeiro. — 
Doctor  Costa,  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  asks  Seiior  Moreno  for  expla- 
nations.— The  imputation  is  categorically  denied. — XVI.  Proclamation  of  the 
Republic  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil. — Its  recognition  by  the  Argentine. — 
Instructions  given    to  the  Argentine  minister  at  Rio. — Zeballos-Bocayuva's 
treaty. — The  latter's  trip  to  the  Argentine  Republic. — Discussion  and  rejection 
of  the  treaty. — XVIII.  Doubts  and  interpretations  about  the  situation  in  which 
the  rejection  left  the  question. — Argentine  initiative  to  dispel   them. — Arbi- 
tration.—Communication  to  the  President  of  the  United  States. — Objects  of 
this  Exposition.  — Argentine  documents. 


645 


I 

The  treaty  of  Madrid,  signed  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  January,  seventeen 
hundred  and  fifty,  by  the  ministers  plenipotentiaries  of  Spain  and  Portugal, 
Don  Jose  de  Carvajal  y  Lancaster  and  Viscount  Don  Tomas  de  la  Silva  Tellez, 
provides  as  follows : 

IV  Article. — The  limits  of  the  dominions  of  both  monar- 
chies shall  begin  at  the  bar  which  is  formed  on  the  sea-coast 
by  the  brook  sprouting  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  Castillos  Grandes, 
from  the  brow  of  which  the  frontier  shall  continue  seeking 
in  right  line  the  highest  pitch  or  summits  of  the  hills,  whose 
water-falls  run  down  on  one  side  to  the  coast  north  of  the 
said  brook,  or  to  the  lake  Merim  or  del  Miru,  and  on  the  other 
side  to  the  coast  running  from  the  said  brook  southward,  or 
to  Rio  de  la  Plata,  so  that  the  heights  of  the  hills  may  serve 
as  a  limit  to  the  dominion  of  both  crowns,  and  the  frontier 
shall  continue  in  this  manner  until  the  principal  source  and 
extremes  of  Rio  Negro  shall  be  found,  and  it  shall  so 
continue  over  them  to  the  principal  source  of  the  river  Ibicui, 
going  down  this  river  to  the  place  where  it  flows  into  the 
Uruguay  through  its  eastern  shore,  Portugal  keeping  all  the 
water-falls  which  run  down  to  the  said  lake,  or  to  Rio  Grande 
de  San  Pablo,  and  Spain  those  which  run  down  to  the  rivers 
that  join  Rio  de  la  Plata. 

V  Article.— It  shall  ascend  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ibicui, 
through  the  waters  of  the  Uruguay  until  finding  that  of  river 
Pepiri  of  Pequiri  which  flows  into  the  Uruguay  by  its 
western  shore,  and  shall  run  up  through  the  waters  of  the 
Pepiri  to  its  principle  source,  from  which  it  shall  go  on 
through  the  highest  ground  to  the  principal  end  of  the  nearest 
river  which  flows  into  the  Grande  de  Curitiba,  also  known  by 
the  name  of  Iguazu,  through  the  waters  of  the  said  nearest 
river  to  the  source  of  Pepiri,  and  then  through  those  of  the 
Iguazu  or  Rio  Grande  de  Curitiba,  the  line  shall  continue  to 
the  place  where  the  same  Iguazu  flows  into  the  Parana  by  its 
eastern  shore,  and  from  this  mouth  it  shall  go  up  the  Parana 
to  the  place  where  it  is  joined  by  the  river  Igurey  on  its 
western  shore. 

The  instructions  given  to  the  demarcators  charged  with  drawing  the 
stipulated  lines  make  the  following  description  of  the  Rio  Pequiri:  "A 
large  river  with  a  woody  island  opposite  its  mouth,  a  large  reef  facing  its  bar, 
which  is  situated  upstream  from  the  mouth  of  the  Uruguay  Pita,  southern 
affluent  of  the  Uruguay. 


—  646  — 

The  document  was  drawn  up  consulting  a  geographical  chart,  upon  which 
the  ministers  plenipotentiaries  made  the  following  remarks  :  * 

"  That,  in  fact,  the  said  chart  had  been  drawn  by 
engineers,  geographers  and  competent,  well-informed  persons 
of  both  nations ;  that  upon  the  strength  of  the  said  chart,  the 
above-named  ministers  plenipotentiaries  had  kept  on  their 
conferences ;  that  after  it  had  been  thoroughly  gone  over  and 
compared  by  both,  the  said  chart  was  approved  of  common 
accord,  and  adopted  by  the  said  ministers  plenipotentiaries  as 
a  GUIDE  and  BASIS  to  the  said  treaty  on  limits,  the  conclusion 
of  which  was  their  object ;  that  the  said  chart  was  legalized 
and  perpetuated  by  the  two  ministers  plenipotentiaries  above 
named,  with  notations  upon  its  margins  in  Portuguese  and 
Spanish,  written  by  the  two  respective  secretaries,  the  said 
notations  being  signed  by  the  same  ministers  plenipotentiaries 
and  stamped  with  the  seals  of  their  coat-of-arms,  to  the  eter- 
nal memory  of  the  authenticity  of  the  said  chart,  to  be  kept 
on  file  in  the  archives  of  the  two  contracting  monarchs  ;  that 
finally  among  the  papers  of  the  Department  of  State  in 
Lisbon,  through  which  the  foreign  affairs  had  been  transacted, 
two  of  the  duplicates  should  be  found,  and  the  other  two, 
which  had  been  given  in  exchange,  must  be  found  in  the 
respective  Department  of  State  at  the  Court  of  Madrid. " 

The  demarcators  of  this  section  of  the  frontier  deviated  somewhat  from 
their  instructions,  and  in  1759,  they  surveyed  a  river  situated  down  the 
stream  frotn  Uruguay  Pita,  which  they  named  Pepiri.  This  was  not  the  river 
of  the  treaty  described  and  sketched  on  that  map,  because  it  flowed  on  the 
lower  part,  and  not  on  the  upper  part  from  the  Uruguay  Pita.  The  complete 
investigations  which  we  now  possess  about  this  region  show,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  this  river  does  not  agree  with  the  name  Pepiri  or  Pequiri  by  which 
it  is  known  on  the  treaty. f  It  might  have  been  called  Pepiri  Mini  (small), 
because  its  course  is  short  and  its  waters  are  not  plentiful,  whereas  the  Pequiri 
(guazii)  required  by  the  treaty  and  its  map,  is  a  river  of  large  and  bulky 
course,  situated  further  east,  and  whose  features  correspond  with  the  signs 
given  by  the  royal  instructions  in  reference  thereto. 

*  The  accompanied  map,  for  the  full  comprehension  of  this  exposition,  is  a  copy 
of  the  plans  signed  by  the  Argentine  and  Brazilian  Commissioners  who  surveyed 
this  territory  in  compliance  with  the  preliminary  treaty  of  1885.  The  line  was  drawn 
upon  it  accordingto  the  charts  of  the  Courts  to  which  the  preceding  statement  alludes. 
The  rivers  bear  the  names  proposed  by  Brigadier  Alvear,  to  avoid  confusion. 

t  It  will  be  well  to  say  that  in  the  first  times  of  this  debate,  the  looked-for  river 
was  called  indistinctly  Pepiri  or  Pequiri,  as  is  seen  in  V  Artide  of  the  treaty. 


—  647  — 

The  cancellation  of  the  treaty  of  1750,  agreed  upon  in  1761  by  the  Courts 
of  Spain  and  Portugal,  expressly  obliterated  the  errors  committed  by  the  com- 
missioners. 

Seiior  Paranhos  in  a  memorial,  to  which  I  shall  refer  hereafter,  has  said 
what  follows  : 

"  Well  or  badly  marked  out  the  line  of  the  Pepiri  and 
the  Iguazu,  they  accepted  it  just  as  it  had  been  marked  out.'' 

It  is  necessary  to  place  this  affirmation  on  record,  the  truthfulness  of 
which  would  be  decisive,  remembering  I  Article  of  the  treaty  agreed  upon  by 
the  Courts  at  the  Pardo  on  the  twelfth  day  of  February,  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  sixty-one. 

I  Article. — The  aforesaid  treaty  on  Limits  of  Asia  and 
America  between  the  two  crowns,  signed  at  Madrid  on  the 
thirteenth  day  of  January,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
fifty,  with  all  other  treaties  and  conventions  that,  in  conse- 
quence thereof,  were  negotiated  to  prepare  the  instructions 
of  the  respective  commissioners  who  have  so  far  been 
employed  in  the  demarcation  of  the  said  limits,  and  everything 
that  has  been  agreed  upon  by  virtue  thereof,  are  given,  and 
remain,  on  the  strength  of  this  present  article,  for  cancelled, 
repealed  and  annulled,  as  if  they  never  had  existed  'or  been 
executed,  and  everything  pertaining  to  the  limits  of  America 
and  Asia  are  restored  to  the  terms  of  the  treaties,  agreements 
and  conventions  which  had  been  celebrated  between  the  two 
contracting  crowns,  prior  to  the  said  year  1750 ;  so  that  only 
these  treaties,  agreements  and  conventions  celebrated  prior 
to  the  year  1750  shall  be  in  force  and  vigor  henceforth. 

The  treaty  of  1777  did  not  alter  the  line  of  limits  agreed  upon  in  1750 ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  made  it  more  distinct  to  avoid  the  doubts  occasioned  by 
the  error  made  by  the  demarcators  in  1759;  ^"^^  the  new  demarcators, 
Varela  by  His  Catholic  Majesty,  and  Veiga  Cabral  by  His  Most  Faithful 
Majesty,  demonstrated  that  the  river  surveyed  in  1759  ^^s  not  the  Pepiri 
Guazu  described  in  the  treaty  ;  and  looking  for  the  same  in  the  upper  part 
from  the  Uruguay  Pita,  they  discovered,  six  leagues  from  the  mouth  of  the 
latter,  a  river  inivhich  all  the  circumstances  indicated  in  the  instructions  con- 
curred. Let  the  text  of  the  treaty  of  1750  be  compared  with  that  of  1777, 
and  it  will  be  noticed  at  once  that  the  former  fixes  the  limit  on  the  East,  at 
Misiones,  the  river  Pequiri  or  Pepiri ;  and  as  this  vague  denomination  pro- 
duced the  confusion  on  the  part  of  the  commissioners  in  1759,  the  second 
treaty  determined  the  river,  qualifying  it  by  its  prime  accident  of  being  a 
large  river,  and  not  a  small  stream  or  a  brook. 


—  648  — 

The  treaty  of  1777  thus  disposes  of  the  matter  in  a  definite  manner,  by 
removing  the  limit  to  the  system  of  large  nvers  or  eastern  above  the  Uru- 
guay Pita. 

Articles  in  connection  with  the  preceding  remark  in  the  said  treaties : 


1750. 

V  Article. — It  shall  ascend  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Ibicui  through  the  waters 
of  the  Uruguay  until  finding  that  of  the 
river  Pepiri  or  Pequiri  which  flows  into 
the  Uruguay  by  its  western  shore  and 
shall  run  up  through  the  waters  of  the 
Pepiri^  to  its  principal  source,  from  which 
it  shall  go  on  through  the  highest  ground 
to  the  principal  and  of  the  nearest  river 
which  flows  into  the  Grande  de  Curitiba, 
also  known  by  the  name  of  Iguazu, 
through  the  water  of  the  said  nearest  river 
to  the  source  of  the  Pepiri. 


1777. 

VIII  Article. — The  possessions  of  both 
crowns  up  to  the  entrance  of  the  river 
Pequiri  or  Pepiri  Guazii  in  the  Uruguay 
having  been  marked  out,  the  high  con-, 
tracting  parties  have  agreed  that  the 
boundary  line  %\i?X\.  follow  the  upper  part 
of  said  Pepiri  Guazu,  to  its  principal 
source,  and  thence  through  the^highest 
ground,  under  the  rules  contained  in 
VI  Article,  in  search  of  the  course  of  the 
river  San  Antonio     .     .     .     etc. 


The  fortunate  interpretation  given  on  the  spot  to  the  treaty  of  1777,  by 
Varela  and  Veiga  Cabral,  called  the  attention  of  the  surveyors  very  strik- 
ingly, and  their  chiefs  agreed  upon  making  a  new  and  extensive  survey.  In 
fact,  the  source  of  the  true  Pequiri  Guazu  was  surveyed  by  Oyarvide  and  his 
companion,  the  Portuguese  commissioner,  in  June  of  1791.  Oyarvide  dem- 
onstrated, besides,  that  the  counterfall  or  source  of  the  San  Antonio  Guazii 
fitted  the  Pequiri  Guazu  in  the  terms  and  signs  of  the  treaty,  map  and  in- 
structions of  the  Courts. 

The  Portuguese  commissioners  refused  to  accept  the  results,  and  to  pro- 
ceed in  the  demarcation  in  which  their  claims  were  defeated.  The  operations 
being  postponed,  pending  the  resolution  of  the  Courts  about  the  dissidence, 
and  the  Spanish  demarcating  parties  being  turned  away  from  the  frontier, 
the  idea  came  up  to  neutralize  the  territory  comprised  between  the  eastern 
and  western  rivers  in  question.  The  illustrious  sage,  Don  Felix  de  Azara,  in 
his  Memoirs  on  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  in  1801,  published  at  Madrid,  says  : 


"The  abstract  of  the  demarcation  of  limits  suggests,  to 
end  this  dispute,  the  middle  term  that  the  space  between  the 
two  rivers  Uruguay-pitas,  that  of  the  two  Pequiris  or  Pepiris 
Guazu  and  that  of  the  two  San  Antonio,  shall  remain  neu- 
tral ;  that  is,  that  the  Portuguese  possession  shall  end  at  the 
line  whither  the  Spanish  commissioners  pretend  that  the  line 
of  both  nations  shall  go,  without  neutral  intermediary ;  and 
that  the  Spanish  possession  shall  cease  where  the  Portuguese 
wish  that  of  both  dominions  shall  terminate.     But  our  justice 


—  649  — 

is  so  evident,  that  I  judge  that  we  must  not  yield,  though  I 
comprehend  that  the  grounds  in  question  are  by  far  not  worth 
the  appreciation  of  those  connected  with  the  former  disputes, 
and  still  less  the  one  between  the  two  rivers  San  Antonio." 

Things  passed  over  to  the  present  century  in  the  same  situation  of  the 
treaty  of  1777. 

The  war  of  1801  between  Spain  and  Portugal  having  been  ended  by  the 
treaty  of  Badajoz,  the  Portuguese  claimed  that  the  silence  of  this  treaty 
granted  them  the  territory  they  had  occupied  in  the  eastern  Misiones  ;  but 
the  argument  was  declared  ineffectual,  and  the  compact  of  peace  and  guarantee 
signed  between  the  two  crowns  in  1778,  provided  in  III  Article,  that  the 
treaty  on  limits  was  mutually  inveterable. 

The  said  treaty  governed  the  question  up  to  1857,  when  Brazil  opened 
negotiations  with  the  Argentine  Republic,  to  decide  upon  the  inherited  suit. 


II 


The  Argentine  Republic  was  at  the  time  divided  into  two  fields,  owing  to 
the  separation  of  the  State  of  Buenos  Ayres.  The  National  government,  at 
the  head  of  the  Provinces  of  the  Confederation,  had  its  seat  in  the  city  of  the 
Parana,  and  the  foreign  nations  had  accredited  their  representatives  to  it. 

The  counsellor  Jose  Maria  da  Silva  Paranhos,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  Brazil,  near  the  government  of  Parana,  presented 
a  Memoir,  dated  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  November,  one  thousand  eight  hund- 
red and  fifty-seven,  promoting  the  settlement  of  the  question  of  Misiones. 
This  Memoir  contains  a  superficial  exposition  on  the  antecedents  of  the  long 
diplomatic  debate  held  between  the  Metropolies,  presenting  them  in  a  manner 
favorable  to  Brazil.  Senor  Paranhos  said  to  the  Government  of  the  Confeder- 
ation, that  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  lacked  a  written  right  to  sustain  his 
territorial  claims  on  the  neighboring  States,  and  that  he  had  been  and  always 
would  be  reluctant  to  clear  up  these  questions  by  other  means  but  those  of 
friendliness  and  persuasion. 

He  was  opposed  to  the  precedents  set  forth  in  the  treaties  and  instructions 
of  the  Courts,  because  the  statement  that  the  Pepiri  or  Pequiri  Guazii  had  its 
mouth  above  the  Uruguay  ?ita,  was  contrary  to  his  claims.  Senor  Paranhos 
went  on  in  his  unfounded  argument  so  far  as  to  deny  the  authority  of  the  Courts' 
map,  adopted  by  expressed  declaration,  on  file  ;  but  this  feature  of  the  Memoir 
is  opportune  only  to  demonstrate  the  wrong  derived  from  the  lack  of  a  written 
right  favorable  to  the  idea  of  the  territorial  expression  in  view.      It  says,  in  fact : 

"If  the  map  of  the  Courts  showed  the  Pepiri  as  waters 
above  from  Uruguay  Pita,  other  printed  maps,  and  some 
manuscripts  of  the  Indians  in  the  times  when  they  navigated 
those  places,  placed  otherwise  the  same  river." 


—  650  — 

The  other  maps  and  manuscripts  of  the  Indians  were,  however,  ignored 
by  the  Courts  in  the  protocol  copied  in  the  foregoing  article,  and  they  did 
honor  to  the  official  surveyors  and  geographers  rather  than  to  the  heathens, 
at  the  probable  suggestion  of  Portuguese  priests. 

Senor  Paranhos  initiated  the  solution  in  an  untimely  moment.  The  Re- 
public being  divided  by  an  unfortunate  civil  war,  public  sentiment  lacked  the 
necessary  repose  and  homogeneity  to  pass  upon  grave  matters  of  sovereignty. 
The  government  of  the  Confederation  had,  however,  committed  the  error  to 
suppose  that  this  was  a  favorable  opportunity  to  insist  upon  its  expectation 
to  mix  up  Brazil  in  the  internal  contentions  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  and  of  Para- 
guay, and  appointed  its  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Don  Bernabe  Lopez,  and 
the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  Don  Santiago  Derqui  to  negotiate  with  the  shrewd 
diplomatist  of  the  Empire.  The  Memoir  of  Senor  Paranhos  was  not  contested, 
and  fourteen  days  later — that  is,  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  December,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-seven,  the  treaty  on  limits  was  formulated 
with  these  resolutions : 

I  Article. — Both  high  contracting  parties,  being  in  accord 
about  fixing  their  respective  limits,  agree  to  declare  and 
recognize,  as  the  frontier  of  the  Argentine  Confederation  and 
of  Brazil,  between  the  rivers  Uruguay  and  Parand,  that  which 
is  hereinafter  designated. 

The  territory  of  the  Argentine  Confederation  is  divided 
from  the  Empire  of  Brazil  by  the  river  Uruguay,  all  the  right  or 
western  border  to  belong  to  the  Confederation,  and  the  left, 
or  eastern  border,  to  Brazil,  from  the  mouth  of  the  affluent 
Cuarahim  to  the  mouth  of  the  Pepiri  Guazvi,  where  the 
Brazilian  possessions  occupy  both  borders  of  the  Uruguay. 

Follows  the  boundary  line  through  the  waters  of  the 
Pepiri  Guazii  to  its  principal  source  ;  from  whence  it  continues 
through  the  highest  ground,  to  find  the  principal  end  of  the 
San  Antonio,  as  far  as  its  entrance  into  the  Iguazu  or  Rio 
Grande  de  Curitiba,  and  through  the  latter  as  far  as  its  con- 
fluence with  the  Parana. 

The  grounds  which  the  rivers  Pepiri  Guazu,  San  Antonio 
and  Iguazu  separate  towards  the  eastern  side,  belong  to  Brazil, 
and  towards  the  western  side  to  the  Argentine  Confederation  ; 
the  waters  of  the  two  former  rivers  above  mentioned  through- 
out their  course  being  common  property  of  both  nations,  and 
the  waters  of  the  Iguazu  only  from  the  confluence  of  the  San 
Antonio,  as  far  as  the  Parana. 

II  Article. — Both  high  contracting  parties  declare,  to 
avoid  any  doubt,  though  the  designations  of  I  Article  are 
well  known,  that  the  rivers  Pepiri  Guazvi  and  San  Antonio 


-651  - 

spoken  of  in  the  said  Article,  are  those  which  were  surveyed 
(in  1759)  by  the  demarcators  of  the  treaty  of  the  thirteenth 
day  of  January  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty,  cele- 
brated between  Portugal  and  Spain. 

This  treaty  caused  a  deep,  unfavorable  impression  in  Parana.  Influen- 
tial men,  members  of  Congress,  pronounced  against  it,  and  resistance  led  its 
way  as  far  as  to  promote  parliamentary  opposition,  and  of  the  Press. 

The  debate  began  in  June,  1858.  The  Commission  of  Legislation  and 
Constitutional  affairs  of  the  Senate  was  issued  on  the  8th,  counselling  appro- 
bation. On  the  28th  the  matter  was  brought  up  for  discussion,  and  Doctor 
Don  Vicente  Saravia,  Senator  from  Salta,  refuted  the  general  declaration  of 
the  river  Uruguay  as  the  division  of  the  two  sovereignties.  The  minutes 
read: 

"  Senor  Saravia  asked  the  Minister  to  state  if  there  had 
not  been  a  special  motive  for  not  mentioning  in  this  treaty  an 
extensive  territory  which  might,  very  properly,  be  considered 
Argentine,  because  it  had  belonged  to  Spain.  That  he 
referred  to  the  one  known  as  '  Misiones  del  Uruguay,'  which 
not  having  been  assigned  to  the  Eastern  Republic  of  Uruguay 
when  its  independence  was  stipulated  by  the  treaty  of  the  year 
28,  it  should  have  been  comprised  as  an  integral  part  of  the 
Argentine  Republic,  because  it  had  belonged  to  the  Viceroy- 
ship  of  Buenos  Ayres,  whose  limits  were  not  the  river  Uru- 
guay." 

The  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Senor  Lopez,  replied  evasively,  alluding, 
however,  to  the  fact  that  after  the  war  of  1801,  between  the  Courts  of  Spain 
and  Portugal,  the  latter  usurped  the  territory  of  the  Eastern  Misiones  without 
right,  and  without  the  former's  consent. 

Senor  Saravia  recalled  the  fact  that  the  Crown  of  Portugal  had  never 
been  in  possession  of  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the  Misiones,  all  of  them  having 
belonged  to  Spain,  which  organized  the  same  in  a  Province,  placing  them  under 
the  political  jurisdiction  of  Buenos  Ayres  ;   adding  that, 

■•  "  The  said  territory  had  neither  belonged  to  the  Province 

of  Montevideo,  because  the  Eastern  Misiones  formed,  with 
those  on  this  side  and  those  of  the  Paraguay,  a  special  Province 
and  Government.  That,  therefore,  Brazil  having  no  more 
right  to  this  territory  than  the  possession,  which  was  not  very 
remote,  he  thought  that  a  middle  term  should  have  been 
taken,  and  since  a  complete  renunciation  had  been  made  of 
the  right  of  the  Confederation  to  the  Misiones,  an  indemni- 
fication should  have  been  demanded  and  obtained,  also  in 
lands,  and  towards  the  north." 


—  652  — 

The  general  Don  Pedro  Ferre,  Senator  for  the  province  of  Corrientes, 
dwelt  upon  the  preceding  remarks,  alluding  to  the  last  royal  disposition  of 
Spain  with  regard  to  the  Misiones. 

Dr.   Don  Martin  Zapata,  Senator  from  the  province  of  Mendoza,  said; 

"  That  he  was  not  acquainted  with  the  explanations  made 
by  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  within  the  bosom  of  the 
committee,  to  which  the  said  committee  made  reference  in  its 
report,  and  consequently,  he  did  not  know  upon  what  data, 
upon  what  practical  knowledge,  and  upon  what  preliminary 
studies  the  celebration  of  this  treaty  had  been  proceeded  with. 
That  if  those  data  did  not  exist  and,  as  he  believed,  those 
studies  had  not  been  made  ;  and  that,  if  it  was  established  by 
the  protocol  of  the  conferences  that  the  former  treaties 
between  Spain  and  Portugal  (which  were  the  only  documents 
to  serve  as  a  starting  point)  were  worthless,  it  was  necessary 
to  make  other  studies  and  practical  surveys,  in  order  to  avoid 
to  be  obliged,  for  want  of  them,  to  give  up  a  large  portion  of 
the  Argentine  territory  as  was  yielded,  according  to  his 
judgment  by  virtue  of  this  treaty,  not  including  what  the 
eastern  side  had  already  lost,  because,  according  to  those 
treaties,  the  lake  Merim  was  a  common  property  for  Spain 
and  Portugal ;  -but  that  this  was  a  question  not  connected  with 
the  case,  that  being  a  Sovereign  State,  and  it  was  incumbent 
upon  the  same  to  discuss  the  matter ;  but  that  as  far  as  the 
eastern  Misiones,  which  never  had  belonged  to  it,  were 
concerned,  it  was  for  the  Confederation  to  claim  its  rights 
upon  the  same,  rights  very  well  justified  by  the  same  Spanish 
language  which  they  spoke,  and  for  having  belonged  to  a 
Spanish  administration,  the  uti  possidetis  not  being  a  title  to 
suppose  Brazil  with  an  indisputable  right  upon  the  same ; 
that  he  saw  that  the  Argentine  plenipotentiaries,  with  good 
judgment,  had  saved  that  principle  which  the  Brazilian 
plenipotentiary  wished  to  establish  with  regard  to  the  islands 
of  the  Uruguay ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  was  sorry  to  see 
that  while  that  right  had  been  saved  in  reference  to  the 
depopulated  islands,  the  same  principle  had  not  been  re- 
cognized with  regard  to  the  valuable  territory  of  Misiones 
which,  for  thousands  of  reasons,  ought  to  belong  to  the 
Confederation.  That  it  was  not  only  there  where  territory 
was  given  up,  but  also  on  the  north,  on  the  coast  of  Parana. 
That  Paraguay  would  undoubtedly  hold  its  rights  as  far  as  the 
Salto  del  Guayra  on  the  coast  of  that  river  that  belonged  to 
it ;  and  that,  consequently,  all  the  extensive  territory  that 
would  now  be  lost  by  the  designation  of  the  northern  limits. 


—  653  — 

would  belong  on  this  side,  to  the  Confederation.  That  for  all 
these  considerations  he  felt  sorry  the  celebration  of  this  treaty 
had  not  been  preceded  by  serious  studies  and  labors  that 
would  have  saved  the  rights  of  the  Confederation  upon  the 
valuable  and  rich  territories  now  yielded  without  any  kind  of 
compensation  ;  and  the  Senator  closed  expressing  his  fear  that 
-  there  was  some  haste  in  sanctioning  the  treaty,  believing  it 
more  prudent  to  postpone  this  matter." 

The  opinion  of  the  Senate  caused  a  deep  reaction,  to  the  extent  of 
demoralizing  the  Committee  which  upheld  the  treaty ;  and  one  of  its  mem- 
bers, Senator  Bustamante,  from  Jujuy,  moved  to  substitute  II  Article  of  the 
Commission  by  the  following  one,  which  frustrated  the  easy  victory  of  the 
Brazilian  negotiator : 

"II  Article. — It  is  understood  that  the  rivers  Pepiri 
Guazu  and  San  Antonio,  which  are  designed  as  limits  in  I 
Article  of  the  Treaty,  are  those  situated  further  east,  with 
these  names,  according  to  the  operation  referred  to  in  II 
Article  of  the  same." 

The  Senate  approved,  by  thirteen  votes  against  two,  this  fundamental 
amendment;  and  its  action  carried  the  disapprobation  of  the  treaty  of  the 
Executive  Power.  The  two  dissenting  votes  were  radical ;  they  rejected  it 
absolutely. 

Though  the  debate  took  place  in  secret  sessions,  it  leaked  out  rapidly. 
The  opposition  had  been  consulted  and  conducted  skillfully.  The  orators 
designated  to  hold  it  represented  the  groups  of  Senators  from  the  different 
horizons  of  the  Republic.  Doctor  Don  Martin  Zapata,  for  Cuyo ;  Doctor 
Don  Vicente  Saravia,  for  the  North ;  General  Don  Pedro  Ferre,  for  the 
Littoral,  bordering  Brazil.  In  Buenos  Ayres  the  opposition  to  the  compact 
was  vigorous.  Sehor  Don  Nicolas  A.  Calvo  handled  the  matter  very  effect- 
ively in  his  journal. 

In  all  the  provinces  the  Press  pronounced  itself  in  the  same  sense 
Cordoba  was  the  centre  of  the  strong  resistance.  El  Imparcial,  a  journa 
which  had  attained  national  notoriety,  and  whose  opinions  were  warmly 
commented  on  in  Parana,  published  a  series  of  articles,  holding  that  the 
Republic  yielded  to  Brazil  four  thousand  five  hundred  leagues  of  land.  ,  El 
Nacional  Argentino,  official  organ  of  the  Government  of  the  Confederation, 
affirmed  that  these  articles  were  written  or  authorized  by  the  Minister  of  the 
Government  of  Cordoba,  and  by  the  proprietor  of  El  Imparcial,  Doctor  Don 
Luis  Caceres,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  capabilities,  after  Doctor  Velez 
Sarsfield. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  parliamentary  circles  of  the  Parana,  the  lack  of 
preparation  of  the  Argentine  negotiators  caused  much  comment,  and  Doctor 


—  654  — 

Derqui  refused  to  take  part  in  the  debate  which  revealed  the  said  lack  of 
preparation,  and  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  barely  said  a  few  brief 
insignificant  words. 

The  government  hesitated  to  carry  its  treaty  to  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives after  the  unanimous  negative  vote  of  the  Senate  and  the  emphatic  and 
ardent  rejection  of  the  national  opinion. 

In  September,  the  House  of  Representatives  endorsed,  deliberately,  the 
relieving   action  of   the  Senate  and  sanctioned  the  modification  of  II  Article. 

The  government  of  the  Parana  persisted  in  the  double  political  error 
which  gave  rise  to  these  negotiations,  universally  condemned,  and  while  Sehor 
Paranhos  awaited  impatiently  the  expiration  of  the  term  to  ask  for  the  inter- 
change of  the  ratifications  of  the  treaty,  the  government  worked  hard  with  a 
view  to  drag  the  Empire  into  the  civil  contest  of  the  Plata. 

In  fact,  on  the  third  day  of  May,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight,  the  government  of  the  Confederation,  which  was  already  in  accord  with 
the  government  of  the  Republica  Oriental  of  Uruguay,  appointed  Don  Jose 
Luis  de  la  Pefia  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  on  a  special 
mission  near  the  government  of  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Among  the  transcendent  objects  of  this  special  mission,  it  was  note(J  in 
the  respective  instructions  to  procure  an  alliance  between  the  Empire  and  the 
Eastern  Republic  of  Uruguay  and  the  Confederation,  to  induce  the  province  of 
Buenos  Ayres  to  join  the  said  alliance.  But  Brazil,  at  its  turn,  avoided  this 
grave  and  ill-advised  initiation  with  a  clear  perception  of  the  political  con- 
venience of  the  Empire  and  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  the  unfortunate  mis- 
sion of  Doctor  Peiia  had  no  result. 

The  antecedents  of  the  treaty  of  1857  brought  to  light  for  the  first  time 
(for  unjustified  reservations  having  caused  publications  to  be  made  in  Brazil, 
which  were  incomplete  and  void  of  historical  truth),  show,  that  the  said  com- 
pact, far  from  receiving  the  open  approbation  of  the  Congress  of  the  Parana,  as 
Brazilian  writers  have  repeatedly  asserted  during  thirty-four  years,  suffered  a 
substantial  modification. 

The  argument  of  the  moral  precedent  which  implies  the  attitude  of  the 
executive  power  of  the  Confederation  might  be  adduced  ;  but  it  would  not 
help  move  the  pretensions  of  Brazil,  when,  as  I  will  demonstrate  it  further 
on,  if  there  was  error  in  admitting  the  form  of  the  treaty  initiated  by  Senor 
Paranhos,  that  error  was  redeemed,  for  General  Urquiza  and  his  cabinet 
repealed  and  left  without  effect  that  unadvised  work,  when  they  promulgated 
the  law  with  the  reform  sanctioned  by  Congress. 

An  illustrious  Brazilian  diplomatist,  Enrique  C.  R.  Lisboa,  has  lately 
published  a  study  on  the  "  Question  of  Misiones  before  the  Court  of  Arbitra- 
tion," and  treating  in  a  masterly  manner  the  point  relative  to  the  treaty  of 
1857,  says 

Some  defenders  of  Brazil  in  that  question  pretend  to 
strengthen  our  right,  attributing  to  the  treaty  of  the  four- 


-  655  - 

teenth  day  of  December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
fifty-seven,  and  to  the  memorandums  and  protocols  accom- 
panying it,  moral  value, — to  demonstrate  the  acknowledg- 
ment by  the  Argentine  Republic  of  our  occupation  and  pos- 
session of  the  territory  in  dispute,  and  of  the  solemn 
acceptance  by  that  republic  of  the  just  application  of  the 
uti  possidetis,  in  our  favor.  No  matter  how  advantageous 
that  interpretation  may  be  to  us,  a  sense  of  justice  and 
,  impartiality,  which  must  preside  over  our  discussions,  does 
not  admit  of  its  acceptance.  It  is  at  this  very  moment  a 
risky  recourse.  The  ratifications  of  the  treaty  of  1857  were, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  never  interchanged,  and,  therefore,  such 
treaty  never  existed  as  an  international  contract.  The  most 
that  can  be  made  out  of  its  negotiation,  and  of  those  memor- 
able protocols,  is  that  the  Argentine  negotiators  admitted  our 
claim. 

That  personal  opinion,  hoivever,  does  not  bind  the 
Argentine  nation  in  any  way,  because  it  did  not  accept  it 
officially,  neither  can  a  single  presumption  constitute  a  right, 
much  less  a  solemn  acknowledgment  of  our  dominion  by 
that  republic. 

The  article  thus  added  through  the  indication  of  the  Chamber  of  Senators 
has,  in  fact,  two  well-defined  parts — the  first  essentially,  and  the  second  in 
form.     The  first  one  says  : 

II  Article. — It  is  understood  that  the  rivers  Pepiri 
Guazii  and  San  Antonio  designated  as  limits  in  I  Article  of 
the  treaty,  are  those  situated  further   east,  with 

THESE  NAMES. 

The  question  of  Misiones  consists,  as  has  been  seen,  in  that  Brazil  claims 
as  limit  the  river  that  enters  into  the  Uruguay  below  the  Uruguay  Rita,  seeking 
the  falls  of  the  opposite  river  flowing  into  the  Iguazu ;  whereeis,  the  Argen- 
tine Republic,  a  legitimate  heiress  of  the  Crown  of  Spain,  holds  that  which 
the  treaties  between  the  latter  and  Portugal  give  to  it ;  and  the  said  treaties 
provide  that  the  limit  shall  run  through  the  system  of  rivers  situated  above 
the  Uruguay  Pica.  The  former  are  the  western  rivers,  and  the  latter  the 
eastern  rivers. 

The  Paranhos-Lopez  and  Derqui  treaty  pointed  out  plainly  the  western 
rivers.  The  Congress  of  the  Confederation  substituted  the  article  for  the 
one  just  read,  adopting  eastern  rivers.  Can  it  be  affirmed  that  this  acknowl- 
edges Brazil's  claims  ? 

The  Argentine  Republic,  on  the  contrary,  will  always  invoke,  with  success, 
the  note  of  the  illustrious  negotiator,  Paranhos,  demanding  the  ratification  of 


_  656  — 

the  compact  thus  modified,  as  a  frank  admission  of  the  amendment,  and  con- 
sequently of  the  system  of  eastern  rivers  or  Pequiri  Guazu  and  San  Antonio 
Guazu,  of  Oyarvide,  named  arbitrarily  Chapecd  and  Jangada  by  the  modern 
Brazilian  surveyors. 

The  second  and  last  part  of  the  II  Article  could  not  be  invoked  in  an 
unauthorized  sense.     It  reads  : 

According  to  the  operation  referred  to  in  II  Article  of 
the  same. 

The  operation  alluded  to  is  the  demarcation  of  1759,  which  really  evinced 
the  existence  of  both  systems  of  rivers,  the  eastern  and  the  western.  If  one 
of  these  systems  is  adopted,  the  other  is  excluded. 

While  that  modification  was  being  discussed,  the  time  fixed  for  the  ratifi- 
cations expired,  and  on  the  tenth  day  of  September,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty-eight,  the  Brazilian  plenipotentiary  received  a  note  from  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  proposing  an  extension  of  six  months,  pending 
the  results  of  the  Pena's  mission.     It  said : 

The  term  of  eight  months  assigned  for  the  interchange 
of  the  ratifications  of  the  treaties  on  limits  and  extradition, 
celebrated  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  December,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  fifty-seven,  between  the  plenipotentiaries 
of  the  Confederation  and  of  the  Empire  having  expired  on 
the  fourteenth  of  September  last;  the  Honorable  Legislative 
Chambers  suspended  the  consideration  of  such  treaties, 
although  the  treaty  on  limits  passed  from  the  Senate  to  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

On  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  March  of  the  following  year,  and  the  compact 
being  already  sanctioned  by  both  Houses,  Plenipotentiary  Senor  Paranhos 
notified  that  he  had  authority  from  his  government  to  stipulate  the  extension 
of  six  months. 

On  the  fourteenth  day  of  June,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-nine, 
the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  being  called  upon  by  Senor  Paranhos  to 
make  the  interchange  of  the  ratifications,  the  Government  showed  opposition 
to  the  original  negotiation,  thus  disclosing  to  view  the  intrigue  of  internal 
policy  that  had  counselled  it.    . 

The  President  of  the  Confederation  had  left  for  San  Jose,  Doctor  Don 
Salvador  Maria  del  Carril  discharged  the  functions  of  the  Executive  Power, 
and  Senor  Don  Bernabe  Lopez  left  the  Portfolio  of  Foreign  Relations  in  the 
hands  of  Doctor  Don  Elias  de  Bedoya,  who  proposed  to  correct  the  lamentable 
errors  committed. 

In  a  well-known  note  of  that  date,  Senor  Bedoya  said  to  the  Brazilian 
negotiator : 


—  657  — 

"Under  date  of  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  March  last,  I 
had  the  honor  to  receive  your  very  esteemed  note  of  the 
third  day  of  March,  informing  me  that  you  were  authorized 
by  the  Government  of  His  Majesty  to  stipulate  the  extension 
of  six  months  to  which  your  Legislature  was  invited  by  this 
Ministry  in  note  of  the  tenth  day  of  September  last. 

"  His  Excellency  the  Vice-President,  being  appraised  of 
the  said  note,  has  ordered  me  to  say  to  you,  that  in  the 
interest  that  the  ratification  of  the  pending  treaties  on  extra- 
dition and  limits  shall  have  the  favorable  result  so  earnestly 
desired  by  the  Government  of  the  Confederation,  he  deems 
it  convenient  not  to  open,  for  the  present,  a  new  negotia- 
tion for  the  unavoidable  extension  of  the  time  in  which  that 
act  shall  take  place,  deferring  it  until  the  conclusion  of  the 
question  with  Buenos  Ayres. 

"Your  Excellency  knowing  the  loyalty  of  my  Govern- 
ment, and  its  friendly  feelings  toward  the  Government  of 
His  Majesty,  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  and  knowing  further- 
more, the  excitement  produced  in  the  whole  country  by  the 
sanction  of  those  treaties,  will  do  it  justice  in  the  appreciation 
of  the  noble  spirit  which  this  resolution  implies,  and  the  rea- 
sons of  prudence  which- counsel  the  same." 

"  Your  Excellency  will  not  fail  to  notice  that  in  the  pres- 
ent excitement  of  the  personnel  of  the  Houses,  and  public 
opinion  being  stirred  by  the  comments  of  the  Press  against 
those  treaties,  its  immediate  ratification  would  be  very  incon- 
venient. This  unfavorable  result,  which  the  Government 
desires  to  prevent,  will  appear  to  your  Excellency  all  the 
more  probable,  if  he  remembers  the  serious  opposition  which 
the  Government  met  in  the  Houses,  although  the  discussion 
was  held  under  THE  IMPRESSIONS  that  the  sanction  of 

THOSE  treaties  CARRIED  THE  IMPLICIT  CONDITION  THAT 
THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  HIS  IMPERIAL  MAJESTY  WOULD  LEND 
TO  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION  ITS  MORAL 
AND  MATERIAL  CO-OPERATION  TO  OBTAIN  THE  RE-INCOR- 
PORATION OF  BUENOS  AYRES  INTO  THE  BOSOM  OF  THE 
NATION." 

Counsellor  Paranhos  replied  on  the  first  day  of  August  deploring,  in  the 
name  of  the  Imperial  Government,  the  idea  of  the  extension  of  time,  and 
demanded  in  unequivocal  terms,  the  interchange  of  the  ratifications  of  the  treaty, 
sanctioned  by  Congress.  He  said  :  "  That  the  treaties  on  limits  and  extradition 
were  negotiated  and  accepted  without  other  conditions,  and  with  no  other 
object  but  the  one  expressed  in  them,"  and  he  added : 


—  658  — 

^'' Approved  as  those  agreements  are  by  the  Government 
and  by  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation,  what  else  do  they 
need  to  have  full  effect  ?  Only  the  exchange  of  the  respective 
ratifications.  The  term  fixed  for  this  formality  expired,  and 
this  is  the  obstacle  that  confronts  the  Argentine  Government 
for  the  conclusion  of  so  necessary  and  solemn  agreements. 

"The  undersigned,  in  the  name  of  his  Government, 
requests  the  Government  of  the  Confederation  that  it  will  deign 
to  reconsider  the  said  deliberation 

"  Therefore,  the  Imperial  Government,  trusting  upon  the 
enlightenment  and  friendship  of  the  Argentine  Government, 
begs  that  the  resolution,  announced  by  the  note  of  the 
fourteenth  day  of  July,  shall  not  take  effect." 

Counsellor  Paranhos  and  the  Imperial  Government  explicitly  accepted 
the  treaty  sanctioned  by  Congress,  which  adopted  as  international  limit  the 
system  of  eastern  rivers  or  Oyarvide's ;  and  if  the  Government  of  the  Confed- 
eration committed  an  error,  it  was  in  not  exchanging  the  ratifications, 
hesitating  to  drag  the  Empire  into  a  military  revolt  against  Buenos  Ayres. 

Senor  Paranhos  wished  by  all*  means  to  put  an  end  to  the  questions  with 
high  foresighted  political  views  just  when  Brazil  was  engaged  in  conflicts  with 
Paraguay,  and  in  the  demarcation  of  limits  with  the  eastern  State  of  Uruguay. 
The  eminent  statesman  asked  and  took  advantage  of  the  effectual  concourse 
of  the  Government  of  Parana,  especially  the  Paraguayan  question ;  and 
in  his  notable  speech  upon  the  same,  delivered  in  the  Brazilian  Parliament, 
on  the  fourth  day  of  August,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight,  he 
said : 

"  Sir,  I  cannot  take  my  seat  without  giving  from  this  place 
a  vote  of  obligation,  in  the  name  of  my  country,  for  the  frank 
and  friendly  co-operation  which  the  government  of  the 
Argentine  Confederation  lent  to  us  for  the  friendly  and 
honorable  solution  of  our  differences  with  the  Republic  of 
Paraguay  (Seconded,  very  well).  That  concourse  was  offered 
us  with  the  best  intentions,  and  it  was  very  effective,  so  that 
our  just  claims  should  be  heard  without  distrust  or  prejudice. 
''The  Government  of  the  Confederation,  besides  the  said 
concourse  lent  to  us,  negotiated  two  important  treaties  with 
the  Empire :  The  treaty  on  limits,  which  recognizes  and 
appoints  the  frontier  of  the  Province  of  the  Parana  with  the 
Province  of  Corrientes,  and  the  treaty  on  extradition  of 
criminals  and  surrender  of  runaway  slaves,  a  need  highly 
called  for  by  the  Province  of  Saii  Pedro  de  Rio  Grande  do  Sul. 
"  Senor  Bello:     Seconded. 


—  659  — 

"  Senor  Paranhos  :  Treaties  without  which  the  friendly 
relations  between  both  countries  could  not  be  considered  as 
solidly  established  [very  good  >. 

"  I,  therefore,  feel  obliged  in  the  name  of  my  country,  for 
the  concourse  received  and  the  friendly  dispositions  which  I 
met  in  the  Government  of  the  Argentine  Confederation 
{very  good).^'' 

These  words  explain  Brazil's  interest  in  settling  the  difficulties  with  the 
Argentine  Republic,  and  this  fact,  together  with  the  lack  of  value  of  the 
territory  comprised  between  the  two  systems  of  river,  would  perhaps  influence 
the  mind  of  Senor  Paranhos  and  his  government,  to  accept  the  ratification  o 
the  treaty  modified  by  Congress,  which  cleared  up  the  political  horizon  and 
spared  Brazil  the  dangers  of  an  Argentine-Uruguayan-Paraguayan  coalition. 

To  this  result,  apparently  inexplicable  for  the  claims  of  some  Braziliar* 
writers,  concurred  other  political  causes  more  transcendent  than  the  intrinsic 
and  strategic  importance  of  the  small  deserted  territory  in  dispute. 

Senor  Paranhos  had  a  capital  interest  in  compelling  the  Argentine  Republic 
to  surrender  the  runaway  slaves.  The  southern  provinces  of  Brazil  demanded 
this  measure  as  a  transcendent  and  peremptory  act.  The  treaty  on  extra4itioa 
was  celebrated,  together  with  the  one  on  limits.  But  if  this  had  caused  strong, 
resistances,  the  other  one  was  also  rejected  for  being  in  contradiction  with  the 
constitutional  principles  and  text  of  our  political  system,  and  Seiior  Paranhos, 
who  saw  danger  threatening  the  two  results  obtained  by  him,  and  Brazil  being 
isolated  in  its  questions  of  Paraguay  and  the  eastern  States,  had  to  make  able 
concessions  to  save  the  said  results. 

This  attitude,  not  well  known.yet  by  Brazilian  diplomacy  in  1858  and  1859, 
has  been  accepted  by  another  of  the  most  notable  diplomatists  of  the  Empire, 
who  treated  the  question  at  Buenos  Ayres  in  1876.  Senor  Baron  Aguiar 
d'Andrada,  in  a  letter  published  at  Lisbon  the  nineteenth  day  of  September, 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-two,  refuting  an  article  of  the  Argentine 
minister  in  Italy,  Dr.  Del  Viso,  upon  the  question  of  Misiones,  published  in  La 
Revista  Sud- Americana  of  Paris,  said  : 

"Later  on,  in  the  year  1876,  I  had  the  honor  to  be 
charged  with  the  negotiations  to  resolve  said  questions.  I 
proposed  in  the  first  place,  as  a  basis  of  the  demarcation  of  the 
respective  frontiers,  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  Parand  of 
1857,  not  pretending,  as  Senor  Viso  avers,  but  assuring  a 
fact  evinced  in  the  official  documents  of  both  countries,  that  this 
treaty  was  signed  by  the  Argentine  plenipotentiary  and 
APPROVED  BY  CONGRESS,  and  that  the  lack  of  ratification,  by 
the  reason  already  explained,  did  not  alter  the  existence  of  this 
compact." 

Various  Brazilian  statesmen  having  become  alarmed,  owing  to  the  decisive 
iniportance  of  these  antecedents  against  their  pretensions,  doubted  the  existence 
of  the  text  of  the  treaty,  sanctioned  by  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation. 


—  66o  — 

Counsellor  J.  M.  N.  Azambuja,  in  a  book  published  by  him  in  1 891,  at 
Rio  de  Janeiro  under  the  title  Questao  Territorial  com  a  Republica  Argentina 
says  on  page  50 : 

"  It  is  fair  to  doubt  the  authenticity  ot  such  a  document 
which,  on  the  other  hand,  is  contradictory,  because,  if  the 
designated  rivers  are  those  situated  further  East,  with  the 
names  of  Pequiri  Guazii  and  San  Antonio  Guazu,  according 
to  the  operations  referred  to  in  II  Article  of  the  treaty;  and 
if  this  article  refers  to  the  operations  made  by  virtue  of  the 
treaty  of  the  thirteenth  day  of  January,  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  fifty,  in  which  operations  no  other  eastern  rivers 
were  demarcated  nor  surveyed,  the  sense  of  the  proposed 
amendment  is  not  comprehended.  For  twenty-four  years 
nobody  knew  of  such  documents." 

I  have  explained  that  II. Article  of  the  Congress  is  clear  and  uncon- 
tradictory.  I  must  now  raise  the  suspicion  with  regard  to  the  document, 
which  only  proves  that  the  Brazilian  chancery  has  kept  the  state  secret  of 
its  attitude  in  1858  and  1859  which  was  not  favorable.  In  the  Argentine 
Republic  the  following  document  was  published  in  1858,  in  the  shape  of 
approbative  law,  by  order  of  the  Constitution. 

The  Senate  and  House  oj  Representatives,  etc. 

I  Article. — The  stipulations  contained  in  the  five  articles 
of  the  treaty  on  limits,  between  the  National  Executive  Power, 
and  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Brazil  through  their  respective 
plenipotentiaries,  in  the  Capital,  on  the  fourteenth  day  of 
December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-seven,  are 
hereby  approved. 

II  Article. — It  is  understood  that  the  rivers  Pepiri  Guazu 
and  San  Antonio,  which  are  designated  as  limits  in  I  Article 
of  the  treaty,  are  those  situated  further  east  with  these  names 
according  to  the  operation  referred  to  in  II  Article  of  the  same. 

III  Article. — Inform  the  Executive  Power,  Sessions  Hall 
of  the  Congress  of  Parana,  provisional  capital  of  the  Argentine 
Nation,  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  September,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight. 

Pascual  Eschague.  Mateo  Luque. 

Carlos  M.  Saravia,  Benjamin  de  Igarzdbal, 

Secretary.  Secretary. 

Department  of  Foreign  Relations. 

Parana,  September  26,  1858, 
Letnt  be  taken  for  law,  and  have  it  published. 

URQUIZA. 
Bernabe  Lopez. 


—  66i 


The  negotiation,  upon  which  I  have  dwelt,  illustrating  the  same  with 
abundant  matters,  not  yet  exhausted,  from  the  archives  of  Congress  and  of 
the  Department,  was  left  in  suspense,  and  the  time  has  arrived  to  disavow  the 
acts  erroneously  attributed  to  the  Executive  Power  and  to  the  Congress  against 
the  national  sovereignty. 


Ill 


The  distinguished  diplomatist  Baron  Aguiar  d'Andrada  was  accredited 
near  the  government  of  the  Republica  Oriental  in  1876,  and  received  the 
commission  to  go  to  Buenos  Ayres  on  a  special  mission.  He  presented  his 
credentials  in  January,  and  upon  his  return  to  Montevideo,  he  wrote,  on 
March  4,  a  letter  to  the  Sub-Secretary  of  the  Department  of  Foreign  Relations. 
He  said : 

"  I  am  exceedingly  glad  to  hear  that  His  Excellency  Dr. 
Irigoyen  has  studied  the  subject  of  limits.  I  would  like  to 
know  his  opinions  about  the  matter.  If  His  Excellency  accepts 
the  limits  drawn  in  the  old  treaty  of  the  fourteenth  day  of 
December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-seven,  there 
is  no  question,  because  I  am  authorized  to  negotiate  the  new 
treaty  upon  this  basis.  If,  however.  Dr.  Irigoyen  proposes 
any  modification,  I  shall  have  to  submit  the  same  to  the 
approbation  of  my  government.  My  opinion  is  that  there  caa 
be  no  question  on  those  limits  which  have  been  sufficiently 
discussed  by  the  two  governments  of  Portugal  and  Spain. 
Nevertheless,  in  order  not  to  lose  more  time,  I  would  thank 
you  very  much  to  state  to  Dr.  Irigoyen  my  desire  of  knowing 
the  opinions  of  His  Excellency  upon  the  subject."* 

,  The  Sub-Secretary  replied  that  Dr.  Irigoyen  did  not  thirik  it  necessary 
that  Baron  Aguiar  d'Andrada  should  ask  for  new  powers,  because  the  modi- 
fications which  in  any  event  he  would  propose  to  the  treaty  of  1857,  were 
not  of  any  particular  moment,  and  that  in  the  hope  of  seeing  him  soon  in 
Buenos  Ayres,  he  reserved  to  discuss  the  settlement  with  His  Excellency. 

The  Imperial  diplomatist  addressed  himself  then  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Relations,  Dr.  Irigoyen,  though  in  epistolary  form,  and  on  paper  without 
official  head  ;  and  in  answer  to  the  Sub-Secretary's  remark  about  amplification 
of  instructions,  he  said  : 

"  However,  whatever  may  be  the  modifications  that  Your 
Excellency  may  have  to  propose  to  me,  I  would  like  to  know 

*  These  letters  are  written  by  Baron  Aguiar  d'Andrada's  own  hand,  in 
Spanish,  and  are  copied  with  their  errors. 


—  662  — 

them,  in  order  that  I  may  submit  them  in  time  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Imperial  government.  My  impossibility  to  make, 
at  this  moment,  a  trip  to  Buenos  Ayres,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  being  bound  by  my  instructions  to  accept  the  treaty  of 
1857  as  basis  of  the  new  treaty,  I  am  compelled  to  trouble  you 
with  this  request." 

Dr.  Irigoyen  replied  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  March  in  the  following 
terms : 

"  I  really  did  request  Dr.  Lamarca  to  answer  Your  Excel- 
lency's letter  in  the  terms  which  Your  Excellency  transcribes. 
I  now  have  no  objection  to  indicate  to  Your  Excellency  my 
opinion  upon  the  treaty  on  limits. 

"  I  think  that  I  Article  of  the  treaty  of  1857  can  be 
accepted  in  the  new  one. 

"II  Article  refers  to  the  survey  of  17^9,  and,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken,  that  survey  had  not  a  definite  result,  for  which  rea- 
son it  was  necessary  to  appoint  new  commissioners  and  demar- 
cating parties." 

As  I  have  already  demonstrated,  the  survey  of  1759  was  pronounced  void, 
and  the  new  demarcating  commissioners  responded  to  the  provisions  of  the 
treaty  of  I777'     Doctor  Irigoyen  goes  on,  very  properly,  in  this  manner: 

**  In  order  to  avoid  every  possible  difficulty  upon  this 
point,  I  think  that  reference  to  the  survey  of  1759  tnust  be 
omitted;  and  decide  that  the  rivers  mentioned  in  I  Article 
shall  be  determined  in  the  presence  of  the  labors,-  explora- 
tions and  surveys  made  in  the  last  century  by  order  of  the  gov- 
ernments of  Spain  and  Portugal. 

"  I  also  believe  that,  with  a  view  that  the  discussions  on 
.  limits  shall  positively  cease,  we  must  stipulate  that  in  case  of 
discord,  the  commissioners  shall  inform  their  governments, 
and  if  these  do  not  reach  an  amicable  adjustment  upon  the 
controverted  points,  the  case  shall  be  submitted  to  the  arbitra- 
tion of  a  friendly  government. 

**  These  are  the  suggestions  that  I  can  offer  to  Your  Excel- 
lency, in  return  to  your  estimable  insinuation,  and  as  they  do 
not  alter,  in  any  essential  point,  the  treaty  of  1857,  I  have 
thought  the  instructions  of  Your  Excellency  would  be  suffi- 
cient." 

Baron  Aguiar  d' Andrada  replied  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  April,  one  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  seventy-six,  in  the  same  epistolary  form,  and  said : 

"  This  letter  I  sent  to  Baron  de  Cotegipe  for  resolution 
regarding  the  proposed  modifications. 


—  663  - 

"  I  suppose,  however,  that  I  shall  not  have  the  pleasure 
to  sign  the  said  treaty  with  Your  Excellency,  as  I  sincerely 
hoped,  owing  to  the  fact  that  orders  have  been  sent  to  Coun- 
sellor Gondim  to  take  charge  of  his  diplomatic  post  at  your 
capital,  and  I  have  received  my  letter  of  recall,  to  be  pre- 
sented upon  my  successor's  arrival  at  Buenos  Ayres.  How- 
ever, I  write  to  the  said  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  expressing  my 
desire  to  be  the  negotiator  of  the  said  treaty. 

"  I  expect  to  receive,  within  a  few  days,  the  reply  I  am 
looking  for  with  anxiety." 

Three  were  the  propositions  submitted  by  Dr.  Irigoyen  to  the  Brazilian 
plenipotentiary.  The  first  one,  that  of  his  said  letter  of  the  twenty-eighth  day 
of  March,  on  II  Article.     The  second  and  third  were  these  : 

II  Article. — "The  commissioners  appointed  must  have 
borne  in  mind  that  the  demarcation  of  the  boundary  line  must 
look  out,  under  the  stipulations  of  the  tenth  day  of  October, 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven,  between  the 
governments  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  for  the  preservation  of 
what  each  of  them  possessed  by  virtue  of  the  said  treaty." 

III  Article.—  **  In  case  of  differences  among  the  commis- 
sioners, as  to  the  execution  of  the  present  treaty,  they  should 
try  to  adjust  them  provisorily,  without  proceeding  to  make, 
in  fact,  any  alteration,  and  shall  report  to  the  respective  gov- 
ernments, so  that  these  may  resolve  in  a  definite  manner  upon 
the  points  originating  the  dissension." 

Doctor  Irigoyen  comments,  right  after,  upon  the  three  propositions  : 

"Believing  that  these  stipulations  fully  answer  the  pur- 
poses of  Your  Excellency,  I  beg  leave  to  offer  them  in  substi- 
tution to  the  phrase  which  Your  Excellency  suggests  to  me. 
For  the  rest,  as  I  do  firmly  believe  that  there  will  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  the  execution  of  the  treaty,  and  it  would  be  very  unfor- 
tunate that  through  fear  of  dissension  among  the  commis- 
sioners, which,  should  they  occur,  would  be  easily  disposed  of 
by  the  governments,  we  should  postpone  the  celebration  of  a 
treaty  which  interests  both  nations,  and  which,  at  any  other 
time,  would  offer  the  same  obstacle  which  now  detains  Your 
Excellency." 

On  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  July  arrived  the  much-looked-for  reply  from 
the  Imperial  Cabinet,  and  its  Minister  transmitted  it  from  Montevideo  to  Dr. 
Irigoyen  in  these  terms  : 

»  ''The   government  of  Brazil  has  accepted  none  of  the 

three  forms  which  Your  Excellency  has  been  pleased  to  offer  it 


—  664  — 

as  a  solution  of  the  controverted  point  in  the  treaty  on  limits 
which  Your  Excellency  and  myself  are  called  upon  to  celebrate 
between  your  Republic  and  Brazil. 

"  The  reasons  of  the  Imperial  government  for  not  accept- 
ing them,  are  the  same  which  I  have  had  the  honor  to  submit 
in  advance  to  the  enlightened  consideration  of  Your  Excel- 
lency. To  leave  the  designation  of  the  boundary  line,  that  is, 
the  true  Pepiri  Guazu,  to  the  new  demarcators,  is  not  to 
resolve  the  question ;  it  is  to  bring  it  back  to  the  last  century, 
and  renew  the  controversies  which  took  place  between  Portu- 
guese and  Spaniards.  If  there  is  a  doubt  with  regard  to  the 
river  Pepiri  Giiazii,  what  means  have  the  commissioners  at 
their  command  to  dissipate  it?  Your  Excellency  will  compre- 
hend that  such  a  doubt  is  surely  to  arise  on  account  of  the 
new  demarcation.  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  in  a  note  sent  to  me, 
rightfully  says,  that  the  three  last  forms  are  substantially 
identical,  by  comparison. 

*'  We  do  not  advance  one  single  step,  says  His  Excellency, 
and  we  are  still  mixed  up  with  the  preposterous  idea  of  a  new 
survey  as  a  rectification  of  the  former  ones ;  and  consequently, 
to  the  contingencies  of  renewed  claims,  already  dismissed  by 
the  Portuguese  demarcators  and  by  ourselves.  The  danger 
attendant  upon  this  new  survey  will  be  always  extant,  whatever 
the  wording  of  the  articles  of  the  treaty  may  be,  if  the  line  of 
demarcation  is  not  expressly  specified. 

"  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  feeling  that  his  efforts  have  been,  so 
far,  of  no  avail,  and  without  hopes  that  they  shall  meet  with 
success  hereafter,  has  ordered  me  to  drop  the  negotiation  of 
the  treaty,  and  leave  for  Buenos  Ayres  at  once,  in  order  to 
hand  my  letter  of  recall,  so  that  Baron  Araujo  Gondim  may 
take  charge  of  the  Brazilian  legation  in  your  capital.  But  I 
shall  not  take  this  step  without  first  receiving  from  Your 
Excellency  the  last  word  of  the  Argentine  government  upon 
the  subject  in  which  we  have  been  concerned. 

"  I  therefore  beg  that  Your  Excellency  will  kindly  favor 
me  with  an  answer  about  the  matter. 

"  I  should  be  sorry  that  Your  Excellency's  insistence  upon 
refusing  to  accept  the  wording  of  the  II  Article  ot  the  treaty 
of  1857,  or  its  equivalent,  may  result  in  a  failure  to  resolve 
a  question  which  may,  in  the  future,  bring  forth  a  conflict 
between  our  respective  countries. 

"  My  interest  in  the  final  decision  of  this  pending  question 
between  the  RepubUc  and  Brazil,  and  the  desire  to  place  our 
relations  on  a  footing  of  thQ  most  cordial  friendship,  induced 
me  to  not  complying,  without  a  last  effort,  with  the  instructions 
of  my  government. 


—  665  — 

"  I  do  not-really  understand,  Your  Excellency  will  please 
excuse  my  sincerity,  Your  Excellency's  obstinacy  in  not 
accepting  the  survey  of  the  rivers  Pepiri  Guaziiand  San 
Antonio,  made  in  1759  t>y  the  Portuguese  and  Spanish  com- 
missioners, when  the  Argentine  government  cannot  allege 
any  title  imparting  to  it,  dominion  of  or  right  to  the  grounds 
east  of  these  rivers,  and  when  Brazil  holds  the  over-secular 
possession  thereof,  inherited  from  Portugal,  and  maintained 
by  it  up  to  the  present  day.  I  trust,  however,  that  the 
patriotism  and  enlightenment  of  Your  Excellency,  will  obviate 
difficulties,  closing,  in  the  most  satisfactory  manner  for  both 
countries  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty  on  limits. 

"  I  look,  therefore,  for  the  reply  asked  for  of  Your 
ExcePency,  hoping  that  it  shall  be  in  conformity  with  my  wishes. 

"  I  do  not  go  to  Buenos  Ayres  to  confer  with  Your  Excel- 
lency, for  if  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty  fails,  my  stay  in  that 
city  would  have  no  explanation." 

Finally,  on  the  eleventh  day  of  August,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-six,  in  answer  to  another  letter  from  Dr.  Irigoyen,  in  which  he  did 
not  agree  with  the  preceding  one.  Baron  Aguiar  d'Andrada  suggested  : 

Let  us  suppress  II  Article  of  the  treaty  of  the  fourteenth 
day  of  December,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-seven,  and  adopt 
the  III  Article,  which  shall  be  the  II  Article  in  the  new  treaty, 
in  the  following  form  : 

II  Article. — After  the  present  treaty  shall  have  been 
ratified,  the  two  high  contracting  parties  shall  each  appoint  a 
commissioner  to  proceed,  with  the  least  possible  delay,  to  the 
demarcation  of  the  said  rivers  Pepiri  Guazu  and  Santo  Antonio, 
in  conformity  with  the  provision  of  I  Article,  upon  which  the 
principle  of  the  uti  possidetis  is  based. 

If  Your  Excellency  accepts,  as  I  expect,  this  proposition, 
I  do  not  doubt  but  that  it  will  be  also  accepted  by  my  govern- 
ment, for  it  involves  the  principle  admitted  in  all  the  treaties 
on  limits  negotiated  by  Brazil  with  all  its  neighbors. 

In  this  part  of  the  negotiation  is  noticeable  the  want  of  a  categorical 
explanation  from  the  Argentine  Chancery,  relative  to  the  treaty  of  Parana  in 
the  promulgated  form,  that  is  to  say,  with  the  eastern  rivers,  because  Doctor 
Irigoyen  could  not -refuse  to  accept  it,  it  being  favorable  to  us.  It  must, 
nevertheless,  be  understood,  that  Doctor  Irigoyen  only  rejected  the  wording 
of  the  original  article.  As  I  have  already  demonstrated.  Baron  Aguiar 
d'Andrada  accepted  in  1882  the  treaty  sanctioned  by  the  Congress  of  Parana. 

As   to  the   invocation   of  the   uti  possidetis,  or  the  pretension  to  legalize 


—  666  — 

usurpations  protested  against  at  the  'proper  time,  or  impossible,  according  to 
declarations  of  the  Courts,  Dr.    Irigoyen   replied   on  the  twenty-first  day  of 
.  August,  upholding  the  true  doctrine,  in  these  terms : 

I  accept  the  suppression  ol  II  Article  of  the  treaty  ot 
1857.  I  would  not  mind  to  add  to  the  III  Article,  which  shall 
be  the  II  Article,  the  phrase,  "  which  is  founded  on  the  principle 
of  the  uti  possidetis  if  it  can  "  be  easily  placed,  considering 
two  nations  whose  titles  are  derived  from  others  which  fixed 
before  their  limits  by  clear  and  well-defined  international 
treaties. 

I  think  that  the  uti  possidetis  is  perfectly  invoked  among 
the  American  states,  which  were  once  subjects  of  one 
sovereignty,  having  doubtful  or  indistinct  frontiers.  The 
territorial  circumscriptions  in  that  case  depended  upon  one 
common  jurisdiction,  and  were  fixed  by  administrative  acts 
which,  having  no  permanent  character,  were  liable  to  alteration 
by  the  sovereign's  will. 

But  in  reference  to  states  whose  titles  are  derived  from 
international  contracts,  in  which  the  rivers  and  points  of 
division  have  been  designated,  it  seems  to  me  impossible  a 
stipulation  founded  upon  the  uti  possidetis,  which  is  only 
acceptable  when,  in  the  absence  of  fixed  limits,  the  possession 
is  provisorily  or  definitely  sanctioned. 

These  well-founded  remarks  did  not  meet  with  much  favor  within  the 
bosom  of  the  Imperial  diplomacy.  Baron  de  Cotegipe  sent  to  Baron  Aguiar 
d'Andrada  orders  to  close  up  the  discussion  and  retire  from  Buenos  Ayres. 
Doctor  Irigoyen  received,  in  fact,  in  October,  a  letter  from  the  Brazilian 
Minister,  dated  the  fifth  day  of  November,  saying : 

By  the  last  steamer  from  Rio  I  have  received  from 
Baron  de  Cotegipe  the  reply  to  Your  Excellency's  last  proposal 
for  the  adjustment  of  the  question  of  limits.  In  his  dispatch 
His  Excellency  says  to  me : 

"All  the  circumstances  of  the  case  well  weighed,  the 
most  prudent  will  be  to  leave  it  in  its  present  state,  and  let 
time  give  it  a  convenient  solution." 

"Therefore,  I  recommend  you  to  state  to  Dr.  Irigoyen 
that  the  Imperial  Government  cannot  accept  his  last  proposal, 
and  considers  the  negotiation  with  which  you  have  been 
charged  as  closed. 

"It  is  convenient  that  Your  Excellency  should  accelerate 
his  leaving,  so  that  Baron  de  Araujo  Gondim  may  go  and 
take  charge  of  the  post  which  has  so  long  been  intrusted  to  him." 

These  documents  and  antecedents  show  that  the  indefinite  postponement 


—  667  — 

of  the  Misiones  question  was  one  of  the  principal  chapters  of  the  political 
program  of  the  prominent  statesman,  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  and  it  is  proven, 
with  more  eloquence  than  anything  else,  by  the  acceptation  made  later  on 
by  the  illustrious  Emperor,  of  the  same  proposals  which  his  Minister  re- 
jected in  1876. 


IV 

The  Argentine  Government  resolved,  however,  to  insist,  and  the  Minister 
of  Foreign  Relations  gave  instructions  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  January,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-seven,  to  Senor  don  Luis  L.  DominguA, 
Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Republic  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro. 

Sehor  Dominguez  was  the  person  pointed  out  for  this  grave  negotiation. 
Dr.  Irigoyen  had  consulted  him  in  1876,  when  he  showed  his  complete  prep- 
aration in  a  brief  but  full  memorandum  about  the  inherited  suit.  The  Janu- 
ary note  said : 

The  President  thinks  that  this  subject  once  initiated  by 
the  government  of  Brazil  in  the  prudent,  friendly  form  in  which 
it  was  presented  by  Baron  d'Andrada,  ought  to  be  pushed  on. 
It  is  convenient  for  both  States  to  fix  their  limits  definitely, 
and  now  that  the  best  relations  exist  between  both  governments, 
it  is  opportune  to  give  this  matter  a  solution.  The  President 
believes  that  Your  Excellency  should  continue  to  discuss  with 
Baron  de  Cotegipe  the  question  initiated  here  by  Baron 
d'Andrada.  The  letters  which  I  have  addressed  to  Senor 
Andrada,  in  compliance  with  the  instructions  of  the  President, 
will  serve  Your  Excellency  as  instructions,  and  I  think  it  useless 
to  send  to  Your  Excellency  the  historical  antecedents  of  the 
demarcations  of  the  last  century,  and  of  the  disputes  between 
the  governments  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  since  Your  Excellency 
is  acquainted  with  all  those  documents,  and  has  referred  to 
them  in  the  Argentine  history.  I  will  only  say  to  Your  Excel- 
lency, that  this  subject  must  not  assume  an  official  character, 
for  the  present.  It  is  prudent  to  treat  it  in  the  same  private 
form  in  which  it  was  initiated  by  Senor  d'Andrada " 

On  the  eighteenth  day  of  May,  of  the  same  year,  Senor  Dominguez 
notified  that  he  was  prepared  to  open  negotiations,  according  to  the  antece- 
dents given  him  by  Dr.  Irigoyen,  and   he  drew  up  the  following  basis: 

I  Article. — To  appoint   new  commissions  to   survey  the 
*       rivers  referred  to  in  the  treaties  of  1750  and  "i-TJJ. 

09  TBM     *' 


|UII7BESIT7] 


—  668  — 

II  Article.  — That  in  the  agreement  which  is  now  to  be  cele- 
brated, in  lieu  of  that  of  1857,  reference  to  the  survey  of  those 
rivers  made  in  1759,  shall  be  omitted,  and  stipulate  that  the 
rivers  shall  be  determined  in  the  presence  of  the  works,  explora- 
tions and  surveys  made  last  century  by  order  of  both  govern- 
ments. 

III  Article. — That  in  case  of  discord,  it  shall  be  referred 
to  the  arbitration  of  a  friendly  nation. 

These  bases  agree,  substantially,  with  those  presented  by  Dr.  Irigoyen  to 
Baron  Aguiar  d'Andrada,  in  his  said  letter  of  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  March^ 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-six,  and  the  former  approved  them 
by  his  communication  of  the  twelfth  day  of  June,  addressed  to  Seiior  Domin- 
guez. 

He  could,  however,  make  no  headway  against  the  policy  of  postponement^ 
and  in  February  1880  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Don  Lucas  Gonzalez,  who  had  succeeded 
Dr.  Irigoyen  at  the  Department  of  Foreign  Relations,  exposing  the  antecedents 
of  his  case. 

I  held  a  conference,"  he  said,  "  with  Baron  de  Cotegipe, 
in  which  he  declared  that  it  was  best  to  wait  for  more  favor- 
able circumstances  to  obtain,  purely  and  simply,  the  ratifica- 
tion of  that  treaty 

They  claim  to  have  the  old  possession  of  the  territory 
in  dispute,  and  although  this  is  still  deserted,  the  military  col- 
ony of  Paso  Grande  has  just  been  founded  on  the  opposite 
side  upon  the  left  border  of  the  Uruguay,  of  which  I  have 
informed  the  government. 

Seiior  Dominguez  mentions  in  this  letter  the  primitive  treaty  of  1857 ; 
but  Barcn  de  Cotegipe  referred  to  the  one  closed  by  Congress.  At  the 
sitting  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Empire,  which  took  place  on 
the  twenty-eighth  day  of  August,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy- 
nine,  Baron  de  Cotegipe  said  about  the  question  of  limits  : 

We  had  this  question  already  adjusted  in  the  times  ot 
President-General  Urquiza  in  1857.  This  treaty  was  ratified 
by  Congress. 

Seiior  Sinimbu  (President  of  the  Council) — I  think 
not !  ...  . 

Sefior  Baron  de  Cotegipe— \\.  was  ratified  by  Congress 
immediately  after  being  promulgated  by  the  President. 

If  Baron  de  Cotegipe  accepted  the  form  in  which  Congress  ratified  the 
-Paranhos-Lopez  and  Derqui  treaty,  the  question   was   closed,  f5r   far   from 


_  669  — 

omitting  the  promulgation,  it  was  really  made  with  the  solution  of  the  eastern 
rivers  in  the  book  of  the  official  Record  of  the  Confederation,  kept,  by  order 
of  the  government,  by  Doctor  Don  Ramon  Ferreira,  Attorney- General  of 
the  nation,  and  in  the  legal  form  which  I  have  copied  in  Chapter  II. 

Baron  de  Cotegipe,  making  reference  to  the  negotiation  Aguiar  d'An- 
drada-Irigoyen,  and  always  propitiating  the  necessity  of  gaining  time, 
attributed  the  failure  to  inaccurate  causes,  and  advanced  affirmations  which 
are  not  in  harmony  with  the  documents  relative  to  the  conduct  of  the  Argen- 
tine negotiator.  Doctor  Irigoyen,     He  said  in  the  course  of  the  debate  : 

Senor  Bjaron  Aguiar  d'Andrada  discharged  to  perfection  the 
mission  intrusted  to  him  (and  I  improve  the  occasion  to  do  him 
deserved  justice,  and  to  express  to  him  my  personal  gratitude) ; 
but,  Mr.  President,  he  was  obliged  to  strike  upon  an  obstacle, 
insurmountable  in  Republics,  the  fear  of  endangering  popular- 
ity. The  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  adtnitted  our  right;  he 
tried  by  every  means  to  arrive  at  some  understanding  without 
risk  of  opposition  detrimental  to  his  government.  Unfor- 
tunately, I  could  not  accede  to  any  of  the  means  offered  by 
him  ;  for  it  is  to  be  noted,  that  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Rela- 
tions, Senor  Irigoyen,  had  been  kept  away  from  public  busi- 
ness for  a  long  time,  and  there  were  in  the  Argentine  Republic 
prejudices  against  him,  arisen  from  his  having  lent  his  sup- 
port— I  do  not  know  that  he  did  so — to  the  Rosas  govern- 
ment. He  feared,  therefore,  that  any  deliberation  taken  by  the 
government  would  prove  injurious,  and  failed  to  accede  to 
our  proposal,  though  without  refusing  it  entirely. 


This  was  personally  inopportune,  politically  improbable,  and  diplomatically 
inaccurate.  If  by  admitting  Brazil's  light  the  orator  understood  to  accept 
the  claims  to  the  western  rivers.  Dr.  Irigoyen  said  nothing  in  that  direction  ; 
but  on  the  contrary,  he  stood  firmly  upon  the  ground  of  his  country's  right. 
Neither  did  he  proceed  in  an  ambiguous  manner,  with  regard  to  the  proposi- 
tions presented  to  him  by  Baron  Cotegipe,  through  Baron  Aguiar  d'Andrada. 

The  Argentine  Minister  scrutinized  them,  made  counter  proposals,  and 
at  the  last  moment,  and  when  every  conciliatory  means  had  been  exhausted, 
he  refused  them  categorically,  as  can  be  seen  in  his  said  letter  of  the  thirteenth 
day  of  October,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-six,  addressed  to  the 
Brazilian  negotiator,  in  which  he  stated : 

I  am  very  sorry  not  to  have  the  honor  to  sign  with  your 
Excellency  this  convention,  but  it  is  not  possible  for  me  to 
accept  the  wording  proposed  in  your  esteemed  letter  of  the 
eleventh  day  of  August,  for  the  reasons  I  had  the  honor  to 
express  in  mine  of  the  twenty-first. 


—  670  — 

Baron  de  Cotegipe  foresaw  that  Argentine  politics  would  continue  in  a 
state  of  agitation  and  that  civil  war  would  appear,  as  the  only  solution,  upon 
the  skies  of  the  historical  Presidency  of  Dr,  Avellaneda.  His  anxiety  was, 
therefore,  to  gain  time ;  not  precisely  in  the  expectation  of  more  propitious 
days  to  international  concord,  looked  after  by  other  less  concerned  statesmen, 
but  to  set  the  foot  of  the  Brazilian  soldier  upon  the  disputed  M-isiones,  in 
support  of  the  concentration  of  the  forces,  and  of  the  public  spirit  of  the 
Argentine  in  its  internal  quarrels. 

By  that  time  Brazil  began,  in  fact,  the  foundation  of  military  colonies  upon 
the  territories  in  question.  These  acts  endangered  peace,  and  the  Argentine 
government  protested  against  them,  and  affirmed  the  possession  of  the  terri- 
tory, enacting  laws  to  that  effect,  completing  investigations  which  confirmed 
its  rights  to  the  integrity  of  which  the  Argentine  plenipotentiary  at  Rio,  Sehor 
Dominguez,  lent  his  solicitous  attention,  suggesting,  at  the  same  time,  some 
of  the  measures  adopted  at  Buenos  Ayres  in  that  direction. 

I  have  said  that  peace  was  threatened,  and  this  prudent  Minister  thought 
that  it  was  his  duty  to  insinuate  it  to  the  government  in  a  private  note  of 
December,  1879,  counseling  a  firm  and  sensible  policy. 


At  this  present  moment,  he  said,  I  do  not  see  any 
imminent  danger;  but  presuming  to  know  the  policy  and  the 
means  the  statesmen  of  this  country  avail  and  have  always 
availed  themselves  of,  I  would  alw8ys  adjust  the  conduct  of 
my  country  to  the  principle  just  mentioned.  I  would  try  to 
avoid  giving  them  such  pretext.  I  would  spare  no  exhibition 
of  friendship  and  justice  towards  them,  and  would  maintain 
our  forces  of  sea  and  land  under  a  perfect  organization,  and 
ready  for  the  defense,  just  as  they  hold  theirs  in  readiness  for 
the  aggression. 


However,  all  the  Brazilian  statesmen  did  not  agree  with  the  policy  of 
postponement,  of  advance,  and  of  international  mistrust.  Senator  Correa, 
ex-Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  elected  by  the  province  of  Rio  Grande,  had 
called  the  attention  of  the  President  of  the  Cabinet  to  the  urgent  need  of 
fixing,  definitely,  the  limits  with  the  Argentine  Republic. 


The  difficulties,  he  said  in  the  sitting  of  the  thirteenth 
day  of  March,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy,  which 
originated  in  the  demarcation  ofUmits  with  the  Argentine 
Republic,  could  be  removed  in  the  present  circumstances  by 
the  noble  President  of  the  Council,  invoking  the  patriotism 
of  the  same  Republic,  which  will,  no  doubt,  appreciate  the 
importance  of  the  solution  in  question,  remembering  what  has 
happened  in  relation  to  the  limits  with  Chili  and  Paraguay. 


—  671  — 


V 


Brazil  gave  to  understand  that  it  possessed  the  disputed  territory ;  but  its 
diplomacy,  disappointed  at  the  rejected  negotiations,  in  which  it  claimed  all 
the  extent  of  the  said  territory,  as  is  demonstrated,  solemnly  confessed  that  it 
dfti  not  have  the  invoked  possession,  and  prepared  itself  to  try  it  in  1879  ^V 
parliamentary  initiation. 

Such  is  the  source  of  the  governmental  measures  of  the  Empire  adopted 
in  1879  and  1880,  ordering  the  foundation  of  miUtary  colonies  on*  the 
frontiers  of  the  province  of  Parana  upon  the  disputed  zone.  The  Imperial 
government  proceeded  cautiously,  and  in  a  trying  manner,  to  find  out  the 
effect  of  these  foundations  upon  the  government  and  the  people  of  the 
Argentine  Republic,  for  the  foundations  attempted  after  the  treaty  of  1857 
had  failed  by  isolation  in  the  deserts. 

At  the  beginning  the  facts  occurred  on  the  Imperial  frontier,  though 
the  decrees  made  reference  to  the  occupation  of  the  territory  in  dispute. 
Had  the  Argentine  government  emphatically  protested,  the  Imperial 
government  would  have  hesitated,  as  it  had  not  the  purpose  to  provoke  the 
conflict. 

But  the  same  cause  that  had  favored  other  occupations  of  the  national  ter- 
ritory by  the  outsider,  reappeared  before  the  advance  of  Brazil  upon  the  Mi- 
siones.  The  Argentine  Republic  was  divided  in  two  camps  by  a  bloody  civil 
war,  and  the  government,  engaged  in  the  defense  of  its  own  existence,  only 
acknowledged  to  the  Argentine  plenipotentiary  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  the  receipt 
of  the  frequent  and  well-founded  notes  in  which  he  communicated  the  usurpa- 
tion, and  advised  to  take  measures. 

However,  the  Argentine  plenipotentiary  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Senor  Domin- 
guez,  protected  our  rights  with  a  timely  effort  against  the  attempted  occupa- 
tion of  the  Misiones,  and  if  the  internal  difficulties  of  the  Republic  deprived 
his  word  of  the  moral  force  and  the  material  sanction  necessary  to  hinder 
those  plans,  he  could  comprehend  that  the  Imperial  government  had  not  the 
deliberate  intention  to  face  the  perils  to  carry  them  out,  and  offered  a  chance 
to  the  Argentine  chancery  to  sterilize  them. 

In  fact,  in  a  note  dated  the  fifth  day  of  March,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty,  addressed  to  the  Department  of  Foreign  Relations,  proposing  the 
affirmation  of  our  possession,  he  said : 


Allow  me  to  suggest  to  Your  Excellency  the  convenience 
that  the  government  should  send,  as  far  as  San  Javier,  some 
armed  force,  in  order  to  make  the  actual  possession  of  the 
Argentine  Republic  felt  in  those  places.  That  old  port  of  Alto 
Uruguay  for  the  exportation  of  mate,  is  presently  the   centre 


—  672  — 

of  a  population  composed  of  heterogeneous  elements,  among 
which  the  Brazilian  stands  foremost,  and  occupies  itself  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  said  grass.  Could  not,  or  should  not 
the  national  government  go  and  take  possession  of  that  far 
and  exposed  frontier  ? 


In  a  note  of  the  seventeenth  day  of  October,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty,  Senor  Dominguez  said  : 


After  these  colonies  shall  have  been  established,  there 
will  be  a  kind  of  a  line  of  military  colonies  garrisoning  the 
frontier,  to  which  the  government  of  Brazil  claims  to  have  a 
right,  and  to  be  in  possession  of  the  same.  I  take  the  liberty 
to  remind  Your  Excellency  that  I  have  informed  the  govern- 
ment of  the  progress  of  these  foundations  for  the  last  two 
years  in  my  notes  222,  226,  290  and  291. 

On  the  first  days  of  1881,  when  the  founders  of  the  military  colonies 
stepped  on  the  ground  in  question,  Sefior  Dominguez  conferred  with  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Empire,  and  communicated  to  the 
Argentine  government  the  result  of  his  action  in  these  terms : 


Senor  Pedro  Luis  came,  really,  to  this  city  on  the  sixth, 
and  came  to  see  me,  without  touching  the  matter ;  but  on  the 
following  day  we  met  twice  and  he  expontaneously  told  me, 
that  he  wished  to  inform  me  of  what  had  happened  with  the 
military  colonies  which  were  ordered  to  be  set  up  upon  our 
frontier  on  the  rivers  Chapeco  and  Chopin.  He  assured  me 
that  he  knew  nothing  when  the  Department  of  War  resolved 
to  send  thither  Captains  Borman  and  Dantas  to  found  those 
military  colonies,  that  as  soon  as  he  knew  it,  he  declared  to 
the  Minister  of  War  that  that  measure  was  inconvenient ; 
that  it  was  a  matter  which  concerned  his  department,  and 
not  the  Department  of  War,  and  that  orders  had  been  given 
at  once  that  those  officers  should  leave  the  frontier.  We  then 
exchanged  declarations  of  our  best  wishes  for  the  main- 
tenance of  good  friendship  between  both  countries,  and  the 
minister  closed  saying,  that  he  expected  that  some  means 
would  be  found  to  settle  the  question  of  limits  without  hurting 
in  the  least  the  feelings  of  either  nation. 

I  then  declared  that  the  withdrawal  of  those  two  col- 
onies seemed  to  me  very  convenient,  and  that  when  this  was 
done,  I  also  believed  that  the  termination  of  the  question  in  an 
amicable  way  would  not  be  difficult. 


—  673  — 

The  Emperor,  on  his  part,  had  wished  to  dissipate  the  alarm  of  Senor 
Dominguez  by  talking  to  him  personally.  The  Argentine  minister  said  in  the 
same  note : 

On  the  third  inst.  I  had  a  personal  conversation  with  the 
Emperor,  during  which,  at'ter  asking  me  for  news  from  my 
country,  as  usual,  he  spoke  to  me  of  our  question  of  limits. 
//  is  necessaty,  he  said  to  me,  that  we  arrange  this  ques- 
tion, because  it  is  convenient  for  all  and  there  is  no  difficulty 
in  it.  1  replied  to  him  that  the  Argentine  government  was 
in  the  best  disposition  to  settle  it,  and  His  Majesty,  after  add- 
ing some  words  which  elicited  the  sincere  desire  to  arrive  at 
this  result,  closed  by  saying  that  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Relations  would  very  soon  speak  to  me  about  this  matter. 

Sehor  Dominguez  had  acted  very  effectively.  The  foundation  of  the 
colonies  remained  not  only  in  suspense,  but  categorically  dispwoved  by  the 
Imperial  government. 

The  Argentine  Republic  demolished  in  1881,  at  its  capital,  the  entrench- 
ments of  the  combatants  of  1880,  and  the  government  and  the  people,  still 
excited  with  the  passions  of  the  bloody  contest  just  finished,  busied  them- 
selves only  with  the  political,  administrative  and  civil  reorganization  demanded 
by  the  federalization  of  the  city  of  Buenos  Ayres. 

The  politicians  of  the  Empire,  convinced  that  the  Argentine  chancery 
would  not  assume  a  vigorous  stand  to  maintain  and  improve  the  success  ot 
the  efforts  of  his  Minister  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  resolved  to  return  with  their 
troops  to  the  frontier,  and  after  encouraging  the  colonies  Chopin,  Chapeco 
and  Palmas,  which  advanced  upon  the  disputed  region,  penetrated  into  the 
heart  of*  the  territory  upon  the  heights  which  divide  the  sockets  of  the  Parana 
and  of  the  Iguazu,  getting  their  advance  guards  at  Santa  Ana  and  Campo 
Ere. 

Such  an  audacity  carries,  however,  an  error  of  the  fluviatic  diplomacy 
which  has  injured  Brazil  very  materially  in  the  diplomatic  debate  upon  the 
subject,  because  it  proved  incontestably  that  it  never  had  on  that  territory  the 
possession  of  a  century's  duration,  which  its  statesmen  have  offered  as  the 
only  title,  since  the  Emperor's  declaration  in  1857,  through  the  most  illustri- 
ous Seiior  Paranhos  in  his  Memoria  to  the  government  of  the  Argentine 
Confederation;  that  the  Empire  lacked  the  written  right  to  claim  the 
Misiones. 

For  the  rest,  those  recent  usurpations  would  not  favor  in  any  way  Brazil's 
claims,  because  they  have  been  made  in  violation  of  the  statu  quo  which  both 
governments  always  observed,  because,  having  been  protested  against  in 
proper  time  by  Sefior  Dominguez,  they  were  categorically  disproved  by  the 
Imperial  government,  and  finally,  because  in  the  treaty  Zeballos-Bocayuva, 
Brazil  recognized  the  Argentine  sovereignty  upon  the  towns  which  lay  in  most 
of  the  disputed  territory,  such  as  Santa  Ana,  Coelho  and  Campo  Ere. 


—  674  — 


VI 


Seiior  Dominguez  advised  the  government  in  the  same  year,  1881,  to  open 
negotiations  to  settle  the  question.     Such  advice  was  practical  and  clever. 

The  irreconcilableness  of  some  politicians  of  the  conservative  party  main- 
tained the  alarm  in  both  nations  when  Baron  Cotegipe  ascended  power,  closed 
all  negotiation  prosecuting  postponement,  without  neglecting,  as  it  has  been 
seen,  the  usurpations  in  fact.  Outside  of  the  cabinet,  the  illustrious  statesman 
was  a  watchful,  keen  censor  of  the  Ministers  who  did  not  agree  with  his  ideas, 
which  he  upheld  under  his  signature  in  the  Press,  and  by  his  eloquence  in 
Parliament. 

The  meetings  of  Senor  Dominguez  with  the  Emperor  and  with  the  Minister 
of  Foreign  Relations,  to  which  reference  is  made  in  the  said  note  of  the  eleventh 
day  of  March,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty,  revealed  a  reaction 
in  the  Imperial  policy  against  the  plans  of  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  and  the  Argen- 
tine minister  advised  to  make  the  best  of  it.  That  was  practical  and  clever, 
because  the  negotiation  or  settlement  would  at  the  same  time  weaken  the 
contemplated  military  colonies,  and  those  which  were  in  course  of  formation. 

The  impossibility  of  agreeing  upon  the  basis  of  the  treaty  of  1857  was  a  seri- 
ous obstacle  in  the  way;  but  Sehor  Dominguez  found  it  cleared  up  by  the 
Imperial  minister  in  the  conferences  of  the  third  and  seventh  of  May  with  the 
Emperor  and  with  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  in  which  they  offered 
him  a  clear  opening  for  a  direct  settlement  or  compromise. 

Senor  Dominguez  advised  his  government  without  delay  to  enter  these  new 
fields,  believing  that  the  disputed  territory  could  be  divided  between  .the  two 
Pepiri  on  the  heights  which  separate  the  falls  of  both  rivers  and  the  two  San 
Antonio. 

Doctor  Irigoyen  had  been  called  to  occupy  again  the  Department  of 
Foreign  Relations,  in  the  government  of  General  Roca,  and  reacting  against 
the  inactivity  of  his  predecessors,  he  strengthened  Seiior  Dominguez's  patriotic 
action.  He  wrote  to  the  Argentine  minister  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  on  the  twenty- 
fourth  day  of  March,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-one,  in  these 
terms : 

"  I  have  received  Your  Excellency's  note  No.  368,  dated 
March  nth,  in  which  Your  Excellency  apprises  me  of  a  con- 
versation held  with  the  Emperor  in  regard  to  the  question  of 
limits,  still  pending,  and  of  the  conference,  upon  the  same 
subject,  with  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations 

"  The  President  thinks  that  you  ought  to  accept  the  sug- 
gestions that  have  been  made  to  you.  It  is  convenient  to  put 
an  end  to  this  matter,  which  may  get  entangled  with  advances 


—  675  — 

of  occupation,  and  therefore  it  will  be  proper  that  Your  Excel- 
lency shall  inform  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  that 
this  government  accepts  the  idea  of  fixing,  definitely,  the 
boundary  line  of  this  Republic  with  the  Empire.  I  think  it 
convenient  that  Your"  Excellencfy  shall  make  the  same  state- 
ment to  the  Emperor. 

"Your  Excellency,  in  note  No.  295,  of  the  first  day  ot 
April,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty,  suggested  the 
convenience  of  initiating  a  compromise. 

"  It  being  advisable  to  have  all  our  ideas  well  defined 
before  opening  negotiation,  the  President  directs  me  to  ask 
you,  in  view  of  the  study  you  have  made  of  this  subject,  to 
communicate  the  ideas  which,  in  your  judgment,  would  lead  to 
a  definite  result." 

Scnor  Dominguez,  in  April,  asked  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the 
Empire  to  proposethe  settlement  spoken  of  in  the  conference  of  the  seventh 
day  of  March.  The  Imperial  government  preoccupied,  without  doubt,  with  stop- 
ping the  Argentine  attitude  with  regard  to  the  military  colonies,  had  hastened 
to  give  instructions  to  Sefior  Baron  de  Araujo  Gondim,  its  minister  at  Buenos 
Ayres,  to  treat  the  settlement  of  the  question.  These  instructions,  as  will  be 
seen  hereinafter,  were  nothing  but  a  premeditated  diplomatic  overture,  to 
gain  time,  and  to  quiet,  at  the  same  time,  the  Argentine  government. 

In  the  meantime  Sefior  Dominguez  wrotfe  the  note  of  the  sixteenth  day  of 
April,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-one,  in  which  he  offers  to  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  Dr.  Irigoyen,  the  forms  asked  of  him  for  the 
compromise.     He  said : 

"The  Minister  has  evaded  a  reply  to  my  question.  He 
wishes,  perhaps,  that  the  negotiation  shall  take  place  at 
Buenos  Ayres.  Having  been  unsuccessful  in  knowing  Sefior 
Pereyra  de  Souza's  purpose,  and  Your  Excellency  having  done 
me  the  honor  to  ask  for  my  opinion,  I  have  only  to  confirm 
what  I  said  in  my  confidential  note,  that  is,  to  propose  a  com- 
promise dividing  the  disputed  territory  on  the  heights  which 
separate  the  falls  of  the  rivers  covering  the  same." 


VH 


Dr.  Irigoyen  had  no  occasion  to  pass  upon  the  question,  for,  having  been 
called  to  occupy  the  portfolio  of  the  Interior,  he  left  that  of  the  Foreign  Rela- 
tions to  Don  Victorino  de  la  Plaza,  an  old  Minister  of  the  Treasury, 

The  brief  action  of  Dr.  Irigoyen  or,  the  Misiones  in  this  department  was 
not  useless.     He  gathered  up  Sefior  Dominguez's  forgotten  advices,  reiterated 


—  676  — 

with  patriotic  insistence  for  two  consecutive  years,  and  accepting  his  sensible 
suggestion  of  carrying  the  laws  and  the  arms  of  the  nation  into  the  missionary 
land,  he  promoted  the  law,  confirmative  of  our  possession,  sanctioned  on  the 
twentieth  day  of  December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-one. 

The  territory  of  Misiones>  national  since  its  origin,  had  been  adhered  to 
the  local  jurisdiction  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes  during  the  long,  burdensome, 
administrative  disorganization  which  the  civil  war  imposed  on  the  Republic. 
Dr.  Irigoyen  promoted  the  regularization  of  this  state  of  things,  and  that  law 
reincorporated  the  territory  in  the  national  jurisdiction,  erecting  it  into  a  gov- 
ernment with  its  corresponding  limits,  according  to  the  treaty  of  the  Courts  of 

1777. 

The  decree  of  the  sixteenth  day  of  March,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-two,  organized  the  new  government,  affirming  our  rights  to  the 
claimed  limits.  The  capital  was  established  at  Corpus,  an  old  mission  which 
would  be  called  Ciudad  San  Martin. 

This  decided  attitude  of  the  Argentine  government  caused  deep  excite- 
ment at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  "and  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  leader  of  parhamentary 
opposition  at  the  time,  wrote  a  letter  to  El  Globo,  in  which  he  accused 
the  government  of  gross '  carelessness  in  the  grave  international  question. 
The  government  was  compelled  to  defend  itself,  and  published  in  El 
Diario  Oficial  of  the  thirteenth  day  of  May,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-two,  the  declaration  that,  far  from  neglecting  the  question  of 
limits  with  the  Argentine  Republic,  it  followed  the  example  of  the  vivid  in- 
terest with  which  the  Baron  de  Cotegipe  had  handled  it.  It  went  on  to  say 
that  the  government  expected  to  know  the  solution  of  the  Argentine  Congress 
and  its  consequences. 

The  Imperial  government's  publication  closed  with  a  transcendent  and 
very  important  declaration  for  the  Republic.  From  informations  asked  by 
the  Chancery  about  the  true  situation  of  Ihe  military  colonies,  it  appeared 
that  they  were  outside  of  the  disputed  territory.     It  says,  in  effect : 

'■'■  The  foundation  of  our  military  colonies  may  not  be  a 
cause  for  reclamation,  because  those  colonies  are  situated  out- 
side of  that  territory,  according  to  the  Memorandum  pre- 
sented by  Counsellor  Doria  to  the  general  Assembly." 

Though  the  colony  Campo-Ere  advanced  into  the  centre  ot  that  ter- 
ritory, it  was  officially  disproved  by  the  said  explicit  words,  and  its  existence 
brought  about  by  the  joint  commission  presided  over  by  General  Garmendia 
and  by  Baron  Capanema,  amounted  to  an  occupation,  void  of  legal  force, 
that  would  in  due  time  be  submitted  to  the  respective  sovereignty.  The 
Zeballos-Bocayuva  treaty  recovered  it  for  the  Argentine  Republic,  as  I  have 
stated. 

The  uniform  earnestness  with  which  the  Imperial  Cabinets  disproved  the 

foundation   of  those   colonies  upon  the  disputed  territory,  gives  to   the   fact 

♦elicited    by  the  international   survey   recently    accomplished,   a   clandestine 


—  ^n  — 

character  against  the  ostensible  policy  of  the  Government  of  Brazil,  which 
act  must  be  added  to  those  already  mentioned,  to  pall  the  ulterior  effects  of 
the  foundations. 

Baron  de  Cotegipe  energetically  replied  in  a  letter  published  in  El  Globo 
of  the  thirteenth  day  of  May,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty -two. 
The  government  had  also  declared  that  the  Minister  of  Brazil  at  Buenos 
Ayres  received  orders  to  protest  against  the  law  confirming  our 
possession  and  occupation  of  the  Misiones ;  but  that  it  had  not  done  so  out 
of  considerations  which  seemed  to  be  powerful.  Baron  de  Cotegipe  prompted 
a  comment  upon  this  official  word  and  rightly  understood  that  Brazil's  attitude 
implied  the  tacit  acceptance  of  the  possession  of  Misiones  by  the  Argentine 
Republic.  The  article  in  El  Globo,  which  preceded  the  prominent  statesman's 
letter,  said  : 

"  As  a  consolation  for  the  humiliating  position  assumed  by 
our  government,  against  its  will,  and  only  to  obey  its  diplo- 
matic agent  whom,  however,  it  did  not  find  to  be  right,  it 
assures  the  country  that  *  no  Argentine  law  can  extinguish  the 
pending  suit  between  the  two  States,  nor  establish  any  juris- 
diction that  the  Imperial  government  does  not  recognize.' 

"No  such  triviality  is  here  referred  to;  what  the  govern- 
ment is  criticized  for,  and  it  criticizes  its  own  envoy,  is  for  having 
allowed  the  consummation  of  important  acts  of  sovereignty  on^ 
the  part  of  the  neighboring  Republic  without  any  objection  on 
our  part." 

The  same  letter  from  Baron  de  Cotegipe  closes  in  this  manner : 

"The  Argentine's  claim  subsists  in  all  its  vigor.  It  is 
true  that  one  law,  or  one  decree,  do  not  give  them  any  right ; 
but  it  is  a  lack  of  consideration  towards  us,  and  a  symptom,  if 
not  a  proof,  that  they  pretend  to  cut  the  knot  with  the  sword. 
"  ^t  remains  also  in  evidence  that  for  the  present,  there 
does  not  exist  any  act  on  our  part  demanding  explanations,  or 
making  exceptions  or  protest." 

Soon  after,  in  July,  the  discussion  on  the  budget  of  the  Army  and  Navy 
was  taken  up  as  a  pretext  to  discuss  the  Imperial  government's  stand,  which 
•  had  allowed  the  definite  occupation  of  the  Misiones  by  the  Argentine  Re- 
public. 

Two  celebrated  statesmen  from  the  North,  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  Counsel- 
lor Saraiva,  and  a  notable  orator  from  the  South,  Senor  Silveira  Martins, 
took  part  in  the  debate.  They  all  agreed  upon  the  necessity  of  preparing  the 
Empire  for  war,  and  the  budget  was  voted  accordingly. 

The  newspaper  which  echoed  Baron  de  Cotegipe's  inspiration,  El  Globo, 
said  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  July  : 


—  678  — 

"  The  three  orators  and  political  eminences  which  made 
themselves  heard,  Senores  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  Saraiva  and 
Silveira  Martins,  concurred  in  capital  points,  and  were  barely 
divided  upon  the  way  of  utilizing  our  means  of  defence,  and  of 
aggression,  in  case  of  need.'' 

The  possession  of  the  Misiones,  which  the  Argentine  Republic  held  unin- 
terruptedly since  the  national  organization,  came  from  Spanish  inheritance, 
because  the  Metropoli  had  possessed  them  also,  including  the  eastern  Mi- 
siones, situated  on  the  left  border  of  the  Uruguay.  The  law  of  1881  exer- 
cised perfect  rights  of  sovereignty  historically  and  legally  sanctioned,  and  the 
Empire  did  not  protest  against,  nor  objected  to  the  occupation  which  invali- 
dated its  officers'  clandestine  acts. 


VIII 


After  the  conferences  of  the  plenipotentiary,  Senor  Dominguez,  with  the 
Emperor  and  with  his  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  the  Brazilian  plenipo- 
tentiary at  Buenos  Ayres,  Baron  Araujo  Gondim  received  instructions  to  pro- 
pose the  settlement  of  the  question.  The  portfolio  of  Argentine  Foreign 
Relations  was  at  the  time  under  provisional  charge,  and  the  Brazilian  initia- 
tion remained  unreplied. 

On  the  second  day  of  June,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-two. 
Baron  Araujo  Gondim  addressed  a  note  to  Dr.  V.  de  la  Plaza,  who  had  been 
called  to  occupy  the  department,  stating  that,  ''wishing  to  avoid  complica- 
tions, and  in  order  to  maintain  friendly  relations,  which  happily  exist  between 
the  two  countries,"  he  had  been  ordered  to  propose  to  the  Argentine  Govern- 
ment the  opening  of  negotiations  "for  a  definite  adjustment  of  the  question 
of  limits."     This  note  was  extensively  repHed  to  on  the  tenth. 

The  Minister,  after  going  over  the  clandestine  occupation  of  a  part  of  the 
disputed  territory  by  the  officers  of  the  Imperial  army,  in  spite  of  the  categori- 
cal declaration  of  Minister  Souza  to  Sefior  Dominguez*  and  of  saying  that  all 
attempts  at  a  settlement  had  failed  owing  to  the  policy  of  postponement  sus- 
tained by  Baron  de  Cotegipe  ;  he  declared  that  the  Argentine  government 
had  been  disposed,  and  was  disposed  to  re-open  negotiations  to  finish  up  at 
the  earliest  moment,  a  question,  which  neither  of  the  two  nations  had  any 
profit  in  maintaining  any  longer.     Finally,  he  added  : 

Therefore,  if,  as  I  should  suppose,  Your  Excellency  is 
authorized  and  furnished  with  the  necessary  instructions  to 
treat  the  matter,  I  am  happy  to  notify  Yoar  Excellency,  in 
compliance  with  those  I  have  received  from  the  President, 
that  we  may  commence  the  negotiations,  and  I  look  for  Your 
Excellency's  suggestions  to  that  effect. 


—  679  — 

The  Brazilian  Envoy's  answer  was  delayed  until  the  nineteenth  day  of 
July,  as  he  did  not  feel  authorized  to  give  it  without  previous  consultation  with 
the  government  of  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

The  Imperial  government  was  sure  that  its  invitation  would 
be  welcomed  with  the  same  good-will  shown  on  other  occa- 
sions. In  effect,  the  Argentine  government  accepted  the  one 
of  1857,  and  as  Your  Excellency  will  remember,  that  of  1876, 
and  the  one  of  1880.  It  behooves  me,  however,  to  remark 
that  it  refused  to  ratify  that  treaty,  though  it  had  deserved  its 
approbation  and  that  of  Congress ;  that  it  made,  in  the  second 
year,  propositions  which,  not  being  acceptable,  prevented  the 
closing  of  an  adjustment,  and  in  the  last  year,  by  reasons, 
over  which  the  Imperial  government  had  no  control,  it  failed 
to  pass  upon  a  suggestion  of  mine  to  Dr.  Gonzalez  in  one  of 
the  various  conferences  I  held  with  him  since  January,  in 
which  I  prepared  confidentially,  by  virtue  of  instructions 
received,  the  negotiation  referred  to  by  Counsellor  Pereira 
de  Souza,  in  his  reply  to  Senor  Dominguez's  note  of  the  fifth 
day  of  April,  cited  by  Your  Excellency. 

The  record  of  the  treaty  of  1857,  which  has  been  read,  amounts  implicitly 
to  the  acceptance  of  the  reform  voted  by  the  Congress  of  Parana — that  is  to 
say,  of  the  eastern  rivers. 

Seiior  Araujo  Gondim's  note  adds  another  declaration,  as  important,  sub- 
stantially, as  the  former,  and  particularly  effectual  by  the  frankness  and  pre- 
cision of  its  terms.  It  disproves,  in  fact,  the  foundation  of  military  colonies  or 
guards,  as  was  done  already  by  his  Sovereign  and  the  Chief  of  the  Chancery. 
These  are  his  words : 

Coming  to  the  other  point,  may  I  be  permitted  to  assure 
Your  Excellency  that  he  is  not  well  informed,  when  he  says 
that  military  colonies  subsist  and  increase,  notwithstanding  the 
declaration  made  to  Seiior  Dominguez.  The  colonies  are 
founded  upon  the  left  border  of  the  river  Chapeco,  and  on  the 
river  Chopin — that  is  to  say,  upon  a  territory  avowedly  Brazil- 
ian, outside  of  that  which  is  disputed  by  both  countries. 


The  Argentine  titles  do  not  refer  to  the  Chopin,  fifth  river  erroneously 
introduced  into  the  debate,  which  error  has  been  rectified ;  but  to  the  Jangada 
or  tian  Antonio  Guazu,  de  Oyarvide,  situated  further  east  of  the  former. 
Notwithstanding  this  remark,  the  Brazilian  government's  purpose  clearly 
means  the  disapprobation  of  the  foundations  within  the  area  limited  by  the 
four  rivers  of  the  suit." 


—  68o  — 

Baron  Araujo  Gondim  arrives  at  conclusions,  and  submits  to  the  Argen- 
tine Minister  the  following  basis  :  \ 

In  the  opinion  of  the  Imperial  government,  the  negotia- 
tion prepared  by  me  in  1880,  may  be  taken  at  the  point 
where  it  rested  by  the  suggestion  to  which  I  have  referred, 
that  of  substituting  II  Article  of  the  treaty  of  1857  by  other, 
which  text  I  have  submitted.  I  have  order  to  propose  to 
Your  Excellency  the  substituting  article,  which  is  as  follows : 
The  rivers  Pepiri  Guazii  and  San  Antonio,  referred 
to  in  the  preceding  article,  are :  the  first,  the  affluent  which 
flows  into  the  right  or  northern  border  of  the  Uruguay,  a 
little  over  a  league  above  its  Great  Fall,  and  in  latitude  27° 
9'  23";  and  the  second,  the  counter/all  of  the  former  and  first 
important  affluent  which  enters  by  the  soitthern  or  left  border 
of  the  Grande  de  Curitiba  or  Iguazti,  from  the  confluence  of 
the  latter  with  the  Parana,  in  lattitude  25°  35'.  Both  rivers 
spring  from  the  same  plain,  at  the  top  of  the  mountains, 
which  divide  the  yaters  of  the  rivers  Uruguay  and  Iguazuj 
and  their  springs  are  scarcely  five  hundred  steps  apart,  in  lati- 
tude between  26°  10'  and  26°  12';  the  Pepiri  Guazii  running 
in  eight  directions  15"  S.  W. ;  and  the  San  Antonio  in  26° 
N.  W. 

The  Brazilian  proposition  was  accompanied  by  an  extensive  Memoran- 
dum, which  I  do  not  deem  it  opportune  to  analyze,  not  only  because  it  circu- 
lates printed  in  several  works  authorized  by  both  countries,  *  but  because 
there  is  nothing  new  in  it,  the  memorandum  being  limited  to  the  exposition 
of  diplomatic  antecedents  and  demarcations  of  limits  between  the  crowns  of 
Spain  and  Portugal,  with  the  already  known  spirit  of  other  expositions  of  the 
same  source,  among  them  the  mentioned  Memoria  of  the  illustrious  Coun- 
sellor Faranhos.  I  have  given  my  opinion  about  those  antecedents,  and 
determined,  in  a  positive  incontestable  manner,  the  conclusions  arrived  at  by 
the  Courts. 

But  there  is  one  conclusion  in  this  Memorandum  which  I  will  not  let  pass 
unnoticed.     It  says : 

It  is  so  certain  that  there  never  was  a  doubt  raised  as  to 
Brazil's  right  to  the  said  line  of  the  Pepiri  Guazii  and  San 
Antonio,  as  this  was  drawn  by  the  demarcators  of  1759;  ^^^^ 
all  publications,  old  and  modern,  made  in  the  Republic  or 
abroad,  with  the  seal  of  official  consent,  and  even  those  made 
under  the  direct  auspices  of  the  Argentine  government, 
acknowledged  and  respected  it. 

*  Documents  on  the  Question  of  Limits  at  Misiones  between  the  Argentine 
Republic  and  the  Empire  of  Brazil — Buenos  Ayres,  1883. 


—  68i  — 

Thus,  Martin  de  Moussy,  and  latterly  Pettermann  and 
Burmeister  pointed,  with  general  approbation,  on  their  charts 
of  the  Argentine  Republic,  the  rivers  Pepiri  Guazii  and  San 
Antonio  of  the  demarcation  of  1759,  as  forming  the  line  which 
separates  it  from  the  Empire ;  it  being  noticeable  that  the 
second  of  the  said  authors,  specially,  is  a  geographical  authority 
of  well-known  competence. 

The  same  work  of  Mr.  Napp,  prepared  and  executed  with 
the  pecuniary  help,  and  under  the  immediate  supervision  of 
the  Argentine  government  and  with  the  express  object  of 
making  the  Republic  known  at  the  World's  Fair  of  Phila- 
delphia, a  work  also  lately  official,  with  a  geographical  chart 
projected  by  Messrs.  Seelstrang  and  Tourmente,  upon  which 
the  snme  boundary  line  is  accurately  pointed  out. 

This  work  was  of  1875,  published  eighteen  years  after  the 
treaty  of  1857,  and  also  with  general  approbation. 

Baron  de  Araujo  Gondim  refers  to  publications  of  foreigners,  some 
of  whom,  like  Pettermann,  had  no  relations  with  the  Argentine  Republic;  so 
that  their  affirmations  have  no  value  whatever  if  they  do  not  conform  with 
their  titles  and  rights.  Doctors  Moussy  and  Burmeister  and  Mr.  Napp 
have  rendered  services  to  the  Argentine  administration. 

Seiior  Moussy  has  not  published  the  affirmation  ascribed  to  him  by  the 
Imperial  diplomat.  If  his  V  plate  of  his  known  atlas  containing  la  Carte  de 
la  Republique  Argentine,  divisee  en  ses  differentes  provinces  et  territoites  et 
des  pays  voisins,  Etat  Oriental  de  V  Uruguay,  Paraguay,  partie  du  Bresil,  et 
de  la  Bolivie,  Chili,  1867,  is  examined,  it  is  proved  that  the  limit  of  the 
Misiones  runs  through  the  system  of  the  eastern  rivers  situated  above  the 
Uruguay  Pita,  which  the  French  geographer  called  San  Antonio  Guazti 
and  Pepiri  Guazii,  while  he  draws  and  names  Pepiri  Mini  and  San  Antonio 
Mini,  the  western  rivers.  It  is  certain  that  on  a  partial  chart  the  limit  runs 
further  on  through  the  last  rivers,  but  his  drawings  and  print  were  made 
after  the  death  of  the  illustrious  traveller,  and  the  fact  has  no  more  signi- 
ficance than  an  error  committed  by  the  copyist,  for  the  whole  atlas  being 
a  decomposition  of  the  general  map  above  named,  the  details  must,  neces- 
sarily, have  been  the  exact  reproduction  of  the  former.  The  partial  chart 
which  has  induced"  Baron  Araujo  de  Gondim  into  error  is  the  VII  of  the 
province  of  Corrientes,  but  the  VI,  exclusively  devoted  to  the  Misiones, 
draws  up  the  international  limits  with  cross  lines  through  the  eastern  rivers  j 
that  is  to  say,  according  to  the  general  chart. 

The  Misiones  in  dispute  had  not  been  surveyed  in  1867,  and  on  the  par- 
tial chart  VII  of  Moussy,  appear  six  rivers,  instead  of  four.  Those  of  the 
centre  have  been  pointed  out  as  frontiers,  dismissing  the  Brazilian  claim  to 
those  of  the  west,  which  the  same  chart  designates  with  the  Argentnie  names  of 
San  Antonio  Mini  zv^di  Pepiri  Mini.  Therefore,  the  only  proper  and  reasonable 
interpretation  is,  that  this  partial  chart  excludes,  however,  the  limit  claimed 
by  Brazil  of  the  minor  {Mini)  rivers  of  the  treaties  of  the  Courts,  although  he 


—  682  — 

did  not  succeed  in  sketching  the  larger  river  {Guazii)  in  their  true  position. 
The  chart  XVIII  on  the  Gran  Chaco,  and  the  general  physical  chart  XX 
conformed  with  the  general  geographical  chart. 

To  close  the  debate  upon  this  point  in  an  irrefutable  manner,  read  chap- 
ter IV,  page  150,  of  the  third  volume  of  the  de  Moussy's  text,  in  which  he 
describes  the  larger  rivers  above  the  Uruguay  Pita.  He  says  that  this  terri- 
tory and  the  situation  of  its  rivers  is  little  known,  and  finally,  on  page  forty- 
eight,  volume  I,  he  describes  the  general  limits  of  the  Republic  in  this  form : 

As  to  the  the  northeastern  end  of  the  Misiones,  the 
course  of  the  rivers  Pepiri  and  San  Antonio  Guazii  has  not  been 
astronomically  determined,  those  two  great  streams  0/ water, 
that  descend  from  the  bushy  hills  of  this  territory,  and  plunge, 
the  former  into  the  Yguazu,  and  the  latter  into  the  Uruguay. 
The  commissioners  of  limits  surveyed  these  rivers  for  the  first 
time  in  1759,  and  secondly  in  1788,  and  fixed  the  position  of 
their  mouths,  without  being  perfectly  in  accord  about  their 
course. 

No  better  luck  had  the  citation  attributing  to  Dr.  Burmeister's  declarations 
favorable  to  Brazil.  In  his  Description  Physique  de  la  Republique  Argentine, 
volume  I,  page  184  (Buenos  Ayres,  1876),  the  prominent  savant  says  with 
regard  to  the  line  of  limits  : 

"  It  goes  up  the  course  of  the  Uruguay,  as  far  as  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Pepiri,  following  the  course  of  this  river  in  a 
northerly  direction,  and  crosses  the  line  of  the  separation  of 
the  waters,  following  then  the  river  San  Antonio  up  to  its 
confluence  with  the  river  Curitiba.  This  drawing  of  the  limits 
had  been  fixed  immediately  after  the  wars  between  Spain  and 
Portugal  by  the  treaties  of  peace  of  1759  and  1788,  and  after- 
wards by  the  more  recent  convention  of  the  fourth  day  of 
December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-five,  between 
Brazil  and  the  Argentine  Republic." 

At  first  sight,  it  is  noticeable  that  Dr.  Burmeister  confuses  the  dates,  giv- 
ing to  the  treaties  those  which  correspond  to  the  demarcations  of  limits.  As  far 
as  the  last  treaty  is  concerned,  he  meant  to  refer  to  that  of  1857,  which  Con- 
gress approved  with  the  eastern  rivers. 

A  national  official,  Don  Recardo  Napp,  made  a  compilation  of  documents 
ior  the  World's  Fair,  of  Philadelphi.i,  in  1876.  On  page  twenty-five  of  the 
work,  printed  at  Buenos  Ayres  in  the  course  of  the  same  year,  is  found  just 
the  contrary  of  what  Baron  de  Araujo  Gondim  ascribes  to  him.     He  says  : 

"  To  the  East,  from  Cape  Horn  (56°  latitude  south,  and  67" 
longitude  west)  the  Hmit  extends  along  the  coas  of  the  Atlantic 


-  683  - 
ocean,  up  to  the  mouth  of  the  Plata,  etc.,. 


where  it   bends   northward  and  the  northwest  following  the 
/  rivers  Pepiri  Gnazu  and  San  Antonio  Guazu,  as  far  as  the 

flowing  of  the  latter  into  the  I-Guazu,  also  named  Rio  Grande 
de  Curitiba." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  insist  upon  what  the  Argentine  writers  understand  by 
great  rivers  {Guazii)  in  this  secular  debate. 

To  put  an  end  to  the  frequent  citations  of  maps,  edited  in  the  Argentine 
Republic,  or  upon  it,  made  by  some  diplomats  as  arguments  against  the 
rights  and  claims  of  the  same,  I  will  say,  that  the  national  government  has 
emphatically  declared  that  no  official  maps  exist.  In  a  note  addressed  to  the 
Minister  of  Justice,  Worship  and  Public  Instruction,  dated  the  twentieth  day  of 
November,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-nine,  which  I  had  the 
honor  to  sign,  I  said,  by  resolution  of  the  government's  general  accord : 

"The  well-known  lack  of  maps  officially  authorized  im- 
poses upon  the  various  departments  of  the  administration  the 
patriotic  duty  of  selecting,  with  greater  precaution  the  charts 
serving  to  form  in  the  minds  of  the  new  Argentine  generation 
the  conviction  of  the  territorial  rights  of  the  Republic. 

**  Criticism  finds  much  to  say  about  the  atlases  and  maps, 
which  are  used  as  texts  in  the  establishments  I  have  men- 
tioned, and  with  a  view  to  prevent  inconveniences  which  Your 
Excellency  know  of,  and  to  avoid  that  the  repetition  of  facts 
of  this  nature  may  encourage  foreign  aspirations,  I  beg  to 
address  Vour  Excellency  with  the  request  that  a  strict  revision 
of  the  texts  of  national  geography,  to  which  I  have  referred, 
shall  be  ordained,  so  that  the  new  editions  shall  consult  the 
rights  and  conveniences  which  I  have  had  the  honor  to 
represent .• 

"The  Argentine  Republic  has  no  official  maps,  and  if 
some  of  them  invoke  such  character,  this  Ministry  does  not 
recognize  them  in  international  matters,  for  it  never  authorized 
them.  Furthermore,  the  fact  that  the  editions  are  undertaken 
by  public  officials  subsidized  by  the  state,  or  bought  by  direc- 
tions of  official  education,  does  not  bind  the  Argentine 
government  to  be  responsible  for  the  contents  thereof,  and  it 
only  means  a  simple  stimulus  to  intellectual  labor,  or  the 
acquisition  of  mechanical  material  for  learning,  as  it  were, 
leaving  all  responsibility  for  the  errors  which  teachers  rectify  at 
school,  to  the  sketchers,  strangers  as  a  rule. 

The  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  replied  to  the  notes  and  the  Memo- 


—  684  — 

randum  of  Baron  de  Araujo  Gondim  in  the  publication  just  cited,  and  relieves 
me  from  dwelling  upon  this  feature  of  the  negotiation.  I  will  say,  nevertheless, 
that  the  Argentine  Memorandum  is  effectual. 

It  analyses  the  treaties  and  demarcation  of  limits  between  Spain  and 
Portugal  with  clear  judgment  and  forcible  logic,  concluding  that  the  written 
right  of  those  times  adjudge  to  the  Crown  of  Spain  the  territories  of  Misiones 
as  far  as  possession  would  be  implied  at  the  time,  guaranteed  for  the  future  by 
the  expressed  fact,  which  is  notorious,  as  I  have  cited. 

Not  less  effectual  is  the  demonstration  of  the  error  committed  by  the 
demarcators  of  1759.  The  Argentine  Memorandum  gives  evidence,  without 
leaving  any  doubts,  that  they  proceeded  informally  and  arbitrarily,  in  accepting, 
as  a  starting  point,  a  river  which  was  not  the  one  pointed  out  on  the  map  of 
the  Courts  which  was,  according  to  the  document  before  said,  the  guide  and 
the  criterion  of  the  operations  upon  the  ground.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
demarcators  did  not  show  much  effort  in  falling  back  before  obstacles,  easily 
surmountable,  to  subordinate  the  sovereignty  of  their  respective  nations  to  the 
unauthorized  dictum  of  a  barbarian. 

The  records  of  this  demarcation,  carefully  analyzed,  show  their  own  inva- 
lidity, for  they  declare  that  the  demarcators  accept  the  river  Pepiri  or  Pequiri 
Mini,  as  the  Pepiri  or  Pequiri  Guazti,  although  it  did  not  conform  with  the 
map  of  the  Courts,  according  to  which  it  should  run  the  limits  above  the 
Uruguay  Pita.  Consequently,  the  conclusions  of  the  demarcators  of  1759 
were  founded  on  a  violation  expressed  and  declared  on  the  records  of  the 
stipulations  of  the  Courts,  and  of  the  instructions  that  were  given  them. 

The  Argentine  minister  accompanied  his  Counter  Memorandmn  by  a  note 
dated  the  thirtieth  day  of  January,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty- 
three,  in  which  he  decidedly  rejected  the  basis  for  a  settlement  presented  by 
the  Brazilian  negotiator,  and  said  : 


"  Prompted  by  the  most  sincere  desire  of  finishing  up  the 
question  in  a  just  manner  befitting  two  nations  which  owe  each 
other 'mutual  deference,  this  government  would  have  seen  with 
pleasure,  that  that  of  Your  Excellency,  inspired  by  similar 
feelings  would  have  proposed  some  means  which,  in  con- 
formity with  the  limit  already  recognized,  would  tend  to  realize 
the  completion  of  the  line,  with  the  designation  of  the  nearest 
confluent  also  surveyed  in  its  source  by  the  Spanish  geogra- 
pher, Oyarvide,  in  the  said  operation  of  1791,  with  which  the 
demarcation  between  both  nations  would  be  concluded. 

"  But  to  accept  Your  Excellency's  suggestion  in  the  way 
it  is  offered  would  amount  to  give  up,  without  cause  or 
reason,  territories  upon  which  the  Republic  considers  itself 
to  have  a  right. 

"  This  government  thinks,  therefore,  that  the  demarcation 
might  be  continued  in  the  confluence  of  the  Pequiri,  uniting 
the  source  of  one  and  the  other  by  a  line  dividing  the  inter- 


—  685  — 

mediate  mountains,  and  which  will  be  comparatively  short,  as 
was  verified  by  Oyarvide,  and  for  which  the  respective  com- 
missions should  be  appointed. 

"Thus  the  limits  of  both  countries,  to  their  full  extent, 

would  be  definitely  drawn ;  and  if,  as  is  not  to  be  expected, 

•     any  difficulty  should  arise  in  its  execution,  it  would  be  settled 

by  both  governments,  or  some  other  means  would  be  adopted 

for  the  solution." 

The  weak  exposition  of  the  Memorandum  of  Baron  Araujo  Gondim 
was  consequently  set  at  rest.  The  Imperial  government  perhaps  felt  itself 
affected  by  the  defeat  suffered  in  the  debate,  and  resolved  to  recall  from 
Buenos  Ayres  that  worthy  and  prudent  diplomat,  accrediting,  as  his  suc- 
cessor, Baron  Leonel  de  Alencar,  who  had  treated  in  Bolivia,  with  clear 
judgment,  the  question  of  limits. 

Thus  closed  the  negotiations  initiated  in  1880  by  Baron  de  Arrujo 
Gondim.  The  impression  that  its  study  leaves  in  the  mind  is  decidedly  in 
favor  of  the  rights  of  the  Argentine  Republic. 


IX 


Baron  de  Alencar  did  not  actually  promote  a  new  negotiation  after  the 
rejection  of  the  basis  suggested  by  his  predecessor,  neither  did  he  continue 
the  debate  of  the  same.  His  instructions  had  the  double  aim  of  gaining  time 
and  to  weaken  the  effectiveness  of  the  Argentine  Counter  Memorandum  and 
of  the  notes,  which  success  had  caused  a  certain  alarm  in  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

In  effect,  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-four,  he  presente  i  to  the  Argentine  Government  a  full  Counter 
Memorandum  forming  a  printed  book  of  160  pages  in  8  vo.,  a  mature  writing 
animated  with  a  vigor  of  patriotic  intentions,  but  ineffectual,  as  the  Memoran- 
dum of  Counsellor  Paranhos,  and  as  the  one  presented  by  Baron  de  Araujo 
Gondim,  because  the  documents  and  the  geographical  facts  do  not  concur  in 
giving  it  the  eloquence  of  conviction.  This  allegation  was  written  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro  and  Baron  de  Alencar  introduced  it  with  a  note  of  the  same  date  in 
which  he  says : 

"  The  Imperial  government  could  have  replied  at  once,  for 
it  had  already  studied  that  question  thoroughly ;  however,  it 
deemed  it  just  to  examine  it  over  again,  taking  into  consid- 
eration every  one  of  the  arguments  presented  by  the  said 
Minister  in  the  extensive  Memorandum  accompanying  his 
note,  and  whose  object  was  to  refute  the  brief  Memoria,  in 
which  the  late  Baron  Araujo  Gondim  had  demonstrated  the 
rights   of  Brazil.      In   this  new   examination,    to   which   the 


—  686  — 

Imperial  government  consented  without  prejudice,  and  ani- 
mated with  the  desire  that  it  should  be  resolved  justly  and 
impartially,  it  was  necessary  to  make  transcripts  of  numerous 
old  and  new  documents."' 

And  if  there  was  not  a  basis  presentea  by  his  government,  whose  rejec- 
tion by  that  of  the  Argentme  Republic  demanded  its  withdrawal,  its  support 
or  the  substitution  for  another,  and  without  replying  to  the  counter-basis 
offered  by  the  government  of  Buenos  Ayres,  the  Imperial  government  does 
not  care,  in  its  long  allegation,  but  to  refute  the  forcible  Memorandum  of 
our  chancery. 

He  begins  to  treat  the  matter  without  preambles,  and  terminates  without 
referring  to  the  possible-  forms  for  the  pending  adjustment,  so  that  this  writing 
is  a  true  treatise  of  political  missionary  geography,  composed  to  proclaim 
the  pretensions  of  the  Empire.  As  a  diplomatic  paper,  it  looks  like  a  manifest. 
It  attacks  the  substance  of  the  Argentine  Counter  Memorandum  from  three 
different  points  of  view,  which  I  shall  examine  superficially  and  ordinately. 
It  starts  by  analyzing  the  demarcations  of  1759  and  1788,  discussing  right 
after,  the  treaties  of  the  Courts,  and  finally,  he  invokes  and  upholds  the  uti 
possidetis,  as  did  his  predecessor. 

This  question  being  well  on  the  way  in  this  form,  it  was  difficult  to  dis- 
tance the  Memorandums  of  Counsellor  Paranhos  in  1857,  and  of  Baron  Araujo 
Gondim  in  1882;  and  the  Imperial  government  follows  the  track  of  the  same, 
enlarging  the  citations  and  the  known  conclusions  without  finding  new  and 
final  reasons. 

Of  course,  it  exposes  the  antecedents  of  the  demarcations  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, and  reproduces  in  extenso  those  pages  of  the  journals  of  the  surveyors 
which  answer  his  purpose,  to  conclude,  that  the  demarcation  of  1759  '^^^ 
carefully  made  and  adjusted  to  the  truth  in  accepting  as  the  river  of  the 
treaty  of  the  Courts  the  one  situated  below  the  Uruguay  Pita. 

I  have  given  the  necessary  antecedents  to  form  an  opinion  on  this  point, 
and  I  will  only  say,  that  in  order  to  arrive  at  such  a  conclusion,  the  govern- 
ment of  Rio  de  Janeiro  was  obliged  to  force  reasoning  to  find  some  way  to 
justify  an  operation,  the  authors  of  which  began  by  declaring  that  they  had 
disregarded  their  own  instructions  according  to  their  records,  which  the  new 
allegation  does  not  destroy,  nor  even  hits  upon. 

The  Courts  desired,  in  fact,  that  the  system  of  bordering  rivers  should 
commence  above  the  Uraguay  Pita,  and  in  order  that  the  demarcators  should 
so  understand  and  execute  it,  they  first  drew  this  limit  on  a  map,  principle 
basis  of  their  instructions,  and  its  existence  and  national  authority  was  recog- 
nized by  the  agreement  I  have  cited,  and  was  signed  by  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
Spain  and  Portugal. 

The  weak  demarcato'-s  of  1759,  vanquished  by  a  little  fall  of  the  river 
Uruguay,  which  never  held  back  anybody,  and  guided  by  the  information  of 
an  Indian  who,  in  his  childhood  travelled  through  those  places,  and  remem- 
bered to  have  heard  of  a  river  Pequiri  or  Pepiri,  they  adopted  the  one  I  dis- 
cuss, below  the  Uruguay  Pita,  and  consequently,  a  river  expressly  eliminated 


—  687  — 

from  the  ground  of  its  source.  Fortunately,  they  said  at  once  that  they 
adopted  it  because  they  believed  that  there  was  no  other  river  above  the 
Uruguay  Pita,  '  though  its  actual  position  does  not  conform  with  the  one 
pointed  out  by  the  map  of  demarcations  issued  by  the  Courts. '  The  existence 
of  the  eastern  Pequiri  having  been  thus  demonstated  to  them,  the  matter  was 
settled  by  common  accord.  They  were,  therefore,  not  only  weak  but  not 
over-zealous  of  their  duties.  Their  work  being  nullified  by  the  organic 
viciousness  confessed  on  the  record  the  Imperial  government  has  acknowl- 
edged for  the  first  time,  and  as  a  single  recourse,  in  this  document  that  the 
map  of  the  Courts  had  no  authority,  and  ought  not  to  guide  the  demarca- 
tors.  The  wrong  of  the  argument  is  obvious.  Its  authority,  which  was  most 
solemn,  was  derived  from  an  international  public  act  that  had  not  been 
annulled  by  subsequent  acts  which  the  treaties  of  guarantee  of  1768,  and  of 
limits  of  1777  confirmed,  in  declaring  that  Spain  should  hold  the  South  Ameri- 
can territories  which  she  had  so  far  occupied.  This  occupation  was  pointed 
out  by  that  historical  map,  and  it  could  not  be  otherwise,  because  the  Jesuitic 
Republic  possessed,  by  Spain,  the  now  disputed  territory,  and  defended  with 
the  arms  its  frontiers  against  the  mamelucos  of  Portugal. 

If  the  map  of  the  Courts  was  not  to  guide  the  operation  upon  the  ground, 
why  did  the  demarcators  refer  to  it  in  their  records?  Why  did  they  solemnly 
assert,  that  the  river  adopted  as  a  basis  of  the  limit  did  not  conform  with  the 
indications  of  that  map  ?  This  argument  seems  to  me  definite  after  the  cita- 
tion of  the  judicial  precedent. 

The  learned  and  well-meditated  allegation  of  the  fluviatic  chancery  was 
triumphantly  refuted  on  this  point,  in  a  few  words. 

The  demarcation  of  1788  gave  results  entirely  contrary  to  that  of  1759, 
and  the  Imperial  government  recognizes  it,  while  trying,  unsuccessfully,  to 
pall  them. 

To  demonstrate  the  uncertainty  with  which  the  Portuguese  demarcators 
upheld  the  Pepiri  Mini,  it  will  be  sufficient  for  me  to  remember  that  this  limit 
being  categorically  rejected  by  their  Spanish  colleagues,  they  all  agreed  to  look 
for  the  true  river  above  from  the  Uruguay  Pita,  and  with  such  object  in  view 
they  made  to  great  explorations;  and  having  been  convinced  that  the  demar- 
cation of  1759  was  erroneous,  and  in  view  of  the  hydrographical  accidents  of 
the  line  of  the  Pequiri  Guazii  and  Oyarvide's  San  Antonio  Guazii  (presently 
Jangada,  of  the  Brazilians),  which  coincided  with  the  treaties,  they  refused  to 
finish  up  the  operation,  and  asked  the  Courts  for  instructions.  These  ante- 
cedents carry  the  acquiescence  of  the  same  Portuguese  demarcators  in  the 
rejection  of  the  rivers  of  1759  and  a  tacit  admission  of  their  wrong. 

There  has  been  published  in  Madrid  a  work  which  sheds  a  new  impartial 
and  authorized  light  upon  the  demarcation  of  1788  and  1791.  Being  edited 
in  1891,  it  discloses  in  a  definite  manner  what  happened  in  that  international 
operation  one  century  after  its  failure. 

_  The  daughter  of  the  Brigadier  of  the  Spanish  navy,  Don  Diego  de  Alvear 
y  Ponce  de  Leon,  octogenerian,  but  possessed  of  a  courageous  character  and 
robust  health,  has  compiled   the  authentical  data  about  the  services  rendered 


—  688  — 

by  her  worthy  father  to  the  King,  in  Spain,  upon  the  seas,  and  in  South 
America.  The  distinguished  writer  Sehor  Fernandez  Duro,  speaks  favorably 
of  the  book  of  Dona  Sabina  de  Alvear  y  Ward,  in  the  Revista  de  la  Real 
Academia  de  la  Historia  of  Madrid. 

The  pious  daughter  of  the  first  commissioner  of  Spain's  second  party  for 
the  demarcation  of  the  Hmits  with  Portugal,  has  examined  and  carefully 
scrutinized  numerous  and  particular  documents  from  the  public  archives  and 
from  the  papers  of  her  father  about  that  much  discussed  operation.  Her 
conclusions,  entirely  favorable  to  the  Argentine  Republic,  are  as  follows : 

As  a  beginning  of  the  operation,  and  to  cut  short  dis- 
tances, the  commissioners  decided  to  make  an  excursion  of  ten 
leagues  through  the  mountains  of  Nicara  Guazii  which  led 
them  to  the  border  of  the  Uruguay  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Pepiri  Mini,  or  a  small  Pepiri,  as  it  was  called  to  be  distin- 
guished from  the  Pepiri  Guaau  (or  large)  which  had  been 
lately  discovered,  the  former  being  the  one  pointed  out 
erroneously  on  the  chart  by  the  Portuguese  astronomer  on 
his  first  survey,  which  error,  detected  by  Don  Jose  Varela, 
was  rectified  in'a  second  survey  with  more  extensive  knowledge; 
the  results  being  that  they  found  the  river  which  truly  conformed, 
with  accuracy,  with  the  signs  with  which  both  Courts  had 
pointed  it  out  to  the  old  demarcators  of  1759.  But  Colonel 
Roscio,  being  reluctant  to  give  up  the  small  Pepiri  without 
a  new  survey,  Alvear  consented,  on  condition  that  the  large 
Pepiri,  which  was  the  most  interesting  for  the  Spaniards, 
should  be  surveyed  at  the  same  time;  for  it  would  be  the  guide 
for  the  boundary  limit  if,  as  it  was  expected,  they  should  find 
near  its  end  the  waters  of  another  river  running  in  a  northerly 
direction,  to  pour  them  into  Iguazu  or  Grande  de  Curitiba, 
according  to  V  Article  of  the  treaty;  and  it  was  done  so,  in 
effect,  without  any  favorable  result  for  the  demarcation  as  far 
as  the  former  was  concerned,  and  as  to  the  latter,  the  fullest 
confirmation  of  its  being  what  it  was  believed  to  be,  was  obtained. 
Both  surveys  were  made  upwards,  and  with  the  same  obstacles 
and  difficulties,  enormous  labor  and  sicknesses,  which  have 
been  before  mentioned. 

The  great  Pepiri  Guazii  disclosed  its  looked-for  source  on 
the  fourteenth  day  of  June,  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-one, 
at  26^  43'  latitude,  originating  in  a  considerable  marsh  formed 
from  the  falls  of  a  mountain,  not  as  high  as  those  which 
surround  it ;  and  the  Portuguese  geographer  Francisco  Diaz 
Changas,  supposing  that  the  expedition  was  ended  by  this  dis- 
covery, left  with  his  poeple  without  listening  to  Oyarvide's 
reasoning,  urging  the  necessity  of  continuing  the  survey  in 
the  hopes  of  finding  the  river  which  would  complete  the  line 


in  a  northerly  direction.  Nothing  could  detain  him  ;  but  the 
valiant  and  audacious  Spaniard,  bent  on  his  purpose  of 
accomplishing  the  positive  instructions  of  his  chief,  did  not 
get  discouraged  by  the  abandonment  in  which  he  had  been 
left  alone  in  the  highest  altitude  of  the  mountains,  surrounded 
by  numerous  ranches  of  Indians  whose  fires  could  be  easily 
-seen  in  the  woods,  who  had  dared  to  surprise  and  kill  several 
Spaniards  who  were  sleeping  on  the  other  side ;  nor  by  the 
excessive  fatigues  consequent  upon  such  a  long  undertaking, 
which  was  already  telling  on  his  spirit,  owing  to  the  many 
difficulties  he  had  met;  but,  on  the  contrary,  in  his  conviction 
of  the  importance  of  enlightening  the  point  which  had  been  so 
variously  discussed  by  the  commissioners,  he  persisted  in  his 
investigations,  and  that  very  day  he  obtained  the  prize  of  his 
perseverance  by  finding  the  source  of  another  river,  not  less 
rich  in  water,  which  ran  right  straight  to  the  North  through 
the  asperities  and  impenetrable  brakes  ;  but  he  could  hardly 
walk  two  leagues  following  the  course  of  the  river  which,  by 
his  calculations  and  observations,  he  confirmed  his  impression 
that  the  said  river's  course  was  towards  the  Grande  Curitiba 
which  had  been  surveyed  by  the  same  party  some  years  pre- 
vious. But  it  being  impossible  for  him,  owing  to  the  lack  of 
means  and  the  hungry,  dilapidated  condition  of  his  men,  to 
continue  the  laborious  task,  he  reluctantly  went  back  to  the 
spring,  and  following  the  ancient  custom  to  carve  on  trees 
texts  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  he  engraved  on  the  Timboybatd 
tree  (following  the  custom  or  rule  anciently  practiced  of  mark- 
ing with  opportune  texts  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  the  places  by^ 
which  they  went  and  the  discoveries  which  they  made), 
the  following  inscription,  applicable  to  his  situation  : 
!  Inquirere    et    investigate  pessimant  ocupationem   Deus  dedit 

hominibus.  (Inquire  and  investigate  is  the  worst  occupation 
that  God  has  given  to  man.)  San  Antonio  Guazii,  on  the 
seventeenth  day  of  June,   seventeen  hundred  ajid  ninty-one. 

The  river  Pequiri,  or  Pepiri  Guazii,  so  called  both  ways, 
which  in  Guarani  language  means  small  fishes,  has  this  name 
from  the  first  demarcators  by  the  great  number  of  those  little 
r^  animals  which  filled  their  canoes,  which  invasion  has  repeated 
itself  in  latter  days.  .  It  runs  from  its  source  eleven  leagues 
westward  and  at  40°  four  leagues  to  the  Northwest,  and  fifteen 
to  the  Southwest  through  thick  bushes  of  enormous  pine  trees, 
on  almost  the  entire  mountain  whence  it  comes  ;  it  flows  into 
the  Uruguay  at  27"  9'.  It  is  very  large,  and  although  thirty 
leagues  long  in  a  straight  line,  it  washes  an  extension  of  mere 
than  sixty  leagues  by  the  many  accidents  of  its  course. 

This  river,  and  the    San  Antonio  Guazii  just  mentioned. 


—  690  — 

were  one   of  the  two  most  controvertible   points  between  the 
commissioners.     Carrying  the  line  through  them,  as  properly 
\  held  by  the  Spaniards,   already   authorized  by   the  Court  oj 

Madrid,  which  was  perfectly  in  accord  with  that  of  Lisbon, 
the  limits  would  retrograde  from  sixteen  to   eighteen  leagues 
to  the  East,  through  a  large  space  of  ground.    The  Portuguese 
refused  to  recede,  affirming  that   they  had  received  no  such 
orders  from  their  government,  and  without  demarcating  (new 
survey)  the  lines  of  the  San  Antonio,  upon  which  there  was 
no  more  doubt,  they  tried  hard  to  survey  the  heights  of  the 
Parana,  which   ran  very   far,  which   was    the  other  point  ot 
contention,  from  the  start,  on  the  other  end  of  the  line. 
For  the  rest,  it  would  seem  useless  to  discuss  topographica    descriptions, 
when  the  parties  do  not  go  through  the  scene,  in  order  to  verify  doubts  upon 
the  ground.     That  which  was  realized  from  1885  to  1890  by  international  com- 
missions, has  closed  the  debate,  giving  the  right  to  the  Argentine  Republic. 

In  the  second  feature  of  its  Coufiter  Memorandum,  the  Govtrrwncntot 
Rio  discusses  the  value  of  the  treaty  of  1777,  alleging  its  nullity.  Its  conclu- 
sions'are  as  follows  : 

"  Although  the  Spanish  government,  accepting  and  sus- 
taining the  ideas  of  its  commissioners,  would  desire  the  fron- 
tier plainly  and  solemnly  agreed  upon  according  to  their 
decision,  the  consent  of  Portugal  would  have  been  indispen- 
sable. But  there  was  no  consent.  Therefore,  the  frontier 
stipulated  in  1750  and  confirmed  in  1777,  subsisted  until  the 
annulment  of  the  treaty  of  this  date  as  a  sequal  to  the  war  of 
1801. 

"  This  cancellation  went  on  owing  to  the  following  events 
War  of  1808.     Transfer  of  the  Spanish  Crown  to  Napoleon 
the  first,  and  afterwards  to  his  brother.     Independence  of  the 
United  Provinces  of  River  Plata,  without  first  renewing  the 
treaty  of  1777,  or  making  a  new  one  in  its  place.     Acknowl- 
edgement of  the  independence  of  those  provinces  by  Portugal, 
without  renewing  th-^  same  treaty  or  making  another  in  accord- 
ance with  the  new  state  of  things.     Independence  of  Brazil, 
proclaimed  when  the  question  of  limits  between  Portugal  and 
the  said  Provinces  was  still  undecided." 
The  Brazilian  government  invoked,  for  the  first  time  in  the  debate,  the 
nullity  of  the  treaty  of  1777.     This  arguitient,  at  variance  with  the  precedents 
recognized  or  accepted  by  the   Imperial  chancery,   discloses  once  more  the 
hesitancy  and  lack  of  foundation  of  the  claims  it  supports. 

Counsellor  Paranhos  in  his  Memorandum  of  1857,  and  Baron  de  Araujo 
Gondim  in  his  of  1882,  did  accept,  categorically,  the  validity  of  the  treaty  of 
1777  as  a  basis  for  debate.  It  is  not  possible  to  remove  that  obstacle  firmly 
fastened  on  the  road  to  the  negotiations.  This  simple  recollection  precludes 
the  necessity  of  a  demonstration  in  regard   to  the  permanence  of  a  treaty 


—  691  — 

governing    territorial   domains    guaranteed,    in    its   reciprocal   integrity,   by 
another  special  pact. 

The  point  was  carefully  gone  through  in  the  Argentine  Memorandum  of 
1852  ;  but  I  will  say  a  few  words  about  the  arguments  presented  through 
Baron  de  Alencar,  based  upon  the  transient  or  definite  modifications  undergone 
by  th°  Spanish  dominions  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century. 

Th.  war  of  1801  did  not  annul  the  treaty  of  guarantee  of  1668,  nor  that 
on  limits.  The  sovereignties  turned  out  intact,  and  with  the  same  jurisdiction 
in  America  which  they  had  stipulated  before  in  those  pacts.  Its  continuation, 
therefore,  admitted  of  no  discussion,  and  did  not  need  confirmation  by  any 
document,  because  the  Courts  did  not  refer  in  any  official  act  to  their  nullity, 
nor  did  they  modify  that  frontier. 

The  modifications  of  political  sovereignty  which  took  place  during  the 
war  with  France  in  1808,  as  well  as  the  declarations  of  independence  were 
subject  to  the  corresponding  limits  of  both  crowns,  and  their  treaties  indicate 
the  extent  of  each  dominion  upon  that  criterion.  Bonaparte,  like  the  free 
governments  of  America,  appropriated  everything  that  had  been  governed  by 
the  Metropolis.  Not  only  pacts  were  transferred  to  the  new  governments,  but 
also  pending  demarcations  which  they  had  to  clear  up  and  conclude. 

But  the  treaty  of  1777  and  its  ratification  and  guarantee  of  1778  do  not 
give  a  law  of  American  public  right  to  Brazil  and  the  Argentine  Republic  only. 
Portugal  and  Spain  divided  between  themselves  South  America,  and  after  the 
emancipation,  Brazil  was  contiguous  with  the  new  nationalities  from  the 
Orinoco  river  to  the  Andes,  and  from  their  declivities  to  the  Plata.  Thus  the 
Guayanas,  Venezuela,  Colombia,  Peru,  Bolivia,  Paraguay,  Estado  Oriental, 
and  the  Argentine  Republic  have  discussed  on  limits  with  Portugal's  succession. 
The  uniform  criterion  of  Spain's  heirs  was  the  Metropolitan  Public  Right, 
emanating  from  the  treaties  between  both  mother  countries,  and  conse- 
quently, Spanish-American  diplomacy  has  not  ceased  to  uphold  the  tre  ty  ot 
1777,  and  invoke  the  same  against  the  advances  of  Brazil,  as  the  latter  has 
repeatedly  done  whenever  favorable  to  its  territorial  positions. 

In  order  not  to  stop  to  illustrate  the  feature  of  the  debate,  but  with  solemn 
examples  of  those  countries  nearest  to  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  or  closely  bound 
to  it,  I  will  recapitulate  the  antecedents  of  Peru,  Bolivia,  Paraguay  and  Estado 
Oriental. 

Peru  has,  in  fact,  defended  itself  with  the  treaty  of  1777  against  Brazil 
and  Bolivia,  and  that  document  has  governed  their  agreements  upon  limits. 

Don  Mariano  Felipe  Paz  Soldan,  in  a  book  edited  in  Lima,  1878,  undtr 
the  title  of  Verdaderos  lunites  entre  el  Petti  y  Bolivia,  says : 

"To  fix  these  limits  it  is  necessary  to  remember  the  inter- 
natiom  1  principle  recognized  in  America  that :  When  a 
nation  is  divided  into  two  or  more  sections,  the  treaties  in  force 
at  the  time  ol  the  separation  are  binding  for  every  one  of  the 
parties  in  the  proportion  and  to  the  extent  which  belongs  to 
the  same.  In  this  manner,  every  one  of  the  Republics  border- 
ing Brazil  must  comply  with  the  treaty  of  1777  in  the  corres- 
ponding proportion  of  its  own  frontier." 


—  692  — 

In  accordance  with  this  principle,  the  treaties  on  limits  and  navigation  of 
185 1,  between  Peru  and  Brazil,  were  negotiated  and  signed.  During  the 
debates  to  determine  the  frontier  between  Bolivia  and  Brazil,  the  line  agreed 
upon  was  unfavorable  to  Peru,  which  hastened  to  protest,  placing  its  rights 
under  the  treaty  of  1777. 

Bolivia  affords  similar  precedents  in  its  long  suits  with  Brazil  upon  terri- 
tories. 

In  1834,  General  Armaza,  in  behalf  of  Bolivia,  opened  negotiations,  pro- 
posing to  the  Emperor  as  a  primary  basis  of  the  treaty  on  limits,  that  of  San 
Ildefonso  of  the  first  day  of  October,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven,  and  whereas  this  initiative,  by  literary  errors,  deserved  criticism  at  the 
hands  of  some  Bolivian  writer,  the  governments  of  this  Republic  were  consist- 
ent with  that  fundamental  principle. 

In  1837,  Brazil  was  in  accord  with  such  attitude,  for  the  diplomatic  repre- 
sentative of  the  Empire  in  Peru  and  Bolivia,  Senor  Duarte  da  Ponte  Ribeiro, 
demanded,  in  October  of  the  same  year,  the  extradition  of  the  several  criminals 
sheltered  upon  the  Bolivian  territory,  on  the  strength  of  the  treaty  of  1777, 
just  as  Counsellor  Paranhos  did,  later  on,  from  1856  to  1859,  in  Rio  de  la 
Plata.  This  long  question  of  limits,  during  which  Brazil  upheld  and  refused 
to  recognized,  alternately,  the  validity  of  the  treaty  of  1777,  ended  by  an 
agreement  with  Bolivia's  governing  leader. 

During  the  negotiations  between  Brazil  and  Paraguay,  from  1855  to  1856, 
the  validity  of  the  treaties  between  Spain  and  Portugal  was  contested  by  the 
chancery  of  the  former  state  above  named. 

The  speakers  were,  for  Paraguay,  its  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  Dr. 
Don  Jose  Borges,  especially  accredited  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  for  the  Empire, 
the  illustrious  diplomat.  Counsellor  da  Silva  Paranhos. 

Brazil,  an  heir  to  Portuguese  usurpations  on  different  territories  of  South 
America,  had  invoked  in  solemn  debates  on  limits  with  New  Grenada,  Vene- 
zuela, Peru  and  Bolivia,  the  principle  of  uti possidetis.  Paraguay,  favored  by 
such  principle,  invoked  it  at  its  turn,  and  the  fiuviatic  diplomacy  was  momen- 
tarily surprised  and  entangled  in  its  own  mesh. 

Counsellor  Paranhos,  who  had  not  yet  touched  the  territorial  knot  with 
the  Argentine  Republic,  changed  his  tactics  upon  the  field,  and  remembering 
the  treaties  of  1750  and  1777,  which  Brazil  rejected  when  discussing  with  New 
Granada,  said : 

How  then,  recognize  upon  the  ground,  the  dominion  of 
one  state  or  the  other,  on  the  territory  extending  beyond  their 
towns  and  settlements,  in  the  extreme  points  where  substantial 
proofs  of  their  possession  are  not  found  ?  The  old  treaties 
would  afford  a  plain  and  evident  proof;  and  in  order  10  get  at 
this  knowledge,  the  Imperial  government  understands  that  it 
is  necessary  to  resort  to  that  which  was  acknowledged  and 
signed  by  the  Courts  of  Spain  and  Portugal. 

To  decide  the  controversy  between  the  dominion  of  the 


—  693  — 

Republic  and  the  Empire,  it  is  well  to  go  up  to  the  origin  of 
that  dominion,  since  the  last  towns  and  settlements  of  a  nation 
are  not  in  contact  with  those  of  the  other,  and  separated  by 
grounds  which,  by  their  nature,  or  by  other  causes,  are  still 
depopulated. 

The  Republic  of  Uruguay  could  not  inherit  from  its 
Metropolis  a  right  more  extensive  than  that  which  the  latter 
possessed;  beyond  the  territory  that  belonged  to  Spain,  it 
cannot  claim  but  what  it  has  really  taken  from  the  Portuguese 
dominion,  at  present  Brazilian. 

Brazil  is  m  the  same  case,  in  relation  to  the  territory 
which  in  this  part  of  America"  did  belong  to  the  Crown  of 
Portugal. 

Let  us  see  what  was  Portugal's  rights,  and  what  Spain's 
rights  to  the  now  disputed  territory  between  the  Empire  and 
the  Republic.  This  examination  cleats  up  the  question,  and 
decides  the  same  with  the  utmost  evidence. 

The  preliminary  treaty  on  limits  of  the  first  day  of 
October,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven, 
described  the  outside  part  of  the  frontier  in  VIII  and  IX 
Articles,  in  which  are  transcripts  of  V  and  VI  Articles  of  the 
treaty  of  the  thirteenth  day  of  June,  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  with  some  explanations  indicated  by  the  sur- 
veys made  by  the  demarcators  of  this  last  treaty. 

Finally  I  will  state,  that  in  the  treaty  of  the  fourth  day  of  October,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-four,  celebrated  between  the  governments 
of  Brazil  and  Paraguay,  which  was  not  ratified  for  other  reasons,  the  Imperial 
diplomacy  had  accepted  XXXV  Article,  reading: 

"  The  high  contracting  parties  bind  themselves  to  appoint 
commissioners  to  examine  and  recognize  the  limits  pointed  out 
by  the  treaty  of  San  Ildefonso  of  1777,  so  that  the  definite 
limits  between  both  states  shall  be  established  accordingly." 

The  demarcated  limits  after  the  fall  of  Rosas,  between  the  Empire  and  the 
Republica  Oriental  del  Uruguay,  did  not  follow  up  the  lines,  as  given  by  the 
treaty  of  1777,  because  that  demarcation,  made  under  abnormal  circum- 
stances, was  rather  a  consequence  of  the  war,  than  a  regular  free  convention 
on  the  part  of  the  country,  weak  and  bled,  which  accepted  its  neighbor's 
claims;  but  in  Brazil  the  opinion  prevails  that  those  limits  are  based  upon  the 
pact  under  discussion. 

Colombia,  in  discussing  its  limits  with  Brazil,  declared  in  a  note  dated 
the  twenty-seventh  day  of  March,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight,  that  the  treaties  celebrated  between  Spain  and  Portugal,  at  Madrid 
and  at  San  Ildefonso,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  January,  one  thousand  seven 


—  694  — 

hundred  and  fifty,  and  on  the  first  day  of  October,  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  seventy-seven,  which,  "  by  the  said  reasons  it  beHeves  to  be  unques- 
tionably in  force,  as  far  as  the  part  in  reference  to  Colombia  is  concerned," 
are  the  only  basis  it  admits  for  the  adjustment  of  its  limits  with  Brazil. 

During  the  transcendent  debate  originated  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  by  the  treaty 
Zeballos-Bocayuva,  the  statesmen  and  ex-ministers  of  the  Empire,  who  took 
part  in  it,  accepted  without  reserve  the  validity  of  the  treaty  of  1777,  denied 
in  the  Counter  Memorandum  introduced  by  Baron  de  Alencar ;  and  the  spe- 
cial committee  appointed  by  the  House  of  Representatives  to  pass  upon  that 
treaty,  condensed  those  definite  opinions,  saying : 

"  VIII  Article  of  the  treaty  of  1777  is  in  full  force,  because 
the  Argentine  Republic  does  accept  it ;  because  the  Brazilian 
government,  though  denying  its  absolute  validity,  accepts  it 
on  this  point,  and  finally,  because  the  cancelled  treaties  may 
be  renewed  and  re-established  by  mutual  consent,  tacitly  or 
expressed,  of  the  contracting  or  accepting  parties,  and  Brazil 
and  the  Argentine  Republic  have  more  than  once  so  declared 
by  public  document;  and,  furthermore,  that  the  treaty  of 
I  Article  of  1777,  known  as  the  treaty  of  San  Ildefonso,  never 
ceased  to  be  valid,  by  virtue  of  which  it  has  always  upheld  itj 
the  first  treaty  which,  while  it  has  been  considered  as  null,  is 
admitted  to  settle  the  question  of  hmits  according  to  VIII 
Article." 

In  my  own  judgment  the  effectiveness  of  that  solemn  fact  between  the 
two  crowns  is  vindicated  ;  it  was,  perhaps,  the  most  transcendent  solution  of 
limits  signed  in  the  history  of  mankind,  because  it  has  been  the  guide  in  the 
fixation  of  the  frontiers  of  all  South  American  nations,  except  Chili. 

Brazil  cannot  deny  it  now,  having  invoked  it  before  in  its  questions  on 
limits  with  all  the  countries  of  Rio  de  la  Plata;  and  the  insinuation  in  that 
sense  contained  in  the  Counter  Memorandum  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  introduced 
by  Baron  de  Alencar,  would  be  productive,  if  admitted,  of  irretrievable  con- 
sequences for  Brazil.  Does  it  not  pretend,  in  fact,  to  resolve  to  its  fivor  the 
Misiones  suit,  exhuming  vigorously  the  erroneous  demarcation  of  1759? 
Well,  then?  It  was  the  apphcation  of  the  treaty  of  1750,  so  favorable  to 
Argentine  rights,  as  the  latter  of  San  Ildefonso.  If  the  treaty  is  null,  accord- 
ing to  Brazilian  claim,  would  its  immediate  consequence,  its  limit  on  the 
ground,  the  demarcation  of  1759,  be  valid  ? 

That  carefully  prepared  document  has  no  better  luck  in  its  argument 
about  the  uti  possidetis.  Dr.  Irigoyen  in  categorical  utterances,  which  I  have 
transcribed,  demonstrates  the  inapplicability  of  this  criterion.  However,  it  is 
important  to  know  if  Portugal  or  Brazil  ever  did  possess  the  disputed  territory. 

The  fluviatic  diplomacy  will  never  show  the  necessary  facts  on  which  to  found 
the  uti  possidetis,  or  to  cause  that  the  invocation  thereof  may  be  considered  as  a 
capital  reason,  favorable  to  the  claims  upon  the  territory  comprised  between 
both  Pepiri,  because,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Portugal  or  its  heir,  never  possessed 
such  regions. 


—  695  — 

The  advances  of  the  Portuguese  authorities  in  Rio  de  la  Plata,  protested 
against,  resisted  and  checked  by  Spain  by  the  force  of  arms,  are  subsequent 
to  the  war  of  1801,  and  the  very  Brazilian  writers,  in  upholding  the  validity  of 
these  usurpations,  invoke  the  right  of  victory,  which  was  not  sanctioned  in  the 
pact  of  Badajoz,  fundamental  law  of  the  consequences  of  those  hostilities.  But 
the  argument  is  useless  for  Brazil  because  it  excludes  all  possession  prior  to  1801. 

Even  on  supposition  that  the  usurpations  above  referred  to  had  the 
character  of  regularized  facts,  they  lack  force  in  public  right ;  for  the  treaty  ot 
Badajoz,  which  put  an  end  to  the  war  of  1801,  confirmed  in  its  III  Article  the 
pre-existing  limits  between  both  crowns,  except  the  town  of  Olivenza,  of  whose 
alteration  in  the  treaty  of  San  Ildefonso  special  mention  was  made. 

For  the  rest,  Venezuela,  New  Granada,  Peru,  Bolivia  and  the  Argentine 
Republic,  have  successfully  rejected  from  their  frontiers  the  invasion  brought 
under  the  banner  of  the  uti  possidetis,  and  Brazil  itself  was  obliged  to  haul 
down  its  colors  of  diplomatic  struggle  in  its  territorial  questions  with  Paraguay. 
It  is,  therefore,  demonstrated,  that  the  uti  possidetis  has  not  been  incorporated 
in  the  South  American  Public  Right  as  a  peace-making  prin'-iple  in  conflicts 
upon  territories  subject,  from  their  origin,  to  divers  European  sovereignties. 


The  note  of  the  thirtieth  day  of  December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-four,  with  which  Baron  de  Alencar  introduced  the  extensive, 
elaborate  document  which  I  have  just  examined,  closes,  however,  showing  a 
deep  reaction  in  the  Imperial  policy.  In  fact,  it  abandones  Baron  dc 
Cotegipe's  inspirations  which  kept  the  bonfire  of  mutual  fears  burning,  and  is 
bent  on  the  frank  and  brotherly  tendencies  of  the  orators  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
who,  speaking  incidentally  of  the  matter  of  limits  in  the  Parliament  at  Rio, 
asked  for  a  resolute  action  under  the  auspices  of  mutual  good  will  of  both 
nations. 

Dr.  Irigoyen,  as  has  been  seen,  had  intended  in  1876  to  make  a  prelimi- 
nary study  of  the  ground,  that  might  clear  up  the  doubts  suggested  by  the  ill- 
fated  demarcations  of  last  century,  and  facilitate,  at  the  same  time,  diplomatic 
action.  Baron  de  Cotegipe's  conciliating  suggestions  being  peremptorily 
rejected,  he  takes  it  up  again  eight  years  after,  and  proposes  the  same  to  the 
Emperor.  Baron  de  Alencar  closes  the  above  named  note  in  the  following 
terms : 

"  In  the  meantime,  the  Imperial  government,  convinced  ot 
Brazil's  rights  to  the  frontier  it  defends,  and  knowmg  the  good 
faith  with  which  the  Argentine  government  resists  it,  on  its 
part,  and  with  the  assurance  that  both  powers  profess  the 
most  sincere  and  cordial  desire  to  resolve  the  question  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  of  justice,  looking  after  their 
respective  rights,  and 


—  696  — 

'Whereas,  neither  the  rivers  in  question,  nor  the  disputed 
zone  comprised  between  them,  were  ever  surveyed  either  by 
Brazilians  or  Argentines,  with  a  view  to  undertake  by  them- 
selves the  surveys  made  by  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  in  the 
last  century  ; 

"  Whereas,  from  the  survey  made  jointly  and  by  common 
accord,  more  light  will  be  shed  upon  the  question  ; 

*'  And  wishing,  on  his  part,  to  give  a  further  token  of  his 
feelings,  and  conscious  of  his  right,  he  has  resolved  to  propose 
to  the  Argentine  government,  as  he  does  hereby  propose,  that 
both  governments  shall  appoint  a  joint  commission,  composed 
of  competent  persons,  in  like  number,  to  survey  the  four 
rivers,  Pepiri  Guazii,  San  Antonio,  Chapeco  and  Chopin, 
which  the  Argentine  government  calls  Pequiri  Guazu,  and 
San  Antonio  Guazii,  and  the  zone  comprised  between  the 
same,  raising  an  accurate  plan  of  the  rivers  and  all  the  dis- 
puted zone  ;  which  idea,  on  the  other  hand,  was  substantially 
suggested  to  the  Imperial  government  by  Dr.  Irigoyen  in 
1876." 

Baron  de  Alencar  introduced  with  his  note  an  element  of  discord.  He 
speaks,  in  fact,  for  the  first  time,  of  the  river  Chopin  which  is  not  cme  of  the 
four  rivers  of  the  secular  question,  but  a  fifth  stream  of  water  sketched  on  the 
most  ancient  charts,  for  instance,  those  of  Cabrer  and  Requena  ;  but  which 
was  not  even  recorded  by  the  demarcations  of  1750  nor  by  those  of  179 1. 
This  course  of  water,  whose  name  was  unknown  to  the  old  demarcators,  and 
was  not  surveyed,  and  is  called  by  modern  Brazilian  geographers  Chopin,  could 
not  be  mistaken  by  the  extreme  rivers,  or  of  limit ;  for  instead  of  bordering  the 
contested  territory  towards  the  East  or  the  West  upon  the  I  guazii,  it  is  in  the 
interior  of  the  same. 

Baron  de  Alencar,  in  adopting  it  as  the  confluent  of  the  Pequiri  Guazii 
{Chapeco,  on  the  modern  Brazilian  charts),  laid  a  trap  to  the  capableness  of 
the  Argentine  chancery.  The  success  would  amount  to  the  Empire  the 
decrease,  in  its  favor,  of  the  area  of  the  ground  m  dispute,  situating  further 
west  th'e  true  eastern  limit  sought  after  by  our  country  on  the  river  San 
Antonio  Guazu  de  Oyarvide,  now  called  Jangada  in  Brazil. 

Although  it  is  hard  to  tell,  the  fairness  of  the  debate  demands  it.  Baron 
de  Alencar  obtained  an  easy  victory  over  the  Argentine  chancery,  which  gave 
up  the  river  that  caused  so  much  fatigue  to  the  celebrated  Spanish  geographer 
already  mentioned,  and  which  was  the  base  of  his  renown ;  to  introduce  into 
the  secular  dispute  a  fifth  river :  the  Chopin.  In  fact,  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Relations  of  the  Republic  replied  six  months  after,  on  the  twenty-second 
day  of  June  1885,  to  the  Brazilian  note,  as  follows  : 

"  In  view  of  these  antecedents,  the  proposal  which  Your 
Excellency  has  been  pleased  to  make,  in  the  name  of  the 
Imperial   government,  that   a  joint   committee  shall  be  ap- 


—  697  — 

pointed  by  both  goi'ernments,  composed  of  competent  per- 
sons, in  like  number,  to  survey  the  four  r'wtrs  Pepiri-Guazii, 
San  Antonio,  Chapeco  and  Chopin,  which  the  Argentine 
government  calls  Pepiri-Guazu  2Lnd  San  Antonio,  and  the 
zone  comprised  between  them,  raising  an  accurate  chart  of  the 
rivers  and  the  zone  in  dispute,  cannot  but  be  accepted,  as  it  is 
accepted,  by  the  Argentine  government,  as  a  consequence  of 
its  former  opinions,  and  as  a  just  condescension  to  the  wishes 
•     expressed  by  the  Imperial  government. 

I  have  only  to  state  to  Your  Excellency,  that  I  place 
myself  at  his  command,  to  prepare  in  verbal  conferences  the 
most  convenient  form  to  be  given  to  the  intended  pact,  and 
the  instructions  to  be  sent  to  the  comniissioners  ;ippointed. 

In  requesting  Your  Excellency,  by  order  of  the  President, 
to  convey  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Imperial  government  the 
preceding  information,  I  take  pleasure  in  expressing  my 
gratitude  towards  Your  Excellency  for  his  effective  intervention 
to  arrive  at  this  preliminary  understanding,  which  leads  to  a 
final  termination  of  such  a  long  and  difficult  question,  and 
which  will  bind  forever  the  ties  of  friendship  and  concord 
between  Brazil  and  the  Argentine  Republic,  whose  mutual 
inteiest  consists  in  developing  their  elements  of  prosperity 
and  wealth  under  the  shield  of  peace." 

In  September  of  the  same  year,  the  treaty  was  signed  at  Buenos  Aires  by 
the  Argentine  plenipotentiary  Dr.  Ortiz,  and  by  Brazilian  plenipotentiary  Baron 
Leonel  de  Alencar.  It  was  the  first  agreeinent  of  will  ratified  between  both  na- 
tions after  a  debate  of  one  century's  duration.  The  opinion,  predisposed  to  pass 
judgment  on  it  in  the  Argentine  Republic,  did  not  attach  much  importance  to 
it,  nor  any  effectual  object  after  the  failures  of  similar  attempts  in  1759  ^"^ 
1791.  It  was  a  dilatory  form  adopted  by  Brazil,  which  injured  us  by  the 
blunder  of  admitting  the  river  Chopin  as  one  of  the  sides  of  the  Quadrilateral 
of  the  territory  in  debate.  The  affirmation  of  II  Article  that  the  Argentines 
called  said  stream  of  water  San  Antonio  Gtiazu,  was  erroneous,  in  fact. 

The  treaty  provided : 

I  Article. —  Each  of  the  high  contracting  parties  shall 
appoint  a  commission  composed  of  head  commissioner,  one 
second,  and  one  third  commissioner  and  three  assistants. 

In  cases  of  incapability  or  death,  if  no  other  resolution  is 
taken,  the  first  shall  be  substituted  by  the  second  commis- 
sioner, and  this  by  the  third.  Each  of  the  commissions  can 
have,  at  the  respective  government's  will,  the  necessary 
personnel  for  its  private  service,  as  the  physician  or  any  other; 
and  both  commissions  shall  be  accompanied  by  military  force 
,.  of  an  equal  number  of  men,  headed  by  ofificers  of  similar  or 

corresponding  rank. 


II  Article. —It  will  be  the  duty  of  the  joint  committee 
constituted  by  the  two  commissions  aforesaid,  to  survey,  in 
conformity  with  instructions  in  connection  with  this  treaty, 
the  rivers  Pepiri  Guazu  and  San  Antonio  and  the  two  rivers 
situated  east  of  them,  known  in  Brasilby  the  names  of  Chapeco 
and  Chopin,  and  which  the  Argentines  call  Pequiri  Guazu  and 
San  Antonio  Gunzu,  as  well  as  the  territory  comprised  between 
the  four. 

III  Article. — Both  commissions  shall  meet  at*  Montevideo, 
to  agree  upon  the  starting  point  or  points  of  their  labors,  or  on 
anything  else  that  may  be  necessary. 

IV  Article. — They  shall  raise  in  common,  and  in  duplicate, 
the  plans  of  the  four  rivers,  of  the  territory  that  separates 
them,  and  of  the  part  of  the  rivers  covering  that  territory  from 
north  to  south ;  and  shall  present  to  their  governments,  with 
the  said  plans,  identical  statements  containing  everything  that 
may  be  of  interest  to  the  question  of  limits. 

V  Article.— In  view  of  these  statements  and  plans,  both 
high  contracting  parties  shall  try  to  resolve  that  question  in 
an  amicable  way,  by  a  definite  and  perpetual  treaty,  which  no 
event,  either  of  peace  or  war,  shall  annul  or  suspend. 


XI 


While  Baron  de  Alencar  was  engaged  at  Buenos  Ayres  in  the  arrange- 
ment about  the  survey,  Sefior  Dominguez  left  the  legation  at  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
where  he  rendered  valuable  services  to  the  Republic,  which  public  convenience 
has  kept  secret  up  to  the  present  time. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Don  Vicente  G.  Quesada,  specially  capable  to 
treat  our  great  questions  of  limits.  His  books  on  the  Chilian-Argentine 
frontier,  and  the  series  of  articles  devoted  to  the  diplomatic  questions  of  Brazil 
with  Rio  de  la  Plata,  in  la  Nueva  Rcvista  de  Buenos  Ayres,  gave  to  his 
appointment  a  special  significance  which  was  discussed  by  the  Press  of  Rio  de 
Janeiro  and  Rio  de  la  Plata.  But  Dr.  Quesada  had  made  in  those  articles 
expressed  declarations  in  favor  of  peace,  and  hinted  at  conciliatory  solutions 
'of  the  old  hereditary  suits.  For  him  the  question  was  one  of  debate  and  dip- 
lomatic negotiations,  and  not  of  explosion  of  arms. 

When  in  1884  he  took  possession  of  his  high  post  in  the  fluviatic  Court, 
the  question  of  Misiones  was  pending  upon  Brazil's  attitude  after  the  Argen- 
tine Counter  Memorandum,  and  upon  his  proposal  for  a  final  settlement. 
Dr.  Quesada  had,  consequently,  no  instructions  to  treat  the  question  of  limits 
in  a  positive  manner.  The  Argentine  government,  not  knowing  what  stand 
would  take  the  Empire  in  the  matter,  as  it  was,  could  only  suggest  to  its 
plenipotentiary  a  policy  of  observation  and  expectation. 


—  699  — 

Ever  since  his  arrival  at  the  Court,  he  inquired  about  the  opinion  of  the 
influential  men  as  to  a  friendly  solution  of  the  question  of  limits,  and  com- 
municated his  observations  to  the  government  in  a  confidential  note  of  the 
seventeenth  day  of  November,  of  the  year  aforesaid.  Dr.  Quesada's  influence 
made  itself  felt  in  the  form  of  intimate  suggestions  within  the  circle  of  his 
private  relations,  which,  by  the  way,  comprised  high  and  influential  digni- 
taries of  the  state;  and  his  fundamental  idea  of  suppressing  pretexts  for  inces- 
sant fears  in  the  policy  of  both  nations  paved  the  road  within  the  government. 

He  was  asked  for  concrete  forms ;  but  he  had  none,  and  had,  further- 
more, no  instructions  from  his  government  to  give  them.  His  action  was 
simply  bent  upon  smoothing  down  asperities,  to  unfold,  with  skill  and  good 
taste,  horizons  of  common  promises,  and  to  stimulate  concord  and  solution. 
He,  at  times,  advanced  some  ideas  for  a  feasible  settlement,  but  he  did  so, 
prudently  avoiding  to  compromise  his  official  character. 

He  was  presented  in  the  latter  part  of  1884,  by  the  Mmister  of  Foreign 
Relations  of  the  Empire,  some  basis  for  a  direct  adjustment,  or  compromise. 
Dr.  Quesada  tooR  the  paper  with  some  surprise,  because  he  did  not  expect 
that  the  conciUatory  ideas  would  meet  with  so  much  favor  m  an  atmosphere, 
where  the  Argentines  were  ably  and  systematically  represented  as  being 
entirely  unaccomodating. 

The  Argentine  minister  took  the  paper,  sent  it  to  Buenos  Ayres,  and  in 
a  private  letter  he  asked  for  instructions,  after  having  examined  the  document, 
and  suggested  the  modifications  of  form  or  counter  proposals  which  he  thought 
proper. 

The  Argentine  government  signed  and  issued  on  the  fifth  day  of  January, 
1885,  full  powers  of  attorney,  in  order  that  Dr.  Quesada  might  start  in  earnest 
the  conciliatory  negotiation  proposed  by  the  Imperial  chancellor,  to  divide 
the  territory  of  Mislones  in  an  equitable  manner,  on  the  basis  of  submitting 
to  arbitration  doubtful  points  of  law,  and  of  agreeing  upon  a  pecuniary  indem- 
nification for  the  loser  in  that  judgment. 

The  negotiation  was  interrupted  by  the  Argentine  government's  calling 
Dr.  Quesada  to  Buenos  Ayres,  very  much  to  the  regret  of  the  President  of  the 
Council  of  Ministers  at  Rio  de  Janeiro.  Dr.  Quesada  promised  to  return 
without  delay,  and,  in  fact,  he  only  stayed  eleven  days  in  the  Republic. 

Upon  his  return  conferences  went  on.  The  Argentine  ministry  noted  at 
once  that  the  Imperial  chancery  had  been  playing  a  double  game.  While  it 
presented  at  Rio  the  known  formula  for  an  immediate  compromise,  it  sought 
at  Buenos  Ayres,  through  Minister  Alencar,  the  postponement  of  the  nego- 
tiation, working  up  the  form  of  the  treaty  of  previous  survey  of  the  territory. 

The  postponement,  openly  upheld  in  moments  of  anxiety  for  Argentine 
policy,  presented  itself  now  underhandedly,  because  the  prosperity  and 
strength  of  the  Republic  after  the  bloody  explosions  of  1880  and  the  friendly 
solution  of  the  question  of  limits  with  Chili  compelled  the  Baron  to  show  the 
utmost  prudence  in  his  relations  with  the  chancery  of  Buenos  Ayres.  He 
probably  looked  for  new  agitations,  for  another  civil  war,  such  as  the  one 
prophesied  to  break  out  by  the  end  of  the  presidential  term,  in  order  to 
promote  settlements  with  probabilities  of  heavier  gains. 


—  yoo  — 

Doctor  Quesada  thought  fit  to  warn  the  Argentine  government  against 
the  double  negotiation  which  Braz;!  was  trying  to  conclude  at  the  same  time  in 
Buenos  Ayres  and  at  Rio.  The  project  of  the  previous  survey  of  the  Misiones 
had  in  view  to  explore  the  Argentine  government,  and  ascertain  the  interest 
and  firmness  which  it  attached  to  this  question.  Its  failure  might  be 
remedied  by  a  direct  settlement  promoted  in  the  Court. 

The  line  of  procedure  which  circumstances  and  the  data  offered  by  the 
Argentine  minister  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  marked  out  to  the  chancery  in  Buenos 
Ayres,  was  obvious.  The  previous  survey  was  to  be  discussed  and  resisted, 
showing  its  diplomatic  uselessness ;  for  so  onerous  a  demarcation  could  be 
made  after  the  knot  was  cut,  to  raise  the  landmarks  while  the  region  was 
being  explored. 

On  the  other  hand,  what  diplomatic  object  was  there  in  the  previous 
survey,  except  the  satisfying  of  purely  scientific  doubts?  Would  this  survey, 
over  the  signature  of  the  commissioners  of  one  or  the  other  country,  say  that 
Portugal  had  committed  an  error  in  the  last  century,  to  sustain  the  limit  of 
the  rivers  below  the  Uruguay  Pita  ?  Would  a  contrary  result  be  attained  ? 
That  would  have  been  like  authorizing  the  surveying  parties  to  clear  up  the 
unknown,  and  resolve  the  matter ;  and  both  nations  rejected  this  proceeding. 

There  were,  therefore,  plausible  reasons  for  postponing,  in  the  laSt 
resort,  the  definite  answer  from  the  Argentine  government,  as  desired  by  the 
Minister  at  Rio  de  Janeiro.  This  decided  and  reserved  attitude  of  the  Chan- 
cery at  Buenos  Ayres,  would  have  impressed,  to  be  sure,  that  of  Rio,  amid 
whose  firmness  and  agitations,  ably  maintained  in  Parliament  and  in  the 
Press,  was  visible  a  noble  purpose  not  to  provoke  a  conflict  with  the  Argen- 
tine Republic. 

The  success  of  the  direct  transaction  depended,  to  a  certain  extent,  upon 
our  own  government,  and  Doctor  Quesada  could  establish  the  fact  that  the 
chances  of  Baron  de  Alencar's  initiative  m  Buenos  Ayres  decreased  those  of 
his  negotiation  at  Rio. 

The  President  of  the  Council  of  Ministers,  Counsellor  Dantas,  Baron  de 
Cabo  Frio,  a  traditional  authority  upon  the  matter,  and  part  of  the  Ministry 
did  actually  agree  with  Doctor  Quesada  upon  the  transaction,  and  pledged 
themselves,  officially  and  privately,  by  acts  and  words. 

The  State  Council  having  been  convened,  the  transaction  was  approved 
by  the  majority,  and  the  minority  was  in  favor  of  the  previous  survey.  The 
Imperial  government,  however,  did  not  reply  to  the  counter  proposal  or 
modifications  suggested  by  Doctor  Quesada  in  the  plans  of  the  Ministry  of 
Foreign  Relations,  and  keeping  him  in  ignorance  of  the  State  Council's 
favorable  report,  he  was  told  that  the  government  deemed  it  necessary  to 
reply  to  the  Argentine  Counter  Memorandmn  before  deciding  upon  the 
transaction. 

When  this  reply  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Argentine  government,  and  the 
invitation  made  to  Baron  de  Alencar  to  stipulate  the  previous  survey  was 
favorably  accepted  in  Buenos  Ayres,  the  government  of  Rio  stopped  its  march 
towards  the  transaction ;   and  the   Emperor,  having  deviated  for  a  moment 


—  7°^  — 

from  the  diplomatic  and  constitutional  practice  of  his  Court,  took  advantage 
of  a  visit  of  social  courtesy  of  Dr.  Quesada,  to  give  the  latter,  quite  suddenly, 
the  reply  that  the  doctor  should  receive  through  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Rela- 
tions of  the  Empire,  and  which  he  had  been  long  looking  for:  about  the 
direct  settlement.  The  Emperor  was  in  favor  of  the  previous  survey  and  left 
the  other  negotiation  in  abeyance.  Dr.  Quesada  made  the  Argentine  govern- 
ment cognizant  of  this  diplomatic  parallelism,  and  with  patriotic,  reasonable 
remarks,  he  said : 

Now  then,  I  do  not  know  whether  N.  N.  could  have 
written   that   the   Argentine  government  will   never  make   a 

question   of  territory,  and   giving   hopes  to  obtain larger 

profits  if  the  confidential  negotiation  with  me  would  be  broken 
up.  It  may  be  so,  since  he  alone  could  inform  about  the 
frivolity  of  the  cause  for  the  German  Niederlein's  separation, 
owing  to  what  had  happened  at  Campo  Ere,  saying,  that  it 
was  not  as  a  satisfaction  to  the  Brazilian  claim,  but  on  account 
of  some  question  in  the  budget. 

It  would  not  be  strange  that  N.  has  heard  the  govern- 
ment will  never  make  war  for  that  territory,  and  that  he  has 
counselled  to  hold  firm  on  the  Brazilian  claims,  pretending 
that  they  need  that  territory  in  order  to  have  a  safe  frontier. 

• 

What  is  the  object  m  the  survey  of  the  four  rivers  ?     It 

will  be  well  to  determine  the  aim  of  the  proceeding.  It  is 
therefore  convenient,  before  the  result  shall  favor  the  preten- 
sions of  one  or  the  other  party,  to  stipulate  the  judicial  value 
of  that  survey,  and  ascertain  their  purpose  in  making  it. 
Quite  different  solutions  may  result  therefrom  which  can  be 
foreseen 

It  is  indispensable,  before  discussing  the  proposal,  to 
determine,  by  means  of  protocols,  the  objects  in  view. 
Otherwise,  it  is  a  mere  dilatory  exception  to  gain  time. 

The  treaty  of  previous  survey  in  the  known  form  was  soon  forthcoming, 
and  Dr.  Quesada  demanded  and  obtained  the  recording  of  the  negotiations 
for  a  direct  settlement,  to  which  he  had  been  invited  by  the  Empire.  I  base 
the  foregoing  remarks  on  the  said  documents. 


702    


XII 


The  commissions  of  Brazil  and  the  Argentine  Republic,  presided  over  by 
Baron  de  Capanema  and  by  .Colonel  Jose  Ignacio  Garmendia,  respectively, 
began  their  operations  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  September,  1885,  and 
finished  the  same  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  September,  1891,  without  a 
single  break  in  their  harmony. 

Nothing  else  could  be  expected,  for  the  instructions  agreed  upon  by  both 
governments,  and  which  were  handed  them  as  a  guide  for  their  acts,  were 
apparently  strange  to  the  international  suit,  which  they  entirely  ignored. 
The  joint  commissions  went  to  the  ground  merely  to  raise  a  geographical 
chart.  The  solutions  and  the  consequences  were  to  be  drawn  by  diplomacy, 
each  party  holding  the  pro  and  con  of  its  aims. 

The  diaries,  sketches  and  plans  which  they  drew  up  with  great  skill  and 
accuracy  and  signed,  constitute  a  positive  advancement  for  local  geography. 
The  chiefs  and  officers  of  the  army  of  the  Republic  who  took  part  in  this 
exploration,  have  added  to  their  roll  of  honor  a  distinguished  service  which  the 
Ministry  has  hastened  to  apreciate  by  special  decree,  communicated  to  the 
corresponding  department. 

Those  interesting  works  will  soon  be  made  public  in  a  special  edition,  and 
while  they  have  enlightened  the  governments  in  regard  to  the  conditions  of 
the  soil,  they  have  not  been  effective  to  promote  the  diplomatic  question,  as 
was  foreseen  in  18S4  and  1885  by  the  Minister  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Dr.  Quesada. 

I  must,  however,  record,  as  a  special  merit  won  by  the  chancery  in  charge 
of  Dr.  Quirno  Costa,  and  by  Colonel  Garmendia,  the  redemption  of  the  error 
of  the  treaty  of  1885,  relative  to  the  admission  of  the  fifth  river,  called  Chopin. 
The  chief  of  the  Argentine  commission,  with  both  governments'  consent, 
carried  the  survey  up  to  the  true  river,  the  Oyarvide's  San  Antonio  Guazu. 

In  the  report  signed  by  both  commissions  in  1891,  mforming  their  res- 
pective governments  that  the  surveys  had  been  finished,  only  one  diplomatic 
point  is  raised,  that  of  the  Chopin.     Says  the  report : 

The  Argentine  commissioners,  considering  that  their 
work  would  not  be  complete  without  the  survey  of  the 
Oyafvide's  San  Antonio  Guazu  or  Jangada,  whose  main  source 
at  short  distance  conforms  with  that  of  the  Pequbi  Guazu, 
insisted  upon  demanding  the  survey  of  that  river,  as  they 
supposed  it  to  be  the  true  San  Antonio  Guazu,  pointed  out  in  the 
instructions,  and  not  the  Chopin,  which  erroneously  takes  the 
place  of  the  former  in  the  treaty  of  the  twenty-eight  day  of 
September,  1885,  because  this  had  never  been  known  nor  sur- 
veyed by  Oyarvide,  and  is  not  even  mentioned  in  his  Memoir. 
The  Brazilian  admitted  that  the  ends  of  the  river,  which  Oyar- 
vide named  San  Antonio  Guazu,  are  those  of  the  river  known  in 


—  703  — 

Brazil  under  the  name  of  Jangada,  but  they  supposed  that  they 
could  not  acquiesce  in  this  demand  because  no  mention  was 
made  of  this  river  in  the  said  treaty  ;  neither  could  they  admit 
that  the  interpretation  of  VII  Article  of  the  instructions  ac- 
companying that  treaty,  in  which  the  commissioners  are  directed 
to  be  guided  by  Oyarvide's  works,  would  be  construed  as  an 
obligation  of  raising  the  plan  of  a  river,  of  which  Oyarvide  only 
mentions  the  ends  ;  so  much  so,  that  said  survey  required,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  the  survey  of  the  Iguazu  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Chopin  or  San  Antonio  Guazii  to  the  mouth  of  the  Jangada, 
■  or  Oyarvide's  San  Antonio  Guazii.  They  thought,  besides, 
that  they  complied  with  the  provision  of  the  said  article  of  the 
instructions  by  the  common  survey  of  the  ends  of  the  Jangada 
or  Oyarvide's  San  Antonio  Guazii.  Owing  to  this,  the 
Brazilian  commissioners  did  not  admit  other  works  in  common 
without  an  express  order  from  their  government,  and  surveyed 
a  few  more  kilometers,  and  the  Argentines  and  their  officers 
went  on  surveying  more  extensively. 

This  divergence  was  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
respective  governments  in  the  form  of  XIII  Article  of  the 
instructions. 

The  governments  finding,  subsequently,  that  the  Argen- 
tine commissioners  were  right  in  their  demands,  resolved  that 
the  head  commissioners  of  both  commissions  should  order  the 
survey  of  this  river  to  be  made,  and  they  appointed  the  third 
assistant  lieutenant  of  the  navy,  Vicente  E.  Montes,  on  the 
part  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  and  engineer  Emilio  Odebrech, 
on  the  part  of  Brazil ;  and  they  finished  their  labor  in  Novem- 
ber of  1888. 

Other  specific  benefits  were  derived  by  the  Argentine  Republic  irom  the 
skillfulness  with  which  Colonel  Garmendia  and  his  colleagues  superintended 
and  executed  the  third  international  survey  of  Misiones. 

The  treaty  of  1885  having  been  accepted  rather  coolly  by  the  most  pre- 
disposed diplomats  of  the  Republic,  their  idea  was  not  less  disagreeable  to  the 
statesmen  of  the  Empire,  who  had  treated  this  matter  thoroughly. 

The  truth  is  that  a  most  accurate  geographical  survey,  as  against  the 
map  of  the  courts  and  the  instructions  of  1750,  would  confirm  certain  facts 
already  established  by  the  party  of  Alvear. 

Such  results  were  foreseen  and  feared  by  prominent  diplomats  of  the 
Empire.  When  in  1876  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  Dr.  Don  Bernardo 
de  Irigoyen,  proposed  the  previous  survey.  Baron  de  Cotegipe,  in  his  instruc- 
tions to  the  Minister  of  Brazil  in  the  Estado  Oriental,  Baron  Aguiar  d'Andrada, 
who  treated  privately  with  Dr.  Irigoyen  the  analyzed  negotiation,  said  in 
July,  1876: 

"  We  do  not  advance  one  step,  and  are  yet  entangled  in 
the  preposterous  idea  of  a  new  survey  as  a  rectification  of  the 


—  704  — 

former  ones ;  and,  consequently,  subject  to  the  contingencies 
of  renewed  pretensions,  already  impugned  by  the  Portuguese 
demarcation  and  by  ourselves.  The  risk  attendant  upon  this 
new  survey  will  always  exist,  no  matter  what  the  wording  of 
the  article  of  the  treaty  may  be,  if  the  line  of  demarcation  is 
not  expressly  specified." 

It  might  not  be  out  of  place  to  add,  that  the  dilatory  proceeding  planned 
in  1876  by  Dr.  Irigoyen,  was  an  able  initiative  intended  to  give  the  Republic 
ample  time  to  recover  from  a  disastrous  situation,  and  to  clear  up  its  unsafe 
horizons  towards  the  Andes.  Baron  de  Cotegipe  reckoned  with  tact,  and 
refused  the  proposition,  increasing  our  anxieties  in  that  unfortunate  time. 

Colonel  Dionisio  de  Castro  Cerqueira,  third  commissioner  of  the  Brazilian 
Commission  of  Limits,  who  accompanied  and  counselled  in  Montevideo  Min- 
ister Bocayuva,  under  the  title  of  Chief,  ad  interim,  of  that  commission, 
wrote  to  the  Jornal  do  Comtnercio  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  on  the  nineteenth  day  of 
July,  1891  : 

"The  joint  commission  of  limits,  after  the  work  ot  my 
distinguished  and  esteemed  friends,  Commissioners  Guillobel 
and  Virasoro,  had  declared  in  official  documents  that  the  true 
San  Antonio  Guazu  of  the  Spanish  geographer  Oyarvide  is 
the  Jangada  and  not  the  Chopin.  By  the  surveys  of  these 
distinguished  professors  it.  was  proven  that  the  nearest  river  to 
the  Chapeco,  named  by  the  Spaniards  yesterday,  and  by  the 
Argentines  to-day,  PequiriGuazvi,  and  which  runs  towards  the 
Iguazu,  is  the  Jangada. 

Subsequently,  by  very  minute  works  of  demarcation  and 
survey  made  under  the  same  close  direction  and  that  of  my 
colleague,  Virasoro,  and  executed  by  the  assistants,  Jardin, 
Rego  Barros,  Montes  and  Dousset,  where  we  drew  level 
curves  throughout  the  zone  to  demonstrate  the  divortia 
aquancm,  it  was  demonstrated  beyond  question,  that  the 
Jangada  is  not  only  the  nearest  river  to  the  Chapeco,  which 
runs  towards  the  Iguazu,  but  that  it  is  also  its  confluent. 

In  a  similar  manner  in  which  this  was  proven,  it  also 
turned  out  from  the  works  undertaken  with  equal  carefulness 
on  the  zone  comprised  between  the  ends  of  the  Pepiri  Guazu 
and  the  San  Antonio ;  the  conviction  that  this  river  was  not 
the  nearest  to  that  which  runs  towards  the  Iguazti,  nor  its 
confluent." 

It  is  important  to  confirm  the  affirmations  of  the  demarcators  of  the  sec- 
ond epoch,  according  to  which  in  the  system  of  the  rivers  of  the  demarcation 
of  1759,  cancelled  in  1777,  did  not  concur  the  requirements  of  the  instruc- 
tions. 

The  international  surveys  from   1885  to  1891  demonstrated  that  the  con- 


—  705  — 

fluent  of  the  western  San  Antonio,  or  that  of  1759,  was  not  the  Pepiri  or 
Pequiri  pointed  out  as  the  Indian,  which  flows  below  from  the  Uruguay  Pita,  but 
a  third  river  which,  far  from  running  as  the  other  one  to  flow  into  the  Uruguay, 
is  an  affluent  of  the  Parand.  Col.  de  Castro  y  Cerqueira  explains  it  very  dis- 
tinctly in  these  terms : 


The  boundary  line  of  the  waters  flowing  on  one  side 
towards  the  Uruguay,  and  on  the  opposite  side  towards  the 
Iguazu,  has  its  terminal  point  on  the  western  side,  at  the 
principal  end  of  the  river  Pepiri  Guazii.  From  this  point 
westward,  the  divisory  of  the  waters  bifurcates  in  such  a  man- 
ner, that  the  northwestern  branch  divides  the  waters  running 
towards  the  Iguazu  from  those  running  towards  affluents  of 
the  Parana ;  and  the  southwestern  branch  divides  the  waters 
running  towards  the  affluents  of  the  Parana  from  those  going 
towards  the  affluents  of  the  Uruguay. 

I  hold  that  nobody,  no  matter  how  learned  and  author- 
ized he  may  be,  can  deny  the  geographical  fact. 

This  being  so  as  it  really  is,  and  can  be  proven  by  the 
works  of  the  commission  of  limits,  we  see  the  San  Antonio 
sprouting  at  the  northern  fall  of  the  northwestern  branch,  run- 
ning towards  the  Iguazu,  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  same 
hill,  in  an  extension  of  nearly  three  leagues  to  the  southeast, 
the  numerous  ends  of  the  river  Uruguahy,  affluent  of  the 
Parana.  The  opposite  fall  to  that  in  which  the  San  Antonio 
originates,  furnishes  water  only  for  the  Parana ;  and  therefore, 
the  confluent  of  the  San  Antonio  is  the  river  Uruguahy  and 
not  the  Pepiri  Guazu,  the  confluentb  of  which  are  another 
river  named  Capanema,  having  with  it  common  sources,  and 
runs  on  the  opposite  fall,  which  is  that  of  the  Iguazu,  and  the 
river  Uruguahy  coming  from  the  opposite  fall,  and  furnishing 
waters  to  the  Parana. 


It  being  demonstrated  by  the  unanimous  authority  of  the  Argentine  and 
Brazilian  surveyors,  that  in  the  system  of  the  rivers  claimed'  by  them  as  the 
international  limit,  that  is  to  say,  the  western  rivers,  do  not  concur  the  cor- 
responding physical  features  of  the  falls,  nor  that  one  was  the  confluent  of  the 
other,  as  the  treaties  called  for,  as  well  as  the  map  of  the  demarcation  and 
the  instructions  of  the  Courts,  it  is  evident  and  out  of  discussion,  that  those 
are  not  the  streams  of  water  described  as  boundary  line,  and  which  maybe 
looked  for  further  east. 

On  the  contrary,  all  descriptions  agree  with  the  physical  features  found  in 
the  system  of  the  eastern  rivers,  or  maintained  by  the  Argentine  Republic  in 
the  exercise  of  a  right  inherited  from  Portugal.  Let  us  hear  Colonel  Castro 
Cerqueira  once  more : 


—  7o6  — ' 

Let  us  refer  to  the  Jangada  (Oyarvide's  San  Antonio 
Guazu)  and  to  the  Chapeco  (Pepiri  Guazu  of  the  Spaniards), 
also  admitting  Senor  Guillobel's  definition. 

The  hne  of  the  fall  between  the  Uruguay  and  Iguazu, 
which  begins  at  the  ends  of  the  Pepiri  Guazii  (of  1759),  runs 
,  the  general  direction  from  west  to  east,  dividing  the  waters  of 

both  falls,  after  dividing  those  running  towards  the  Chopin 
from  those  which  flow  into  the  Chnpeco,  passes  between  the 
ends  of  the  latter  and  of  the  Jangada,  as  it  is  pointed  out  in 
all  maps,  so  that  the  various  ends  of  the  latter  are  opposite 
others  of  the  Chapeco,  some  of  them  having  their  source  even 
in  the  same  basin.  All  these  ends  of  the  Jangada  originate 
in  the  fall  of  the  Iguazu,  and  those  of  the  Chapeco  in  the 
opposite  fall.  Consequently,  the  Chapeco  is  the  confluent  of 
the  Jangada. 

Such  has  also  been  the  opinion  of  the  Spanish  geographers  Alvear, 
Oyarvide,  Azara,  Cerviiio,  Requena  and  other  prominent  defenders  of  the 
rights  of  Spain  to  the  limits  by  this  system  of  rivers. 

Not  less  propitious  for  the  Argentine  argument  is  the  result  of  the 
examination  of  other  features  offered  by  the  instructions  and  by  the  map  of 
the  Courts,  to  individualize  the  rivers  of  the  limit,  which  may  be  seen  at  great 
length  in  the  official  publication  which  is  being  prepared. 


XIII 


In  June,  1885,  Seiior  Quesada  was  succeeded  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  by  the 
Argentine  minister  at  Montevideo,  Sefior  Enrique  B.  Moreno. 

In  view  of  what  happened  during  Doctor  Quesada's  mission,  the  Argen- 
tine government  had  assumed  a  serious  attitude,  which  it  desired  to  make 
known  to  the  Imperial  chancery  through  its  new  envoy. 

The  Argentine  government  was  not  in  a  hurry  to  sign  treaties,  and 
declared  at  once  any  negotiation  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  as  closed  and  unaccept- 
able. If  H.  M.  Don  Pedro's  government  wished  to  reopen  discussion  with  a 
view  towards  settlement,  it  had  to  do  it  at  Buenos  Ayres,  and  through  its 
plenipotentiary.  All  proposition  made  to  the  Argentine  minister  at  Rio, 
Senor  Moreno,  must  be  refused  by  him,  and  invite  the  Imperial  government 
to  send  instructions  to  its  agent  in  the  Argentine  Republic. 

This  reserved  and  serious  attitude  of  the  Argentine  chancery,  just  at  the 
time  when  a  new  Envoy  Extraordinary  was  being  accredited,  precluded  the 
repetition  of  incidents  such  as  the  one  of  initiatives  of  Minister  Don  Pedro 
Luis  communicated  to  Senor  Dominguez,  and  those  of  Counsellor  Dantas  to 
Doctor  Quesada. 

These  were  the  instructions  given  to  Senor  Moreno  : 


—  707  — 

The  discussion  between  the  Republic  and  the  Empire 
upon  the  boundary  line  of  the  territory  of  Misiones  being 
located  in  this  capital,  it  is  convenient  that  Minister  Moreno 
shall  not  mind  it,  and  in  case  he  should  be  invited  to  confer 
upon  the  same,  to  decline  all  intervention,  confining  himself 
to  state  that,  pending  the  discussion  at  Buenos  Ayres,  his 
government  has  not  given  him  any  instructions  upon  the  sub- 
ject, and  that  any  proposal  that  the  Imperial  government  may 
be  pleased  to  make,  it  can  do  so,  as  heretofore,  through  its 
plenipotentiary. 

Since  1887  things  remained  at  a  standstill,  and  only  a  proposal  for  an 
international  disarmament,  presented  by  Senor  Moreno  to  the  Argentine  gov- 
ernment was  made ;  and  the  resolution  of  the  latter,  not  to  offer  proposals  to 
Brazil,  was  observed  by  its  new  diplomatic  agent  up  to  1889. 

In  July  of  the  same  year  Senor  Moreno  wrote  to  Minister  Senor  Quirfto 
Costa  hinting  that,  in  his  judgment,  it  was  opportune  to  open  negotiatons  to 
close  up  the  missionary  question ;  and  Dr.  Quirno  Costa  replied,  maintaining 
the  expectant  attitude  already  agreed  upon,  without  prejudice  to  a  hearing 
of  propositions.  He  said  in  his  confidential  note  of  the  tenth  day  of  July, 
1888: 

Your  Excellency's  interesting  data  make  us  appreciate 
men  and  the  things  of  the  Empire,  believing,  as  Your  Excel- 
lency does,  that  this  is  the  opportunity  to  give  our  old  question 
of  limits  a  definite  solution.  The  Argentine  government 
will  not  delay  it  in  this  sense ;  but  Minister  Alencar  has  made 
no  overtures  in  that  direction,  and  I  believe  that  we  must 
await  the  insinuations  of  that  government;  although  Your 
Excellency  cannot  excuse  himself  to  make  known  that  it  is 
our  desire  to  finish  the  suit  without  further  delay,  and  even 
to  resolve  it  with  the  Empire,  without  resorting  to  third 
parties. 

On  the  twenty-second  day  of  February,  1889,  Senor  Moreno  asked  for 
authority  to  discuss  a  form  of  settlement,  which  the  Imperial  chancery  might 
propose  upon  the  following  basis  : 

I  Article. — It  is  resolved  on  principle,  that  the  boundary 
line  is  the  geographical  meridian. 

II  Article. — An  umpire  shall  decide,  which  is  the  terri- 
tory in  dispute. 

The  last  part  referred  to  the  debate  provoked  by  the  pact  of  1885, 
whether  the  contested  territory  extended  as  far  as  the  Chopin,  or  as  far  as 
Oyarvide's  San  Antonio  Guazii,  was  a  doubt  which  both  chanceries  discussed 
at  the  time. 


—  7o8  — 

The  Argentine  government  persisted  in  its  reserved  .  attitude,  and 
directed  Senor  Moreno  not  to  proceed  in  the  sense  of  that  indication. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  April  the  Argentine  minister  telegraphed  to 
Buenos  Ayres,  insisting  on  the  opening  of  negotiations.     He  said  : 

I  just  met  the  Minister  Rodrigo  da  Silva,  who  wished 
to  have  a  telegraphic  conference  with  Your  Excellency.  Your 
Excellency  will  please  fix  the  basis  for  the  negotiation  that  is 
to  be  closed  very  soon.  Counsellor  Rodrigo  will  personally 
confirm  all  I  have  said  to  Your  Excellency  about  the  patriotic 
desire  to  terminate  our  old  question  without  delay.  Your 
Excellency  will  please  to  appoint  the  date  in  accordance  with 
the  Telegraph  Bureau. 

The  Argentine  minister  explains  his  insistence,  and  the  invitation  of  the 
Brazilian  chancery  to  treat  the  settlement  or  compromise  of  the  question,  in 
a  letter  of  the  same  date,  confirming  the  telegram.  In  fact,  in  a  conference 
which^he  had  on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  April  with  Senor  Rodrigo  da  Silva, 
in  his  office,  the  latter  told  him  after  a  prolonged  conversation  : 

Let  us  sign  a  compromise  that  shall  contain  the  following 
propositions : 

First.  The  negotiations  between  the  Argentine  plenipo- 
tentiary and  the  Brazilian  plenipotentiary  shall  be  closed 
within  thirty  days. 

Second.  Should  there  be  no  direct  and  definite  solution 
found  during  the  said  lapse  of  time,  a  convention  shall  be  signed 
on  the  last  day  of  the  stipulated  term,  and  the  suit  shall  be 
submitted  to  arbitration. 

— I  cannot  sign  that  agreement,  I  replied,  because  I  have 
no  instructions ;  on  the  contrary,  one  of  the  points  we  have 
talked  about  consists  in  that  the  definite  negotiation  shall  be 
made  between  you  and  Doctor  Quirno  Costa. 

— And,  said  Sehor  Rodrigo  da  Silva,  wouldn't  it  be  better 
,  that  he  and  I  should  have  a  telegraphic  conference,  to  gain 

time  ?  Parliament  is  about  to  open,  and  my  most  earnest 
desire  is  to  arrive  at  an  agreement  with  the  Argentine  govern- 
ment before  starting  new  parliamentary  battles. 

— I  do  not  see  any  inconvenience  in  that,  I  replied,  and  in 
his  presence  I  wrote  out  the  despatch  which  heads  this  letter. 

(^Confidential  note  of  the  twenty -fifth  day  of  April,  1889.) 

This  plain  proposition  was  followed  by  Sehor  Rodrigo  da  Silva's  promise 
to  join  his  Argentine  colleague,  Senor  Quirno  Costa,  in  Montevideo,  for  which 
reason  the  latter  sent  Sehor  Moreno  a  confidential  note,  reading : 


—  709  — 

I  consider  of  great  importance  what  Your  Excellency 
communicates  to  me  in  regard  to  Seiior  Rodrigo  da  Silva's 
attitude  in  the  question  of  Misiones. 

The  works  in  connection  with  the  Jangada  are  finished, 
and  Lieutenant  Montes  returned  to  Buenos  Ayres,  bringing  the 
respective  plan  of  the  survey,  also  signed  by  the  Brazilians. 

What  Sefior  Rodrigo  da  Silva  expected  has  been  done, 
although  1  do  not  know  whether  he  wishes  the  commissions 
to  finish  their  work  before  opening  negotiations  for  a  definite 
solution  of  the  question. 

An  equitable  settlement  would  meet  with  no  opposition  by 
public  opinion  in  this  country ;  far  from  it,  it  would  be  applauded 
by  everybody,  regardless  of  political  colors. 

I  understand  that  such  would  be  the  case  with  you. 

Can  it  be  obtained  without  resorting  to  third  parties? 

1  think  so,  and  the  government  prefers  this  feeling  which 
shows  that  both,  Argentines  and  Brazilians,  have  sufficient 
prudence  to  settle  our  differences  ourselves,  avoiding  unpleasant 
discussions. 

1  am  happy  to  see  that  Seiior  Rodrigo  da  Silva  has  no 
objection  to  going  to  Montevideo,  and  that  we  shall  meet  there, 
to  resolve  the  old  suit ;  but  I  think  we  ought  not  to  take  that 
step  without  a  previous  agreement ;  that  is  to  say,  we  must  not 
meet,  unless  we  have  the  assurance  that  we  can  arrive  at  some 
understanding. 

Your  Excellency  can  do  much  in  this  direction,  co-operat- 
ing in  favor  of  success :  send  the  indications  or  suggestions 
from  Minister  Rodrigo  da  Silva,  to  be  taken  into  consideration 
here,  and  transmit  ours  to  Your  Excellency  in  proper  time. 

However  reserved  or  secret  our  voyage  might  be,  I  do  not 
think  that  the  object  of  our  meeting  could  be  concealed  in 
Montevideo  ;  and  if  the  interview  should  not  result  in  finishing 
the  question,  we  would  have  produced  an  alarm  and  an 
injurious  distrust  for  the  friendly  relations  between  both  coun- 
tries. The  previous  agreement  on  capital  points,  at  least,  is, 
therefore,  indispensable. 

Treating  directly  from  Minister  to  Minister  through  the  wires  would 
amount  to  a  personal  conference  and  the  Argentine  chancery  could  accept 
the  form  of  the  negotiation,  without  prejudice  to  the  judicious  political  plan 
followed  up  in  the  relations  with  Brazil.  On  the  other  hand,  the  initiative  to 
attempt  the  direct  settlement  came,  for  the  third  time,  from  the  fluviatic 
chancery. 

Consequently,  Doctor  Quirno  Costa  replied  under  reservations,  accepting 
the  negotiation,  but  insisting  upon  its  withdrawal  from  Rio,  His  first  telegram, 
dated  the  third  day  of  May,  1889,  reads  : 


•        ■ —  7IO  — 

Upon  the  basis  which  Your  Excellency  transmits  to  me, 
proposed  by  Minister  Rodrigo  da  Silva,  he  may  state  to  me 
when  we  shall  meet  at  Montevideo.  Conference  stopped 
through  defective  lines. 

The  telegraphic  conference  did  not  take  place  ;  but  a  subsequent  telegram 
from  Senor  Moreno  said  that  the  conference  had  failed  owing  to  the  political 
crisis  which  hurt  the  Rio  Cabinet,  as  it  really  did. 

The  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  Brazil  seemed  to  have  given  up  his 
intended  trip  to  Montevideo.  The  Argentine  minister  said  to  him  by  telegraph 
on  the  sixth  day  of  May  : 

Minister  Rodrigo  says  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  leave 
Brazil.  His  desire  is  to  adhere  to  the  provisory  agreement 
here,  either  with  Your  Excellency  telegraphically,  or  with  me, 
having  instructions  to  send  afterwards  powers  of  attorney  to 
Minister  Alencar,  and  sign  there  definite  treaty. 

Doctor  Quirno  Costa  did  not  accept  this  procedure,  as  is  shown  by  his 
reply  to  Senor  Moreno,  on  the  said  sixth  day  of  May,  in  this  manner : 

Your  Excellency's  telegram  of  this  date  received.  Since 
Minister  Rodrigo  cannot  go  to  Montevideo,  as  agreed,  that 
government  ought  to  send  instructions  to  its  Minister  here  for 
provisory  treaty.  This  does  not  mean  that  we  may  not  have 
before,  if  necessary,  the  telegraphic  conference. 

Minister  Seiior  Moreno  acknowledged  receipt  of  this  message  in  a  con- 
fidential note  of  the  eighth  day  of  May,  in  which  he  calls  attention  to  the 
dangers  the  Brazilian  Cabinet  is  running.     He  says : 

I  received  this  A.  M.  Your  Excellency's  telegram  insist- 
ing on  instructions  to  be  sent  to  Baron  de  Alencar  even  for  the 
provisory  agreement,  and  I  shall  talk  in  this  sense  to  Minister 
Rodrigo  and  to  the  President  of  the  Cabinet.  I  shall  be 
pleased  to  see  that  the  telegraphic  conference  between  Your 
Excellency  and  Counsellor  Rodrigo  can  be  effected,  for  time  is 
short  and  I  am  afraid  the  Cabinet  may  soon  fall,  putting  off, 
indefinitely,  a  solution  now  pending  on  a  mere  detail. 

In  confidential  note  of  the  tenth,  Senor  Moreno  informs  that  the  events 
have  not  had  the  decisive  character  which  he  had  anticipated,  and  that  the 
Emperor  does  not  look  in  a  pleasant  mood  upon  the  idea  of  the  resignation 
of  Joao  Alfredo's  Cabinet,  preferring  the  dissolution  of  the  Houses. 


—  711  — 
Doctor  Quirno  Costa  replied  by  the  following  telegram : 

Your  Excellency's  letters  of  the  eighth  and  tenth  received. 
Subsequently  a  telegram  from  Baron  de  Capanema  was 
received  stating  that  as  soon  as  the  telegraphic  lines  shall  be 
perfectly  arranged,  which  is  also  being  done  here,  he  will  let 
me  know  on  the  eve  of  the  day  on  which  we  shall  hold  the  con- 
ference at  lo  A.  M.  with  Counsellor  Rodrigo  da  Silva.  In  view 
of  what  Your  Excellency  says  in  letter  of  the  twenty-fifth  day 
of  April,  I  think  that  this  conference  will  give  satisfactory 
results,  both  governments  being  moved  by  the  best  of  purposes. 

The  ministerial  crisis  passed,  but  the  conference  was  not  realized  by  Senor 
Rodrigo  da  Silva,  who  had  asked  for  it,  and  the  Argentine  Minister,  Sehor 
Moreno,  went  on  communicating  basis  for  the  settlement  which  the  Counsellor, 
Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Empire,  offered  him  continually.  On  the 
eighteenth  he  addressed  to  Doctor  Quirno  Costa  a  new  message : 

Without  prejudice  to  the  contemplated  telegraphic  cor- 
respondence which  shall  take  place  when  the  lines  will  permit 
it,  Counsellor  Rodrigo  suggests  that  Your  Excellency  shall  fix 
a  date  to  discuss  forms  of  settlement  directly  between  Your 
Excellency  and  His  Excellency.  If  at  the  expiration  of  the 
term  no  agreement  is  arrived  at,  a  convention  of  arbitration 
shall  be  signed,  the  umpire  to  be  an  American  government 
that  shall  be  agreed  upon.  If  Your  Excellency  is  satisfied,  he 
may  address  Sehor  Rodrigo  through  this  Legation. 

In  a  confidential  note  of  the  nineteenth  Minister  Moreno  confirmed,  com- 
menting on  his  dispatch  in  these  terms  : 

This  new  proposal  of  Sehor  Rodrigo  da  Silva  will  have 
demonstrated  to  Your  Excellency,  that  the  political  crisis  is 
over,  the  present  Cabinet  having  overcome  difficulties  which 
seemed  at  first  to  be  unsurmountable. 

The  same  Counsellor  Rodrigo  said  these  words  to  me : 
"  I  stay  in  the  Cabinet  merely  to  fulfill  my  solemn  promise  to 
the  Argentine  government  to  finish  this  Misiones  question. 
This  will  be  my  political  inheritance." 

He  went  on  insisting  on  asking  for  instructions  to  negotiate  provisorily  at 
Rio,  believing  it  to  be  possible  to  close  up  the  business  before  the  probable 
ministerial  crisis,  and  finally  he  went  over  the  probabilities  and  forms  of  the 
transaction,  saying : 

I  have  hesitated  before  giving  my  personal  opinion  about 
the   proceeding   to  be   pursued,  but  it  is   a  question   which 


712    

interests  so  much  the  patriotism  of  all  the  Argentines,  that  I 
trust  Your  Excellency  will  take  this  circumstance  into  con- 
sideration when  reading  this  confidential  letter 

I  think  there  are  only  two  ways  to  reach  a  definite  result. 

The  first,  and  most  radical  one,  is  to  submit  the  whole 
question  to  the  arbitration  of  an  American  government  (which 
will  be  none  other  but  Chili  or   the   United   States),   repro 
ducing  mutatis  mutandis  the  terms  of  the  treaty  with  Para- 
guay of  the  third  day  of  February,  1876. 

The  second  one  is  that  which  I  proposed  to  Your  Excel- 
lency in  my  letter  of  the  twenty-second  day  of  February.* 

With  a  project  for  a  direct  settlement  the  deep  feelings 
of  Brazilian  patriotism  may  be  smoothed  down,  and  the  solu- 
tion would  assume  a  more  noble  American  aspect. 

But  how  can  this  thought  be  shaped  ? 

On  the  other  hand.  Your  Excellency  has  told  me  that  he 
does  not  favor  the  initiation  of  proposals  for  settlement.  That 
is  just  the  difficulty  to  which  I  referred  at  the  beginning  of 
this  letter. 

I  wait  for  Your  Excellency's  instructions,  and  only  urge 
the  convenience  of  hastening  this  negotiation  because  I  have 
no  faith  in  the  stability  of  this  Cabinet. 

The  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  Doctor 
Quimo  Costa,  made  known  his  whole  plan  to  Minister  Moreno  in  an  official 
note  which  the  latter  had  to  communicate  to  Sehor  Rodrigo  da  Silva.  This 
is  the  note,  dated  the  thirty-first  day  of  May,  1889  : 

I  received  Your  Excellency's  letter  of  the  nineteenth 
day  of  May  and  telegram  of  the  twenty-eighth,  by  virtue  of 
which,  and  both  governments  agreeing  upon  the  proposals 
contained  ip  Your  Excellency's  letter  of  the  twenty-fifth  day 
of  April,  the  term  for  an  understanding  being  ninety  days,  at 
the  expiration  of  which  '  to  resort  to  the  arbitration  of  an 
American  government  which  the  parties  shall  designate. 

Alencar  did  also  receive  telegram  of  the  twenty-eighth 
from  Minister  Rodrigo,  saying  that  after  holding  conference 
with  me  he  will  send  him  instructions,  and  if  said  conference 
should  be  delayed  by  interruption  of  the  lines,  he  will  proceed 
just  the  same.  I  must  state  to  Your  Excellency  that  the 
Argentine  Republic  is  convinced  of  the  friendly  conduct  of 
Minister  Rodrigo,  to  which  it  intends  to  reciprocate  through 
Your  Excellency. 

*  See  basis  on  page  707^ 


713  — 

The  provisory  form  for  a  direct  settlement  being  agreed 
upon,  once  signed  here,  I  would,  if  necessary,  go  to  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  so  that  Your  Excellency  and  I,  as  plenipotentiaries, 
with  Sefior  Rodrigo  da  Silva  and  somebody  else  whom  his 
government  might  appoint,  should  discuss  the  direct  solution, 
in  which  there  would  be  no  lack  ot  patriotic  inspirations  so 
necessary  in  statesmen  of  both  countries,  so  as  to  leave  no 
cause  for  future  molestation  unremoved. 

The  general  ideas  of  Counsellor  Rodrigo  da  Silva  and  of  his  government 
for  the  basis  of  a  treaty  having  been  accepted  by  the  Argentine  chancery,  it 
was  also  agreed  that  this  treaty  should  be  negotiated  in  Buenos  Ayres,  to  which 
end  Baron  de  Alencar,  Brazilian-  plenipotentiary,  had  been  noticed  by  his 
superior,  from  whom  he  would  receive  the  necessary  instructions. 

Doctor  Quirno  Costa  communicated  those  ideas  beforehand  by  telegram 
of  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  May,  reading  : 

Designation  of  an  American  government  as  arbitrator 
accepted,  if  ninety  days  after  signing  convention  we  do  not 
resolve  the  question  directly. 

Your  Excellency  may  communicate  to  Counsellor  Rodrigo, 
and  in  view  of  what  Your  Excellency  said  in  letter  of  the 
twenty-fifth  day  of  April,  I  do  not  see  difficulties.  I  expect 
telegraphic  line  will  be  ready  on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  May. 
Capanema  promised  to  inform  day  before  the  conference.  I 
am  waiting. 

Brazilian  writers  of  the  monarchy  deny  that  Senor  Rodrigo  da  Silva  had 
initiated  the  negotiation  which  I  have  revised. 

Commenting  upon  this  feature  of  the  debate,  Senor  Bocayuva  in  his 
XXXII  Article  of  the  series  entitled  Na  Defensiva,  which  appeared  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro  in  the  journal  O  Pais,  of  1891,  says  : 

The  consultation  to  the  State  Council  took  place,  as  I 
have  said,  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  February. 

Since  that  day,  up  to  May,  at  the  opening  of  the  legislative 
session,  there  was  a  continuous  interchange  of  correspondence 
between  the  government  and  Sefior  Moreno,  Argentine's 
representative. 

This  is,  at  least,  supposed  by  the  learned  Secretary  of 
Foreign  Relations,  Senor  Viscount  of  Cabo  Frio,  who  in  the 
report,  which  he  presented  to  me  with  abstracts  from  the  his- 
tory of  the  negotiations  in  connection  with  the  territory  of 
Misiones,  says : 

"  After  this  (the  consultation  to  the  State  Council)  there 


—  714  — 

was  the  following  correspondence,  there  being  evidently  some 
one  missing,  of  which  the  Secretary  had  no  knowledge : 

'•''Telegram  to  the  Brazilian  Minister  at  Buenos  Ayres,  the 
seventh  day  of  May,  1889. — Say  to  Doctor  Quirno  Costa  that 
I    cannot   leave    the    Empire   on   account   of  political  works. 

RODRIGO    DA    SiLVA." 

.     What  does  this   telegram    from   Counsellor   Rodrigo  da 

•  Silva  indicate  ?     Isn't  it  the  confirmation  of  the    promise  or 

of  the  former  engagement  to  go  to  Montevideo  and  meet  in 

that  city  his  colleague  Senor  Ouirno  Costa,  of  the  Argentine 

Republic  ? 

What  was  the  object  of  the  trip,  if  it  was  not  that  of  cele- 
brating the  treaty  of  comproinise,  more  or  less  preconcerted 
between  both  governments  on  its  general  terms  ? 

Shall  this  be  an  arbitrary  conjecture  of  my  mind  ?  No, 
and  I  shall  produce  the  proofs  thereof  to-morrow,  trusting  to 
convey  to  every  one  the  conviction  that : 

The  direct  agreement,  by  means  of  the  compromise  and 
upon  the  basis  of  the  division  of  the  territory,  had  been 
planned  between  both  governments  ; 

That  Senor  Rodrigo  da  Silva,  as  is  demonstrated  by  the 
telegram  aforesaid,  was  on  the  verge  of  going  to  Montevideo 
to  celebrate  the  treaty  there  ; 

That  the  basis  of  the  agreement  was  transmitted  directly 
to  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argentine 
Republic,  who  wished  to  inform  Minister  Alencar  of  its  con- 
tents, the  latter  refusing  to  receive  the  conference,  not  being 
^  acquainted  with  the  subject,   because  the    BraziHan  govern- 

ment had  not  communicated  to  him  anything  in  regard  to  it. 

The  telegraphic  conference  did  not  take  place,  ajid  the  Cabinet  Joao 
Alfredo  fell  in  June. 

Senor  Rodrigo  da  Silva  was  succeeded  in  the  Cabinet  of  Viscount  Ouro 
Preto  by  Counsellor  Diana  of  Rio  Grande.  Notwithstanding  the  political 
crisis,  the  Emperor  persisted  in  solving  the  Misiones  question  in  a  friendly 
way,  excluding  war  and  arbitration. 

Minister  Moreno  narrated,  in  a  confidential  note  of  the  fifteenth  day  of 
July,  the  following  highly  suggestive  episode : 

Your  Excellency  is  already  aware  of  the  Emperor's  views 
in  this  respect,  and  I  will  relate  an  incident  transmitted  to  me 
by  Counsellor  Diana,  as  a  new  token  of  the  sincerity  with 
which  the  Brazilian  monarch  proceeds. 

Minister  Diana,  who  is  from  Rio  Grande,  addressed  a 
few  affectionate  words  to  the  Emperor  on  the  day  he  took 
the  oath  of  his  office  of  Minister. 


—  715  — 

The  Emperor  replied  to  him  in  these  words  : 
"You  may  wrice  to  Rio  Grande,  advising  your  fellow- 
provincials,  that  the  question  of  Umits  with  the  Argentine 
Republic  is  about  to  be  closed  on  terms  equally  honorable  for 
all  concerned,  and  that  the  people  of  Rio  Grande  will  not  be 
the  less  contented  on  that  account." 

Senor  Diana  replied  to  the  Emperor,  cordially  thanking 
him  for  the  news. 

Viscount  de  Ouro  Preto's  Cabinet,  scarcely  in  possession  of  the  depart- 
ments, met  with  the  State  Council  to  examine  the  negotiation  proposed  and 
promoted  by  Counsellor  Rodrigo  da  Silva  on  Misiones.  Everything  was 
approved,  so  that  the  ministerial  change  did  not  affect  the  foreign  policy 
regarding  the  Argentine. 

The  new  Cabinet  wished  that  Doctor  Quirno  Costa  should  arrive  at 
Rio,  for,  in  his  confidential  note  of  the  fifteenth  day  of  August,  Minister 
Moreno  says  : 

Four  days  ago  Minister  Diana  asked  me  to  encourage 
him  to  come  over  at  once  ;  but  last  night  I  made  this  remark 
to  him  : 

— Doctor  Quirno  will  surely  not  care  to  come  without 
having  a  basis  of  direct  settlement  accepted  by  the  Imperial 
Cabinet,  for  it  would  not  look  well  that  after  having  realized 
his  voyage,  he  should  have  to  return  with  the  convention  for 
arbitration  only. 

— You  are  right,  he  said  to  me.  Let  us  then  wait  until 
the  convention  for  the  arbitration  shall  have  been  signed, 
and  we  will  later  on  talk  and  try  to  understand  each  other. 

— Have  you  any  form  to  propose  ?  1  asked  him. 

— We  have  nothing,  he  said 

The  instructions  for  Alencar  shall  go  by  the  steamer 
"Portugal,"  the  indisposition  of  Cabo  Frio  having  retarded 
the  work. 

It  is  proper  to  remark  that  while  the  Imperial  diplomacy  proposed  to  the 
Argentine  the  alternative  of  selecting  Chili  or  the  United  States  as  arbitrator, 
it  hastened  to  appoint  in  Washington  a  special  mission  composed  of  two 
notable  plenipotentiaries  to  initiate  the  negotiations  of  the  treaty  of  com- 
merce which,  with  so  much  credit  for  American  finances,  was  subsequently 
concluded. 

In  this  connection  the  Minister  of  the  Argentine  Republic  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro  wrote,  confidentially,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  July. 

In  my  last  letter  1  spoke  to  Your  Excellency  of  the  Ambassy 
Brazil  is  sending  to  the  United  States,  and  of  the  purposes  of 


—  7i6  — 

the  men  of  the  present  government  in  commercial  matters. 
I  confirm  the  data  I  have  given  Your  Excellency,  to  which  I 
add  a   new   one   which   has  created  a  certain  impression  in 

financial  circles  of  Brazil 

^  .............        ....  .......        .  ............... 

This  news  and  the  one  I  gave  Your  Excellency  in  my 
previous  letter  are  indicative  of  a  new  political  financial  plan, 
the  authenticity  of  which  it  will  be  well  to  ascertain  beforehand 
through  our  political  agents  at  Washington. 

The  negotiations  between  Americans  and  Brazilians  did  not  take  long  to 
exhibit  a  perfect  understanding. 

On  the  third  day  of  August  the  Argentine  government  received  from  its 
Minister  at  Rio  the  following  message,  which  showed  that  the  negotiations 
with  the  new  Cabinet  had  been  resumed. 

I  hasten  to  communicate  to  Your  Excellency  the  good 
news  just  sent  to  me  by  Minister  Diana.  Imperial  govern- 
ment resolved  last  night  to  sustain  agreement  with  previous 
Cabinet  on  Misiones  question,  signing  convention  for  arbitra- 
tion, which  shall  remain  in  suspense  for  ninety  days,  while  a 
new  form  of  settlement  is  looked  after  within  that  lapse  of 
time,  and  a  new  survey  of  the  source  of  the  Jangada  is  made,  to 
•  which  end  Garmendia  and  Capanema  shall  go  thither. 

The  Argentine  Minister  replied  in  the  following  telegram  : 

I  beg  to  notify  Your  Excellency  that  Baron  de  Alencar 
has  not  received  his  instructions,  and  that  it  lacks  but  one 
month  and  a  half  for  the  closing  of  Congress. 

The  instructions  did  arrive,  and  on  the  sixth  day  of  September,  Baron  de 
Alencar  submitted  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  a  plan  for  a  treaty 
in' the  following  communication: 

With  a  view  to  resolve,  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  the 
pending  question  of  limits  between  Brazil  and  the  Argentine 
Republic,  I  have  the  honor  to  hand  to  Your  Excellency,  by 
order  of  the  Imperial  government,  the  enclosed  plan  for  a 
treaty  made  out  in  conformity  with  the  basis  stipulated  between 
both  governments. 

Dr.  Quirno  Costa  replied  on  the  same  day,  in  these  terms : 

I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive  Your  Excellency's  note  of 
this  date,  in  which  Your  Excellency,  by  order  of  the  Imperial 


—  T^l  — 

government,  hands  to  me  the  plan  for  the  treaty,  made  out 
in  conformity  with  the  basis  stipulated  by  both  governments, 
with  a  view  to  resolve,  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  the  ques- 
tion of  limits  between  the  Argentine  Republic  and  Brazil. 

Having  examined  the  said  plan  I  find  it  to  conform  with  the 
stipulations  agreed  upon  between  both  governments,  and  I  beg 
to  advice  Your  Excellency  that  I  am  authorized  by  the  President 
to  sign  the  same,  and  I  now  expect  that  Your  Excellency  will 
communicate  to  me  his  authority  for  the  same  purpose. 

In  consequence  thereof,  on  the  seventh  day  of  September,  1889, 
national  anniversary  of  Brazil,  its  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipo- 
tentiary near  the  Argentine  government,  Baron  Leonel  de  Alencar,  and  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Republic  and  Plenipotentiary  ad  hoc, 
Doctor  Don  Norberto  Quirno  Costa,  assembled  in  the  halls  of  the  Legation  of 
the  Empire  at  Buenos  Ayres,  and  in  honor  of  the  day  signed  and  sealed  the 
following  alternate  treaty  of  direct  settlement  and  arbitration : 

His  Excellency  the  President  of  the  Argentine  Republic 
and  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  wishing  to  resolve, 
with  the  shortest  possible  delay,  the  pending  question  of  limits 
between  both  States,  have  mutually  agreed,  without  prejudice 
to  the  treaty  of  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  September,  1885,  to 
fix  the  term  to  close  the  discussion  of  right,  and  failing  to 
arrive  at  an  understanding,  to  submit  the  same  question  to  the 
arbitration  of  a  friendly  government ;  and  a  treaty  being 
required  for  this,  the  parties  appointed  their  plenipotentiaries, 
to  wit : 

His  Excellency  the  President  of  the  Argentine  Republic, 
Doctor  Don  Norberto  Quirno  Costa,  his  Minister,  Secretary  of 
the  Department  of  the  Interior  and  of  Foreign  Relations  pro 
tern. ;  . 

His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  Baron  de  Alencar,  of 
his  Cabinet,  and  his  Envoy  Extraordinary,  Minister  Plenipo- 
tentiary in  the  Argentine  Republic. 

And  they,  having  exchanged  their  full  powers  of  attorney, 
which  were  found  in  good  and  due  form,  agreed  upon  the 
following  articles  : 

I  Article. 

The  discussion  on  the  right  which  each  of  the  high 
contracting  parties  claims  to  possess  upon  the  territory  disputed 
between  them,  shall  be  closed  within  the  term  of  ninety  days 
from  the  conclusion  of  the  survey  of  the  grounds  where  the 
ends  of  the  rivers  Chapeco  or  Pequiri  Guazu,  and  Jangada  or 
San  Antonio  Guazu,  are  situated. 


—  7i8  — 

It  is  understood  that  the  conclusion  of  the  said  survey 
shall  be  considered  the  day  on  which  the  commissions 
appointed  by  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  the  twenty-eighth  day  of 
September,  1885,  shall  present  to  their  governments  the  reports 
and  plans  to  which  reference  is  made  in  IV  Article  of  the  same 
reaty. 

II  Article. 

If  the  term  of  the  preceding  article  should  expire  without 
a  friendly  solution,  the  question  shall  be  submitted  to  the 
arbitration  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  to 
whom  the  high  contracting  parties  shall  apply  within  the  next 
ollowing  sixty  days,  requesting  him  to  accept  the  charge. 

III  Article. 

Should  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America 
excuse  himself,  the  high  contracting  parties  shall  elect  some 
other  arbitrator  in  Europe  or  in  America  within  the  next  sixty 
days  following  the  receipt  of  the  negative,  and  in  case  of  any 
other,  they  shall  proceed  in  the  same  manner. 

IV  Article. 

If  the  appointment  is  accepted  within  twelve  months  from 
he  date  on  which  the  respective  communication  is  received, 
each  one  of  the  contracting  parties  shall  submit  to  the 
arbitrator  its  exposition,  and  the  documents  and  titles  which 
may  be  convenient  for  the  defense  of  its  rights.  The  exposition 
once  presented,  no  addition  to  the  same  shall  be  allowed  unless 
at  the  arbitrator's  request,  as  he  shall  be  invested  with  power 
to  demand  the  necessary[[explanations. 

V  Article. 

The  frontier^shall  be  constituted  by  the  rivers  which  the 
Argentine  Republic  or  Brazil  have  designated,  and  the  arbi- 
trator shall  be  invited  to  decide  in  favor  of  one  of  the  parties 
as  ^he  may  think  just,  in  view  of  the  reasons  and  documents 
produced. 

VI  Article. 

The  decision  shall  be  given  twelve  months  from  the  date 
on  which  the  expositions  shall  have  been  presented,  or  from 
the  most  recent  date  if  the  presentation  of  the  expositions 
should  not  be  made  by  both  parties  at  the  same  time. 

The  decision  shall  be  definite  and  binding,  and  no  alle- 
gation shall  be  admitted  to  oppose  its  accomplishment. 


—  719  — 

VII   Article. 

The  present  treaty  shall  be  ratified,  and  the  ratifications 
shall  be  exchanged  in  the  city  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  within  the 
shortest  time  possible. 

In  testimony  whereof  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  Argen- 
tine RepubUc  and  of  the  Empire  of  Brazil,  sign  the  same 
treaty  and  affix  their  seals  to  it,  in  the  city  of  Buenos  Ayres  on 
the  seventh  day  of  September,  1889. 

N.  QuiRNO  Costa.— Baron  de  Alencar. 

This  treaty,  by  its  nature,  was  comprised  within  the  power  of  the  Crown, 
and  was,  therefore,  definitely  ratified  with  the  Imperial  approbation.  Sub- 
mitted to  the  Argentine  Congress  it  was  sanctioned  without  remark,  though 
not  in  a  hurry,  and  the  exchange  of  ratificaticwis  took  place  in  Rio  de  Janeiro 
on  the  fourth  day  of  November,  on  the  eve  of  the  Empire's  fall. 

The  necessity  and  propriety  of  resolving  the  Misiones  question  by  a  direct 
agreement  was  admitted  by  Brazil  at  the  suggestion  of  its  chancery.  This 
time  the  illustrious  Emperor  showed  his  consistence  with  similar  initiatives  of 
the  Cabinets  of  Don  Pedro  Luis  and  of  Counsellor  Dantas,  communicated 
respectively  to  the  Argentine  plenipotentiaries,  Dominguez  and  Quesada. 
The  Imperial  diplomacy  consecrated  in  a  solemn  treaty  of  direct  compromise 
the  most  effective  means  of  getting  at  the  desired  solution,  without  leaving 
behind  international  asperities  and  susceptibilities  in  ferment. 

XIV 

On'the  ninth  day  of  September,  two  days  after  the  pact  had  been  signed, 
the  Argentine  minister  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  communicated  the  impressions  that 
the  event  had  produced  at  the  Court.     His  words  were  as  follows : 

Your  Excellency  knows,  by  my  telegrams  and  by  those 
which  the  Press  at  Buenos  Ayres  has  surely  received,  the  deep 
impression  caused  at  the  capital  by  the  news  that  the  conven- 
tion of  arbitration  had  been  signed. 

Your  Excellency's  telegraphic  advice  was  received  by 
Counsellor  Diana  and  by  myself  on  the  night  of  the  seventh. 
I  took,  personally,  to  the  Emperor  Your  Excellency's  tele- 
gram, and  he  asked  me  to  read  it  aloud  in  the  presence  of  the 
Minister  of  Staie  and  the  persons  of  the  Court  who  surrounded 
him  at  that  moment.  When  I  had  finished  reading  the  des- 
patch, the  Emperor  pressed  my  hand  effusively  and  requested 
me  to  return  the  noble  greeting  of  His  Excellency,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Republic,  with  the  shortest  possible  delay. 

The  Emperor's  features  revealed  the  merriment  of  his 
mind,  and  this  same  observation  was  made  by  the  persons  to 
whom  I  have  just  referred. 


720    

Senor  Moreno  added  a  scheme  for  a  direct  compromise  or  settlement 
that  had  been  suggested  to  him  by  Counsellor  Diana,  Minister  of  Foreign  Re- 
lations, in  these  terms : 

In  the  course  of  a  conversation  I  had  yesterday  with  Min- 
ister Diana  I  have  observed  that  they  would  accept  a  direct 
settlement  which  would  fix  the  natural  limits,  and  establish 
the  obligation  to  indemnify,  pecuniarily,  the  contracting  party 
who,  by  the  decision  of  the  umpire,  should  have  lost  some 
territory  in  marking  out  the  boundary  line. 

For  instance:  A  line  is  drawn  up  which,  going  from  the 
confluence  of  the  Chapeco,  in  the  Uruguay,  shall  follow  as 
far  as  the  source  of  the  same,  and  continue  through  the  high- 
est part  of  the  boundary  line  of  the  waters,  until  the  sources 
of  the  San  Antonio  Mini  are  found,  the  space  between  the 
Chapeco  the  boundary  line  of  the  waters  and  the  Pepiri 
Mini,  to  belong  to  the  Argentine  Republic. 

A  price  shall  be  set  on  the  square  kilometer  of  the  terri- 
tory in  dispute. 

The  question  of  right  once  resolved  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  kilometric  extent  of  the  whole  dis- 
puted ground  and  of  the  zone  which  shall  be  agreed  upon 
beforehand  for  one  of  the  contracting  parties,  having  been 
accurately  ascertained,  the  most  favored  one,  in  territorial 
extent,  shall  pay  to  the  other  for  the  excess  of  land  received. 

The  foregoing  proposal  is  a  mere  form.  Minister  Diana  has 
given  me  no  detail  whatever.  I  only  mention  the  idea  as  a 
starting  point  to  project  the  settlement  which  we  all  desire, 
and  I  await,  with  great  interest,  the  instructions  which  may 
be  sent  to  me  in  this  respect. 

The  letter  had  reached  Buenos  Ayres  just  when  Dr.  Quirno  Costa  had 
been  transferred  to  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  and  I  had  been  intrusted 
by  the  President  with  the  Portfolio  of  Foreign  Relations. 

The  Argentine  government  was  animated  with  the  generous  impulses 
that  could  lead  to  a  compromise,  honorable  for  both  countries;  but  it  could 
not  forget  the  teachings  of  experience.  Every  time  that  Argentine  diplomacy 
showed  some  interest  in  pushing  the  Misiones  negotiations,  the  Brazilians 
proceeded  slowly.  Furthermore,  the  arbitration  having  been  concerted  as  a 
solution  of  last  recourse,  it  was  logic  not  to  weaken  the  Brazilian  conviction  of 
our  rights  to  the  Misiones,  Therefore  I  called  the  Argentine  Minister  at 
Rio,  who  came  down  to  Buenos  Ayres  at  once,  and  asked  for  a  general  meet- 
ing of  the  Cabinet,  which  took  place  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  October, 
1889,  and  upon  a  strict  examination  of  the  situation,  the  government  approved 
the  plan  which  I  had  the  honor  to  submit,  the  capital  points  of  which  were 
as  follows  : 


721    — 

1.  Not  to  promote  the  direct  settlement,  leaving  its  initiation  to  the 
Brazilian  chancery. 

2.  To  confirm  the  instructions  given  to  the  Argentine  Minister  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  Senor  Moreno,  in  June  of  1885,  according  to  which  his  attitude  was 
to  be  always  reserved,  Hmiting  himself  to  hearing  proposals  and  report  the 
same  to  government. 

3.  To  reject  the  general  form  of  settlement  insinuated  by  the  Minister  of 
Foreign  Relations  of  Brazil,  Counsellor  Diana,  adding  in  a  verbal  counter 
indication,  which  would  be  the  only  possibility  under  which  the  Argentine 
would  listen  to  proposals. 

In  consequence  thereof,  the  government  approved  the  following  instruc- 
tions, which  the  Argentine  Minister  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  received  and  had  to 
comply  with : 

Buenos  Ayres,  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  October,  1889. 

To  the  Argentine  Minister  in  Brazil,  Don  Enrique  R.  Moreno. 

The  treaty  of  arbitration  between  the  Republic  and  the 
Empire  of  Brazil  having  been  approved  and  exchanged,  this 
government  remembers  with  pleasure  that  Your  Excellency 
sent  in  his  confidential  note  of  the  ninth  day  of  September 
last,  a  •  general  form  of  settlement,  which  was  presented  to 
Your  Excellency  by  His  Excellency  Counsellor  Diana,  Minis- 
ter of  Foreign  Relations  of  Brazil. 

Though  said  form,  based  upon  the  pecuniary  indemnifica- 
tion in  favor  of  the  party  that  would  be  injured  by  the  arbitra- 
tion, which  it  leaves  in  force,  is  not  admissible,  this  govern- 
ment thinks  that  His  Majesty  will  not  on  that  account 
t  modify  its  noble  purposes  of  hastening  the  definite  conclusion 

of  the  question,  discussing  other  combinations. 

Therefore  Your  Excellency  ought  to  signify  to  Seiior 
Counsellor  Diana,  referring  to  the  form  of  his  confidential 
note  of  the  ninth  day  of  September,  that  this  government 
does  not  deem  proper  to  make  a  subject  of  pecuniary  indem- 
nification out  of  a  question  which  has  been  always  of  right  for 
the  Republic  ;  but  that  it  would  be  pleased  to  reciprocate 
that  noble  purpose  of  His  Majesty's  government  by  discussing 
a  direct  settlement  upon  the  general  basis,  plain  and  distinct, 
that  a  frontier  shall  be  fixed  which  will  put  an  amicable  end 
to  the  suit.  This  boundary  line  could  pass  through  uneven 
and  known  parts  of  the  territory  in  dispute,  if  it  is  established 
in  a  suitable  manner  for  both  countries. 

In  view  of  the  good  will  and  harmony  of  the  diplomatic 
relations  of  both  nations,  this  government  believes  that  the 
indicated  solution  will  be  easily  attained  ;  and  if  His  Majesty's 
government  should  accept  the  negotiation  in  that  form,  Your 
Excellency  will  propose  to  Counsellor  Diana  the  holding  of  a 
telegraphic  conference  with  the  undersigned  to  fix  the  said 
frontier. 


722    

Your  Excellency  may  hint  in  such  a  case,  that  this  gov- 
ernment is  moved  by  the  desire  of  facilitating  with  generous 
views,  a  fair  solution,  for  it  is  the  aim  of  consolidating  forever 
the  union  of  two  brotherly  people  who  are  bound  by  the  su- 
preme offering  of  blood,  and  by  the  highest  ideals  of  civilization. 
Your  Excellency  may  add,  that  with  such  feelings  we  would 
accept  a  frontier  which  could  be  marked  out  between 

in  the  conference  before  mentioned,  and  the  drawing  of  it 
upon  the  ground  would  be  trusted  to  a  joint  commission. 
Eor  illustration  of  this  part  of  the  instructions  a  plan  is  enclosed, 
sealed  by  the  Sub-Secretary  of  this  Department,  and  which 
will  serve  as  a  basis  to  the  change  of  ideas  which  Your  Excel- 
lency is  authorized  to  pursue.  Your  Excellency  may  insist,  if 
necessary,  in  that  this  government  does  not  deem  it  indispens- 
able, to  treat  the  direct  settlement,  the  termination  of  the 
surveys  that  are  now  being  made  at  the  Misiones. 

Should  the  government  of  His  Majesty  enteitain  different 
views,  Your  Excellency  must  be  reserved,  without  advancing 
any  declaration  in  the  name  of  this  government,  and  com- 
municate the  facts  for  proper  action. 

ESTANISLAO   S.    ZeBALLOS. 


Political  purposes  of  different  nature,  in  connection  with  South  American 
peace  and  civilization,  decided  the  Argentine  government  to  detain  in  Buenos 
Ayres  its  Minister  at  Rio,  in  order  to  combine  the  action  which  was  to  be  com- 
mended to  him  near  the  Imperial  government. 

During  his  stay  at  Buenos  Ayres,  Senor  Moreno  informed  the  Argentine 
government  that  the  Emperor  of  Brazil  and  his  chancery  were  seriously  en- 
gaged in  studying  a  form,  of  direct  settlement,  which  had  been  introduced  in 
the  Cabinet  and  in  the  State  Council  by  the  distinguished  Surveyor  A.  Rebou- 
gas.  Senor  Moreno  added  that  the  division  of  the  territory  by  a  line  that  would 
unite  the  mouths  of  the  rivers  Piquiri  Guazu  (  Chapeco )  and  Chopin,  was  a 
compromise  that  Don  Pedro  would  accept. 

Some  Brazilian  writers  have  ascribed  the  proposition  of  Surveyor  Rebou- 
9as  to  the  Argentine  Minister  Senor  Moreno,  under  Doctor  Quirno  Costa's 
Ministry.  In  the  Jornal  do  Comercio  of  the  tenth  day  of  July,  1891,  it  was 
affirmed  in  letters  on  the  Misiones  question,  by  General  de  Beaurrepaire 
Rohan,  dignitary  of  the  Imperial  Palace,  Viscount  de  Sinimbu,  Marquis  de 
Parnanagud,  Baron  Lsdario,  Viscount  de  San  Luis  de  Maranhas,  and  other 
high  personages. 

However,  the  fact  is  not  true.  Senor  Moreno  could  not  present  any 
basis  for  a  settlement  in  the  name  of  his  government'  contrary  to  the  express 
text  of  his  instructions,  and  against  Doctor  Quirno  Costa's  resolutions  to  locate 
in  Buenos  Ayres  every  negotiation,  which  must  be  initiated  as  an  essential 
condition,  by  the  Brazilian  Minister  near  the  Argentine  government. 


—  723  — 

On  the  other  hand,  the  dose  examination  of  the  correspondence  between 
Senor  Moreno  and  Doctor  Ouirno  Costa,  of  which  I  have  made  abstracts, 
leaves  in  the  mind  a  clear  impression  that  the  initiation  of  the  direct  com- 
promise invariably  started  from  the  Imperial  chancery. 

This  conclusion  is,  furthermore,  confirmed  by  an  authorized  publication 
made  by  the  Jornal  do  Commercio  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  on  the  twenty-fourth  day 
of  July,  1 89 1,  of  which  the  following  is  a  translation  : 

It  has  been  alleged  that  the  Emperor  had  entertained  a 
project  gotten  up  by  Seiior  Andres  Rebougas.  This  project 
consisted  in  the  following: 

a)  The  parallels  shall  be  taken  between  the  four  rivers  Pepiri, 
San  Antonio,  Chapeco  and  Fangada,  and  the  geometrical 
meridian  shall  be  marked  out  by  a  line  of  points. 

b)  To  transfer  it  to  the  ground  and  build  up  a  railroad  on  it, 
to  be  done  by  a  committee  of  five  members,  two  Argentines, 
two  Brazilians  and  one  drawn  by  lot  between  both  countries. 

c)  The  expenses  to  be  equally  divided  by  both  nations,  as  well 
as  the  survey ;  the  profits  to  be  also  divided. 

d)  The  marginal  zones  would  be  neutralized  and  distributed 
in  lots  of  twenty  and  thirty  hectareas  for  settlements  of 
European  immigrants. 

e)  Both  countries  to  be  forbidden  for  ever  to  build  permanent 
or  transitory  fortresses  between  the  rivers  Parana,  Uruguay 
or  Iguazu. 

f)  Both  countries  to  be  bound  to  adopt  as  a  guide  this  pro- 
cedure  of  technical  arbitration  for   all  other  qut-stions   of 
limits. 
This  project  was  exposed  by  Doctor  A.  Rebougas  in  articles 
for  the  daily  papers  of  Portugal  which  were  reproduced  here 
by  the  Diario  do  Cotnmercio  after  the   November  revolution. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  such  project  was  sent  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  Foreign  Relations. 

Doctor  Nilo  Peganha,  national  deputy,  wrote  to  the  Gazeta  de  Noticias,  of 
Rio,  in  connection  with  the  discussion  about  the  existence  of  this  project : 

I  append  below  the  project  of  technical  arbitration  of 
Doctor  Andres  Rebougas,  endorsed  by  the  Emperor  a  few 
months  before  the  revolution  of  the  fifteenth  of  November. 
Had  the  Republic  not  been  proclaimed  on  that  day  the  project 
would  be  converted  into  a  treaty. 

Don  Pedro  found  it  to  be  excellent,  and  referred  it  to  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  through  Baron  de  Loreto,  Min- 
ister of  the  Empire  at  the  time,  and  Viscount  de  Cabo  Frio 
passed  judgment  upon  it. 

It  is,  therefore  an  official  document.        * 


—  724  — 

The  same  author  of  the  project  of  direct  settlement  wrote  this  anecdote, 
which  Deputy  Peganha  reproduces  in  the  article  above  named : 

Time  went  on  in  great  anxiety.  On  the  twenty-fifth  day 
of  May,  1889,  anniversary  of  Argentine  independence,  at  6:30 
P.  M.,  the  Emperor  was  in  his  car  at  the  Petropolis  station  and 
sent  for  me. 

— The  Argentine?  will  accept  the  arbitration,  he  said  with 
jubilant  expression,  worth  a  poem.  I  consider  your  project  an 
excellent  one.  I  handed  it  over  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Relations. 

The  State  Council  took  a  hand  in  this  matter  in  1889.  The  idea  of  doing 
away  with  the  arbitrator  and  to  settle  the  question  directly  by  an  act  of  inter- 
national spontaneousness  was  submitted  to  the  Cabinet  and  to  the  State  Coun- 
cil, according  to  official  data  authorized  by  the  ex-Ministers  of  the  Empire  and 
published  by  the  Press  of  Rio  Janeiro.  The  opinions  of  the  Ministers  and 
members  of  the  State  Council  were  really  published  by  the  Jorttal  do  Com- 
mercio  of  the  tenth  day  of  July,  1891. 

Viscount  of  Ouro  Preto,  President  of  the  last  Imperial  Cabinet,  gave  the 
following  opinion : 

Understanding  that  that  great  interest  does  not  com- 
pensate the  horrors  of  a  war,  especially  under  the  delicate  cir- 
cumstances in  which  the  country  is  placed,  I  think  that  to 
avoid  war,  if  war  is  feared,  which  I  do  not  know,  it  would  be 
advisable  to  compromise  with  the  Argentine  government  under 
the  stipulations  that  I  shall  indicate,  answering  to  the  ques- 
tions set  forth  in  the  advice  of  the  twentieth  instant. 

I  Article.  Is  it  acceptable,  any  proposal  of  compromise 
having  as  a  basis  the  division  of  the  contested  territory, 
particularly  that  which  is  now  made  by  the  Argentine  govern- 
ment ? 

II  Article.  It  being  acceptable,  shall  the  increased  terri- 
tory between  the  Chopin  and  the  Jangada  or  San  Antonio 
Guazu  be  comprised  in  the  transaction  ? 

III  Article.  Does  the  acceptance  of  apy  proposal  of  divis- 
ion require  the  previous  acknowledgment  of  the  intermediate 
territory  ? 

IV  Article.  If  no  proposal  of  compromise  is  to  be  accepted, 
it  would  be  convenient  to  propose  arbitration  to  the  Argentine 
government. 


—  725  — 

To  the  I  Article,  I  reply  :  A  compromise,  having  as  a 
basis  the  division  of  the  territory  in  dispute,  is  acceptable; 
though  not  as  is  proposed  by  the  Argentine  government,  but  as 
counselled  by  the  learned  Baron  de  Cabo  Frio. 

To  the  II  Article:  The  increased  territory  between  the 
Jangada  and  the  Chopin  should  not  be  comprised  in  the  com- 
promise, for  it  would  amount  to  accede  to  the  claim,  so  far  not 
presented  by  the  Argentine  Republic,  and  render  possible  for 
the  same  the  acquisition  of  a  larger  area  than  the  one  claimed. 

To  the  III  Article:  The  acceptance  of  any  proposal  of 
division  does  not  require  the  previous  acknowledgment  of  the 
intermediate  territory. 

To  the  IV  Article  :  Yes.  If  there  be  a  well-founded  fear 
of  war,  it  would  be  convenient  to  propose  arbitration  to  the 
Argentine  government. 

I  have  demonstrated  the  error  of  ascribing  the  initiation  of  this  form  of 
compromise  to  the  Argentine  government.  The  Argentine  minister  simply 
sustains  the  general  idea  plead  by  Sehor  Rebougas,  and  as  a  starting  point  for 
discussion. 

Viscount  de  San  Luis  of  Maranhao,  in  reply  to  those  questions  set  forth, 
as  indicated  by  the  Chief  of  the  Imperial  Cabinet,  to  consult  the  judgment  of 
the  State  Council,  adhered  to  the  opinion  of  Viscount  of  Cabo  Frio,  and 
thought  that  "Brazil  ought  not  to  oppose  any  reasonable  proposal  of  com- 
promise, tending  to  the  division  of  the  territory."     He  added  : 

Notwithstanding  the  full  conviction  of  our  rights,  and 
even  with  loss  of  a  part  of  the  territory  which  legally  belong  to 
us,  and  for  which  we  have  been  claiming  incessantly,  we  can- 
not use  any  other  policy ;  but  it  is  necessary  that  the  agree- 
ment to  be  entered  into,  shall  be  governed  by  the  principles  of 
equality,  imposing  sacrifices  on  both  parties,  so  that  none 
shall  be  benefited  ar  the  expense  of  the  other,  thus  offending 
the  dignity  of  the  nation. 

Counsellor  Manuel  Francisco  Correia  expressed  his  opinion  in  this 
manner : 

First  Question.  Is  it  acceptable,  any  proposition  of  com- 
promise having  as  a  basis  the  division,  of  the  contested  terri- 
tory, and  particularly  that  which  the  government  does  now 
make  ? 

It  is  not  a  matter  that  can  be  rejected  in  limine  in  the 
solution  of  the  question  of  limits,  any  proposal  having  as  a 
basis  the  division  of  the  contested  territory.  The  question  lies 
in  the  fixation  of  the  extreme  points,  in  view  of  which  the 
boundary  line  is  to  be  drawn  up,  or,  in  other  words,  in  the 
just  division  of  the  territory  in  dispute. 


—  726  — 

Viscount  ofCabo  Frio,  Sub-Secretary  of  the  Department  of  Foreign  Rela- 
tions, who  has  kept,  in  that  capacity,  the  records  of  the  Misiones  suit,  and 
whose  competence  is  respected  by  Brazilians  of  the  Empire  and  of  the  Repub- 
lic, was  also  an  advocate  of  the  direct  settlement,  dividing  the  contested 
territory  by  a  natural  line,  excluding  the  fraction  of  territory  comprised  be- 
tween the  Jangada  and  the  Chopin. 

Finally,  the  national  Deputy,  Brigadier-General  Dionisio  de  Castro  Cer- 
queira,  commissioner  of  limits,  solemnly  affirms  in  a  letter  published  by  the 
Jornal  do  Cominercio  of  the  twenty-fiirst  day  of  July,  1891,  that  in  starting  for 
the  exploration  of  the  Jangada,  or  San  Antonio  Guazu  de  Oyarvide,  in  1889, 
he  went  10  the  Emperor,  to  receive  his  orders,  and  the  latter  told  him  in  the 
presence  of  several  personages : 

Now,  go  and  finish  that  as  quick  as  possible ;  we  can 
resolve  the  question  ourselves  without  having  recourse  to  a 
third  party.     We  do  not  need  any  arbitrator. 

These  antecedents,  briefly  told,  show  that  neither  the  Argentine  Repub- 
lic nor  its  Minister  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  made  clear  proposals  for  a  direct  settle- 
ment. The  idea  concerned  statemen  of  the  Empire  since  the  times  of  Domin- 
guez'  Legation,  as  has  been  demonstrated.  The  consultation  of  the  State 
Council,  made  in  the  general  terms  of  the  four  questions  made  known  by  Vis- 
count of  Ouro  Preto,  was  not  provoked  by  the  Argentine  government,  but  by 
the  necessity  of  the  Imperial  government  to  be  prepared  for  the  direct  settle- 
ment within  ninety  days,  fixed  for  the  stipulated  basis  of  the  treaty  of  the 
seventh  day  of  September. 

The  ministers  and  counsellors  of  the  Empire  disclosed  in  that  meeting 
the  fundamental  purpose  to  exclude  war  from  the  possible  solutions,  preferring 
the  direct  settlement,  if  the  Argentine  Republic  had  maintained  it  as  a  con- 
dition of  peace.  This  political  plan  is  explicitly  told  in  the  words  of  the 
President  of  the  Cabinet,  Viscount  de  Ouro  Preto. 


XV 


The  capital  point  of  the  initiative  of  direct  settlement  being  rectified,  the 
Cabinet  needs  also  to  4Jsprove  fundamentally  a  grave  imputation  cast  upon 
the  Argentine  Minister  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Seiior  Moreno,  with  which  it  has 
been  tried,  or  perhaps  it  is  being  tried,  to  belittle  the  strength  of  our  rights  to 
the  territory  of  Misiones. 

The  President  of  the  Republic  has  referred  in  his  message  of  May  to  the 
solemn  debate  which  took  place  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  upon  the  occasion  of  the 
treaty  Zeballos-Bacayuva.  General  Cunha  Mattos,  governor  of  Matte  G rosso, 
a  prominent  political  entity  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  took  part  in  the  discussion, 
publishing  in  the   Jornal  do   Commercio,    of   the  nineteenth  day  of   July,. 


—  727  — 

1 89 1,  a  letter  in  which  he  affirmed  that  Senor  Moreno  had  declared  in  a  con- 
ference, that  the  Argentine  Republic  had  no  rights  to  the  Misiones.  General 
Cunha  Mattos  further  said,  that  he  had  heard  the  assertion  from  the  lips  of 
the  Empire's  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  Counsellor  Diana,  who  had 
received  from  the  Argentine  Minister  that  candid  confession.  These  are  the 
words  of  the  letter : 

The  former,  Counsellor  Diana,  speaking  with  me  at 
Montevideo  in  the  latter  part  of  December,  1889,  about  the 
news  published  by  daily  papers  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  that  the 
cession  of  a  part  of  our  territory  to  the  Argentine  Confed- 
eration had  been  decided  upon,  and  that  Seiior  Quintino 
Bocayuva  was  to  sign  the  treaty,  to  do  which  he  was  about  to 
leave,  said  to  me  : 

"The  Cabinet  of  the  seventh  day  of  June,  of  which  I 
was  a  member,  left  this  matter  on  the  best  possible  footing. 
Proved  as  our  rights  to  the  contested  territory  are,  in  the 
most  conclusive  manner,  we  acquiesced  in  the  survey  of  the 
Jangada  at  Minister  Moreno's  request,  partly  because  those 
rights  would  be  re-affirmed,  and  partly  because  it  was  neces- 
sary that  some  concession  should  be  made  to  Moreno,  who 
appeared  disposed  to  recognize  otir  right,  regardless  of  the 
arbitration,  going  so  far  as  to  declare  to  jne,  that  he  only 
made  a  point  to  sign  the  definite  treaty,  the  greatest  sef  vice 
he  could  render  to  his  cotititry,  insuring  to  it  a  perpetual 
peace  with  Brazil. " 

On  the  twenty-first  day  of  July  the  Jornal  do  Commercio  published  a 
new  letter  from  General  Cunha  Mattos,  ratifying  the  foregoing  statement : 

His  Lordship's  conclusion,  he  said,  is  not  founded  on 
logic,  it  being  utterly  baseless,  and  if  those  words  conceal  any 
thought,  it  is  none  other  but  the  confirmation  of  what  Coun- 
sellor Diana  said  to  me — that  is,  that  our  right  to  the  contested 
ground  would  be  recognized  by  Minister  Moreno,  in  which 
Captain  Guillobel  agrees  with  me,  for  on  the-  eighteenth, 
after  the  letter  I  sent  to  Your  Excellency  had  been  written, 
when  1  spoke  to  him  of  it,  he  declared  that  he  knew  it  to  be 
true,  adding : 

'■^Minister  Moreno  said  that  he  had  no  authority  to 
speak  in  writing  of  our  rights,  but  that  he  would  do  so  ver- 
bally:' 

Baron  Ladario,  the  last  Minister  of  the  Empire,  assumed  a  serious  atti- 
tude in  this  incident,  bringing  all  the  weight  of  his  authority,  official  and 


—  728  — 

moral,  on  behalf  of  the  preceding  affirmation.  In  a  letter,  replying  to  another 
from  Commissioner  Cerqueira,  which  he  addressed  to  the  Jortial  do  Com- 
mercio  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  July,  1 891,  he  said  : 

The  second  point,  which  is  just  the  most  convenient 
for  the  discussion  to  which  he  has  been  dragged  by  the 
strength  of  the  Press,  refers  to  certain  conversation  had  in 
Montevideo  in  the  latter  part  of  1890,  between  the  last  Min- 
ister of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Monarchy,  and  the  learned 
General  Cunha  Mattos,  in  regard  to  a  proposal  from  Senor 
Enrique  Moreno,  made  to  that  Minister,  my  colleague  in  the 
Cabinet,  to  put  an  end  to  the  suit,  the  Argentine  Republic 
recognizing  our  rights  to  the  frontier  already  accepted  by  the 
same  in  1857,  leaving  the  arbitration  aside. 

This  is  exactly  true.  I  assure  it  under  word  exempted 
from  passions,  and  not  liable  to  be  falsified.  When  the  said 
diplomat  (Senor  Moreno)  was  here,  1  related  the  fact  in  the 
columns  of  La  Tribuna,  and  I  was  not  replied  to. 

1  have  repeatedly  asserted,  an  J  do  now  declare,  that  the 
Cabinet  of  the  seventh  day  of  July  assembled,  took  notice  of 
the  said  resolution,  and  whence  the  trumpet  call  for  the  mili- 
tary uprising  announced  the  downfall  of  the  Monarchy.  That 
is  the  reason  why  this  other  service  rendered  by  the  over- 
thrown government  was  not  construed  to  have  been  done  for 
the  good  of  the  country.  If  the  revolution  had  not  beeti  suc- 
cessful, Senor  Moreno^ s  proposal  would  have  been  made  a  law 
for  both  adjoining  countries.  * 

On  the  nineteenth  day  of  February,  1892,  the  said  illustrious  personage 
recommended  the  topic,  and  published  in  the  Jornal  do  Cominercio  a  trans- 
cendent article  after  a  second  series  of  studies  on  the  question  of  Misiones. 
The  title  of  the  article  reveals  its  contents  Nosso  direito  reconhecido  ja  (our 
right  recognized). 

He  insists  upon  the  universal  belief  among  Brazilian  statesmen,  that 
Senor  Moreno  had  made,  in  the  name  of  his  government,  declarations  favor- 
able to  the  rights  of  Brazil,  to  excite'  its  equity  in  a  direct  settlement.  He 
closed  with  these  words,  similar  to  those  written  in  1891. 

Now  then,  there  is  no  doubt  that  when  the  revolution- 
ary trumpets  greeted  the  new  situation  of  the  '  order  and 
progress,'  the  Monarchy  had  heard  with  pleasure  the  candid 
confession  that  our  cause  (still  in  dispute)  had  been  recognized 
to  be  just  by  the  opposing  party,  which  thus  surrendered  itself 
honorably  to  reason. 

*  Baron  de  Ladario  has  published  his  articles  in  a  book  edited  at  Rio  de  Janeiro 
in  1891. 


—  729  — 

The  authority  of  the  two  Ministers  of  the  Empire,  and  of  high-rank 
officers  of  the  army,  bent  upon  attributing  the  incredible  attitude  to  Minister 
Moreno,  caused  a  deep  impression  in  Brazil.  Senator  Bocayuva  and  General 
Cerqueira  rectified  such  assertions  founded  upon  reasons  of  common  sense ; 
but  their  authors  insisted,  and  the  Argentine  government  had  to  interfere, 
foreseeing  ulterior  unpleasantness  from  the  incident. 

Dr.  Don  Eduardo  Costa  was  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argen- 
tine Republic,  when  the  categorical  assertion  of  the  ex-minister,  Baron  de 
Ladario,  was  published  in  July,  1891. 

Minister  Senor  Moreno  had  petition  to  be  transferred  from  Brazil  to 
Montevideo,  and  rendered  his  services  in  the  said  capital. 

Dr.  Costa  sent  him  a  note  on  the  eleventh  day  of  August  of  last  year, 
calling  his  attention  to  the  words  of  the  Empire's  Minister,  adding : 

Therefore,  and  understanding  that  the  affirmations  of 
Senor  Baron  de  Ladario  injure  your  character  of  plenipoten- 
tiary of  the  Argentine  Republic,  I  expect  that  Your  Excel- 
lency will  kindly  inform  me  as  to  their  truthfulness,  or  state 
by  virtue  of  what  instructions  Your  Excellency  has  pro- 
ceeded. 

Seiior  Moreno  had  spontaneously  written  in  advance  to  the  Minister  of 
Foreign  Relations,  the  letters  crossing  each  other  on  the  way.  He  says  in 
his  letter  of  the  twelfth  of  the  said  month : 

I  understand  that  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  alone 
has  the  right  and  the  obligation  to  make  himself  heard  before 
Congress  when  circumstances  so  require.  All  the  antecedents 
of  the  negotiation  are  recorded  in  the  department,  and  it  can 
be  seen  there  that  Senor  Baron  de  Ladario's  affirmation  is 
absurd.  When  Sefior  Baron  de  Ladario  was  called  to  the 
Department  of  the  Navy,  in  the  Cabinet  of  which  Viscount 
de  Ouro  Preto  was  President,  the  arbitration  had  been  agreed 
upon  with  the  previous  Cabinet  under  the  Presidency  of 
Counsellor  Joao  Alfredo  Correia  de  Oliveira.  Senor  Diana, 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  only  declared  that  he  accepted 
what  had  been  agreed  with  Senor  Rodrigo  Silva,  Minister  of 
Foreign  Relations  of  the  previous  Cabinet,  and  by  virtue  of 
this  declaration  the  project,  written  out  in  Rio,  was  sent  to 
Buenos  Ayres,  and  there  signed  on  the  seventh  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1889. 

How  can  it  be  supposed  that,  the  arbitration  being  stip- 
ulated, and  upon  the  eve  of  a  new  convention  which  divided 
the  contested  territory,  there  should  be  anything  said  of  giv- 
ins;  all  to  Brazil  ? 


nariVBRsiTTi 


—  730  — 

The  affirmation  is  manifestly  absurd.  I  have  never 
spoken  wth  Baron  de  Ladario  about  the  Misiones  question. 
He  had  the  report  from  some  intermediary  who  did  not  speak 
to  me,  either,  but  heard  it  from  a  third  party. 

It  is  noticeable  that  Sen  or  Moreno  was  not  informed  of  the  debate  held 
at  Rio  de  Janeiro  upon  the  treaty  of  Montevideo  ;  for  he  ascribes  to  Baron 
de  Ladario  the  responsibility  of  an  affirmation  that  the  latter  and  the  other 
actors  in  the  incident  attribute  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the 
Empire,  Counsellor  Diana. 

However,  his  word  is  explicit  and  fully  ratifies  the  dangerous  incident, 
whatever  its  origin  may  have  been.  It  is  certainly  not  customary  in  diplo- 
matic life,  that  statesmen  should  resort  to  procedures  and  fictions  of  a  strange 
nature  to  disavow  the  action  of  plenipotentiaries  from  friendly  countries. 

XVI 

The  new  Republic  was  looked  upon,  in  America  and  in  Europe,  with 
reserve.  The  Argentine  government  hastened  to  produce  an  act  which 
broke  such  vacillations,  initiating,  at  the  same  time,  a  transcendental  South 
American  policy  with  regard  to  the  November  revolution. 

The  Argentine  Republic  was,  in  fact,  the  first  country  which  recognized 
the  advent  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil,  and  held  diplo- 
matic intercourse  with  the  same  by  virtue  of  the  decree  of  the  third  day  of 
December,  1889,  which  the  Brazilian  people  hailed  with  joy,  as  the  most  fi<-m 
support  in  those  initial  and  solemn  moments.  The  republican  government 
gave  testimony  of  this  patriotic  feeling  causing  the  Argentine  colors  to  be 
hoisted  to  the  mainmast  of  its  men-of-war  to  salute  them  with  the  royal 
homage  of  the  guns.     The  Argentine  decree  said  : 

Department 

OF 

Foreign  Relations. 

Buenos  Ayres,  the  third  day  of  December,  1889. 

Whereas,  the  Brazilian  people  has  proclaimed  the  repub- 
lic in  substitution  of  the  monarchical  system,  in  the  only 
region  of  South  America  where  it  has  been  maintained  since 
the  liberating  cry  of  May,  uttered  in  1810  in  the  city  of 
Buenos  Ayres ; 

That  this  event  strengthens  and  exalts  human  aspiration 
at  free  institutions,  not  only  for  establishing  the  same  in  a 
great  State  of  monarchical  traditions,  but  on  account  of  the 
gentle,  sober  and  magnanimous  manner  with  which  public 
opinion  has  worked  up  the  transition,  without  the  violence  or 
the  abuse  of  victory  hurting  the  human  feelings  of  Brazil  and 
of  the  world ; 


—  7^^  — 

That  while  the  Argentine  Republic  always  maintained 
sincere  and  cordial  relations  with  the  monarch  Don  Pedro  II, 
she  cannot  look  with  indifference  at  the  crowning  of  the 
South  American  institutional  revolution  outspreaded  by  San 
Martin  and  Bolivar  at  the  head  of  the  liberating  armies 
which,  starting  from  the  shores  of  the  Plata  and  from  the 
coasts  of  the  Caribean  sea,  passed  through  the  highest  moun- 
tains to  meet  at  the  immortal  rendezvous  upon  the  field  of 
Ayacucho ; 

That  the  fact  of  the  Brazilian  Republic  adopting  the 
federal  form  for  which  the  Argentines  struggled  until  they 
had  it  incorporated  into  their  fundamental  law,  exalts  in  their 
estimation  the  prestige  of  the  revolution  which  has  pro- 
claimed the  United  States  of  Brazil ; 

That  the  mutual  feelings  of  sympathy  that  the  people 
and  governments  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  and  of  Brazil 
have  frequently  shown  to  each  other,  are  strengthened  before 
the  community  of  political  ideals  and  institutions,  created  by 
the  events  of  the  fifteenth  day  of  November; 

That  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  the  same  month,  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Republic  resolved  to  continue  its  diplomatic 
relations  with  the  United  States  of  Brazil,  in  recognition  of 
its  soverignty ; 

That  upon  this  date.  His  Excellency  Envoy  Extraordi- 
nary and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  Brazil,  has  presented  to 
the  government  the  circular  of  the  Department  of  Foreign 
Relations  of  his  country,  dated  the  nineteenth  day  of  Novem- 
ber, informing  all  nations  the  proclamation  of  the  United 
States  of  Brazil,  accompanying  an  autographic  letter  from  the 
Chief  of  the  Executive  Power,  accrediting  Baron  de  Alencar 
to  continue  in  the  discharge  of  his  high  functions,  exalts  its 
prestige  in  their  estimation. 

The  President  of  the  Republic  by  resolution  of  the  Cabinet 
does  hereby  decree  : 

I  Article. — To  celebrate,  in  the  usual  form  ordered  by 
this  session,  the  advent  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States 
of  Brazil,  fixing  for  such  purpose  the  eighth  day  of  Decem- 
ber. 

II  Article. — The  national  flag  shall  be  hoisted  upon  all 
public  establishments,  fortresses  and  men-of-war  of  the  nation. 

III  Article. — The  vessels  of  the  national  navy  in  the 
ports  of  the  Republic  and  abroad  shall  make  a  display  of 
bunting,  and  do  the  highest  honor  prescribed  by  the  ordi- 
nances in  this  case. 


—  732  — 

IV  Article. — The  administration  of  the  capital  of  the 
Republic  shall  be  invited  to  make,  on  the  night  of  the  said 
day,  the  illumination  of  the  streets,  squares  and  public  monu- 
ments, and  to  induce  the  public  to  adorn  and  illuminate  the 
private  buildings. 

V  Article. — The  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  shall 
pay  a  visit  to  His  Excellency,  the  Envoy  Extraordinary  and 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  Brazil,  and  present  to  him  the 
good  wishes  of  the  Argentine  Republic  for  the  welfare  of  his 
country  in  her  new  political  life. 

VI  Article. — This  resolution  shall  be  specially  commu- 
nicated to  His  Excellency  the  Minister  of  Brazil,  and  trans- 
mitted by  the  wires  to  the  Minister  of  the  Argentine  Repub- 
lic, at  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

VII  Article. — The  governors  of  provinces  and  territories 
of  the  nation  shall  be  invited  to  join  in  this  celebration. 

VIII  Article. — It  is  ordered  that  a  copy  of  this  resolution 
shall  be  sent  to  the  Ministers  of  the  Interior  and  of  War  and 
Navy,  for  its  due  performance,  in  so  far  as  they  are  concerned. 

IX  Article. — It  is  ordered  that  this  resolution  shall  be 
communicated,  published  and  placed  in  the  national  record. 

JURAREZ  CELMAN. 

— ESTANISLAO  S.  ZEBALLOS — N.    QUIRNO 

Costa — W.     Pacheco — Filemon 
Posse — E.  Racedo. 

This  measure,  taken  spontaneously,  had  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  a  deep  politi- 
cal impression.  Senor  Bocayuva  has  so  recognized  it  in  latter  publications, 
and  the  mind  of  Brazilian  statesmen  of  the  revolution  was  inclined  to  realize 
acts  of  a  spontaneous  and  sincere  confraternity  with  the  Argentine  Republic. 

The  Argentine  government,  on  its  part  affirmed  the  instructions  given  to 
Seiior  Moreno  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  October,  and  when  it  considered 
that  the  new  Republic  had  been  definitely  established  and  in  regular  relations 
with  the  other  States,  the  chancery  at  Buenos  Ayres  sent  to  Senor  Moreno 
the  following  dispatch  : 

Buenos  Ayies,  the  second  day  of  December,  1890. 

Keep  oh  diplomatic  service,  as  i>er  instructions  received 
by  Your  Excellency  in  this  city. 

Let  me  know  any  change  with  regard  to  the  authority  I 
give  Your  Excellency  in  this  telegram. 

E.  S.  Zeballos. 


—  733  — 

The  negotiations  for  a  direct  settlement  had  been  left  in  abeyance  at  the 
downfall  of  the  Monarchy,  in  accordance  with  its  acceptance  on  principle,  by 
the  treaty  of  the  seventh  day  of  September,  and  within  the  precise  term  indi- 
cated to  Senor  Moreno  to  hear  and  transmit  Brazil's  propositions  by  the 
instructions  of  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  October. 

Therefore,  upon  receipt  of  the  said  telegram,  Sehor  Moreno  had  a  con- 
ference with  Senor  Bocayuva,  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  to  inform  him 
of  the  status  of  the  negotiation  of  Misiones  at  the  moment  of  the  proclamation 
of  the  Republic.  Minister  Bocayuva,  being  notified  of  the  fact,  politely  dis- 
continued the  negotiation. 

In  a  series  of  articles,  published  in  1892  in  O  Paiz  of  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
under  the  head  of  Na  Defensiva,  the  said  Minister  says  : 

I  replied  to  Your  Excellency,  that  the  moment  did  not 
seem  to  me  the  most  appropriate  to  treat  such  a  grave  and 
discussed  subject ;  but  that  in  my  capacity  of  member  of  the 
provisional  government,  having  in  charge  the  Department  of 
Foreign  Relations  of  the  Republic,  I  could  not  excuse  myself, 
officially,  to  accept  any  diplomatic  motion  made  by  Your 
Excellency,  or  by  any  other  representative  of  a  foreign  or 
friendly  power. 

At  the  sitting  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  of  Brazil,  which  took  place  on 
the  sixth  day  of  August,  1891,  to  discuss  the  Bocayuva-Zeballos  treaty,  the 
eminent  Brazilian  republican  confirmed  that  assertion. 

The  published  abstracts  read  as  follows  : 

Your  Excellency  postponed  the  question,  thinking  that 
it  was  premature  at  the  moment  of  a  struggle  against  serious 
internal  difficulties. 

Upon  subsequent  examination  of  the  advantages  result- 
ing for  the  American  policy,  and  especially  for  the  interna- 
tional policy  which  Brazil  must  sustain  on  this  part  of  Amer- 
ica, Your  Excellency  judged  that  it  was  really  of  national 
convenience  to  resolve  this  question,  so  that  the  relations 
between  both  people  should  remain  deep-rooted. 

He  added  that  he  had  asked  of  Seiior  Moreno  an  official  communication, 
note,  or  a  statement  about  the  antecedents  he  had  furnished  him. 

The  Argentine  Minister  was  not  authorized  by  the  instructions  of  the 
twenty-eighth  day  of  October,  reiterated  by  the  telegram  of  the  second  day 
of  December,  to  make  official  propositions  to  Brazil,  but  to  hear  the  latter's 
proposals,  and  to  make  known,  as  a  kind  of  reply,  upon  what  terms  his  gov- 
ernment would  accept  the  direct  settlement.  •  He,  therefore,  confined  himself 
to  hand  Senor  Bocayuva  a  statement  containing  the  overtures  for  a  settle- 
ment, initiated  by  the  Ministers  of  the  Empire,  Senores  Rodrigo  da  Silva  y 
Diana. 


—  734  — 

Senor  Bocayuva  has-  published  this  Pro  Memoria  or  statement,  and  the 
enemies  of  the  treaty  have  attributed  to  it,  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  the  character 
of  an  initiative  of  the  Argentine  government,  anxious  to  settle  the  matter  on 
account  of  weakness  of  titles. 

It  is,  nevertheless,  a  manifest  error.  The  Pro  Memoria  is  a  private  act, 
common  among  diplomatists,  to  prepare  an  official  motion.  It  does  not  bind 
the  governments,  nor  even  the  diplomatists,  except  when  the  points  in  ques- 
tion leave  this  personal  situation  to  assume  public  character.  Senor  Moreno 
did  so  understand  it,  for  he  did  not  communicate  that  document  to  the 
Argentine  government  which  only  had  cognizance  of  it  by  Senor  Bocayuva's 
publication,  made  after  the  rejection  of  the  treaty. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  said  Pro  Memoria  simply  explains  which  were 
the  forms  of  the  direct  settlement  suggested,  or  openly  presented  by  the 
Monarchy,  indicating  that  the  Argentine  government  would  accept  the 
proposition  indicated  by  the  Emperor  to  Viscount  de  Ouro  Preto,  uniting 
the  mouths  of  the  rivers  Chapeco  (Pequiri  Guazii)  and  Chopin. 

On  the  first  day  of  January,  1890,  Senor  Moreno  presented  to  his 
government  the  first  report  confirming  the  personal  and  private  character  of 
the  interviews  with  Sefior  ^ocayuva.     He  said  : 

I  have  not  deemed  it  necessary  to  communicate,  ere 
this,  the  course  pursued  by  the  negotiation  to  attain  the 
direct  settlement  of  the  Misiones  question,  y&r  what  had  beeti 
done  was  limited  to  private  conversations,  interchange  of 
ideas  and  vague  indications. 

Shall  we  resolve  the  Misiones  question  through  a  direct 
understanding,  or  submit  it  to  the  arbitration  agreed  upon 
by  the  treaty  of  the  seventh  day  of  September  ? 

The  Ministers  were  unanimously  in  favor  of  the  direct 
settlement,  and  the  Marshal  expressed  his  satisfaction  at 
that  unanimity  of  opinions,  for  he  thought  that  both  Argen- 
tines and  Brazilians  must  not  resort  to  strangers  to  settle  our 
question  of  limits. 

Seiior  Bocayuva  confirms  this  version  in  the  publication  already  men- 
tioned, Na  Defensiva,  and  adds : 

The  matter  was  then  definitely  resolved,  agreeing  upon 
the  celebration  of  the  treaty  in  the  terms  in  which  it  was 
concluded.  All  these  details  are  recorded  in  the  minute 
books  of  the  Provisional  Government,  which  must  be  in  pos- 
session of  Marshal  Deodoro.  Access  to  this  book  is  easy  to 
anybody  wishing  to  read  it.  It  will  be  seen  that  in  the 
resolution  of  the  Misiones  question  there  was,  in  the  way  the 
treaty  was  made,  a  perfect  and  absolute  conformity  of 
opinions  on  the  part  of  all  the  Ministers,  without  a  single 
exception. 


—  735  — 

The  official  initiation  of  this  settlement  corresponds,  therefore,  to 
Brazil,  which,  on  learning  through  the  Argentine  Minister  the  situation  in 
which  the  Misiones  question  rested  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  November,  unani- 
mously agreed  on  its  continuation. 

The  government  communicated  this  officially  to  the  nation,  when  the 
celebration  of  the  treaty  was  made  known,  in  an  article  published  under  the 
head  of  A  questdo  de  Misiones  in  the  Diario  oficial  of  the  eighteenth  day  of 
February,  1890,  reading: 

The  Provisional  Government  having  found,  among  the 
spoils  of  the  Monarchy,  and  pending  the  solution  relative  to 
the  territory  of  Misiones,  deemed  it  convenient  to  examine  it 
at  once,  in  order  to  resolve  it  in  accordance  with  the  dictates 
of  patriotism,  which  amounts  to  saying:  in  harmony  with 
the  great  interests  of  the  nations. 

Placed  before  a  diplomatic,  quarrel  of  unquestionable 
importance,  and  which  imposed  itself  with  a  certain  urgency 
towards  a  speedy  decision,  just  because  it  had  been  the  sub- 
ject of  prejudices  of  the  old  rule  in-  its  last  days  of  existence, 
the  present  government  resolved,  by  the  initiative  and  sugges- 
tion of  the  respective  Minister  to  examine  it  at  full  length, 
submitting  it  to  discussion  in  successive  conferences,  in  which 
its  members  had  occasion  to  study  its  different  features,  and 
give  their  opinion  as  to  how  it  should  be  best  resolved.  It 
was  from  there,  from  the  bosom  of  governmental  collective- 
ness,  stamped  with  the  seal  of  the  most  complete  common 
understanding,  that  the  resolution  emanated,  by  virtue  of 
which  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  had  to  proceed  to 
Montevideo,  the  place  selected  for  the  meeting  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Brazilian  and  Argentine  governments. 

Senor  Bocayuva  further  says  : 

Ever  since  resolutions  were  passed  upon  the  subject  and 
its  celebration  agreed  upon,  I  was,  quite  naturally,  obliged 
to  confer  directly  through  the  wires  with  my  illustrious  col- 
league, the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Argentine 
Republic. 

That  conference  was  inevitable,  because  we  had  to  agree 
on  certain  essential  points  of  the  negotiation  so  that  its  ter- 
mination could  be  arrived  at,  that  the  treaty  might  be  signed 
by  me  in  the  name  of  the  Provisional  government,  and  by 
the  Argentine  plenipotentiary  in  the  name  of  his  government, 

* 
The  instructions  of  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  October  and  the  sealed  and 


—  736  — 

signed  map  received  at  Buenos  Ayres  by  Seiior  Moreno,  pointed  out  the  zone 
within  which  the  line  of  compromise  accepted  by  the  Argentine  Republic 
should  be  drawn. 

In  this  zone  was  comprised  the  boundary  lines  proposed  by  the  Emperor, 
uniting  the  mouths  of  the  rivers  Chopin  and  Pequiri  Guazu,  and  Senor  Boca- 
yuva  accepted  it  in  his  conferences  with  Senor  Moreno,  thus  fixing,  by  agree- 
ment of  both  governments,  a  general  basis  for  a  treaty. 

The  Argentine  Minister,  in  his  letter  of  the  first  day  of  January,  above 
named,  said : 

Ministers  Rui  Barboza,  Campo  Sales,  Demetrio  Ribeiro 
and  Aristides  Lobo  were  in  accord,  provided  the  follow- 
ing was  declared  in  the  treaty :  "If,  upon  drawing  the 
boundarj'^  line,  it  should  turn  out  that  either  Argentine  or 
Brazilian  settlers  remain  respectively  within  the  Brazilian  or 
Argentine  frontier,  the  contracting  parties  bind  themselves 
to  recognize  the  right  or  possession,  and  to  grant  to  the  occu- 
pant a  deed  of  property  or  ownership,  on  condition  that  the 
latter  shall  prove  that  he  has  been  a  settler  at  least  one 
year  prior  to  the  date  of  this  treaty.  The  evidence  for  the 
justification  of  such  a  privilege  shall  be  taken  by  a  joint  com- 
mission appointed  to  fix  the  drawing  of  the  line. 

In  his  telegram  of  the  fourth,  Sefior  Moreno  asked  full  power  to  sign  the 
treaty  in  due  time.  In  reply  to  these  communications  I  sent  him  the  follow- 
ing message : 

Buenos  Ayres,  the  third  day  of  January,  1890. 

Significance  of  news  transmitted  pleases  highly.  Com- 
plying with  instructions,  arrange  day  and  hour  for  telegraphic 
conference  with  Minister  of  that  government,  Your  Excel- 
lency carrying  plan  signed  by  this  department. 

ESTANISLAO    S.    ZEBALLOS. 

The  conference  took  place  on  the  seventh  day  of  January.  On  the  same 
day  Senor  Bocayuva  asked  the  Argentine  Minister  to  transmit  to  his  govern- 
ment the  general  ideas  serving  as  a  basis  to  the  conference.     Those  were : 

I  Article. — To  fix  the  line  from  the  mouth  and  right 
border  of  the  Chapeco  (Pequiri  Guazu)  in  the  Uruguay,  as  far 
as  the  mouth  and  left  border  of  the  Chopin  in  the  I  guazu. 

Between  these  extremes  the  greatest  unevenness  of  the 
ground  shall  be  followed  up  where  it  may  be  possible  to  do 
so,  contrariwise  a  straight  line  shall  be  drawn,  understanding 
that  Chapeco  and  Chopin  remain  in  Brazilian  territory. 


—  737  — 

II  Article. — To  recognize  the  possession  of  settlers. 

III  Article. — Both  countries  shall,  in  proper  time,  agree 
upon  organizing  a  commission  to  propose  the  line  referred  to 
in  I  Article. 

(Continuation  of  the  telegram  incomprehensible.) 

Though  Sefior  Moreno  in  his  telegram  of  the  sixth  said  that  in  his  con- 
ferences with  Sefior  Bocayuva  he  had  closely  adhered  to  the  instructions  of 
October,  the  Argentine  government  could  not  decide,  owing  to  the  vagueness 
of  these  clauses,  for  a  painful  experience  in  matters  of  South  American  limits 
reminded  him  of  the  fact  that  the  ambiguity  of  a  phrase,  or  the  lack  of  pre- 
cision in  the  lines,  have  been  and  still  are  sources  of  new  and  serious  conflicts 
when  that  which  is  treated  picturesquely  in  the  Cabinet,  fs  drawn  upon  the 
ground.  Consequently  it  was  i%solved  that  the  treaty  shoujd  be  framed  in 
personal  conference  with  the  Ministers  of  Foreign  Relations  of  both  countries, 
if  it  could  not  be  done  by  telegraph,  in  order  to  avoid  future  difficulties. 
My  predecessor.  Dr.  Quirno  Costa,  engaged  himself  to  go  to  Rio  de  Janeiro 
with  such  purpose  in  view,  but  I  thotight  it  more  convenient  that  the  Minister 
of  Brazil  should  know  the  Argentine  Republic,  and  carry  favorable  impres- 
sions .  to  his  country,  that  would  stimulate  good  harmony  between  both 
nations ;  and  I  attended  the  telegraphic  conference  of  the  seventh  day  of 
January,  with  the  following  plan  : 

I  Article. — To  draw  the  line  by  points  known  and  mentioned  in  the 
treaty,  so  that  the  demarcators  should  meet  with  no  difficulties,  their  task 
being  limited  to  unite  points  previously  designated. 

II  Article. — To  invite  Seiior  Bocayuva  to  a  conference  at  Montevideo. 

III  Article. — To  add  to  the  treaty  two  maps,  signed  by  the  chiefs  of  the 

respective  commissions  of  limits,  upon  which  they  would  mark  out  the  bound- 
ary agreed  upon,  of  which  they  would  draw  up  a  record,  stating  their  accord 
upon  the  principal  points  which  would  tie  the  lines  of  the  treaty.  The  Bra- 
zilian Minister  would  bring  the  map  of  the  Argentines,  and  the  Argentine 
Minister  would  keep  the  map  of  the  Brazilians,  with  copies  of  the  minutes. 

The  telegraphic  conference  took  place,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations 
of  Brazil,  and  Minister  Sefior  Moreno  going  to  the  telegraph  office  et  Rio  de 
Janeiro.  I  went  with  the  Brazilian  plenipotentiary.  Baron  de  Alencar,  who 
looked  upon  these  arrangements  with  disgust,  and  with  Colonel  Don  Jose 
Ignacio  Garmendia,  chief  of  the  commission  of  limits. 

The  following  is  the  official  text  of  the  conference  : 

Minister  Zebalj^os. — I  have  the  honor  to  greet  Your 
Excellency,  and  personally,  the  illustrious  chief  of  the  Pro- 
visional government  and  his  worthy  Ministers,  Sefior  Baron 
de  Alencar  and  Colonel  Garmendia,  here  present,  joining  in 
the  greeting. 


—  738  — 

Senor  Moreno  has  transmitted  the  news  of  the  agree- 
ment arrived  at  with  Your  Excellency,  according  to  the 
instructions  this  government  ordered  him  to  propose,  to  give 
the  Misiones  question  a  direct  termination,  and  the  jittitude 
of  the  Provisional  government,  in  reciprocating  the  high  sen- 
timents of  the  Argentine  government,  creates  new  ties 
between  both  people,  yesterday  allies,  and  always  loyal 
friends. 

.Your  Excellency  will  please  to  say  if  he  has  accepted 
the  form  to  head  the  treaty,  which  Senor  Moreno  took  from 
here  already  written. 

As  to  I  Article,  I  consider  it  necessary  to  refer  the  pass- 
ing of  the  line  in  the  centre  of  the  territory  to  a  known  point, 
the  unevenness  of  the  groiftid  rendering  it  uncertain  outside 
of  its  ends,  and  the  purpose  we  are  after  being  that  it  should 
be  as  certain  as  possible,  I  move  that  it  be  said :  that  it  shall 
start,  front  the  confluence  of  the  Chapeco,  continuing  as  far 
as  half  the  distance,  from  the  town  of  Coelho,  in  Campo 
Ere,  and  Santa  Ana's  brook,  which  is  within  the  common 
thought,  because  the  line  would  pass  through  there  if  .it  was 
perfectly  fixed  already. 

With  regard  to  the  demarcating  commissions,  it  must  be 
said  that  they  will  draw  the  line  according  to  the  treaty,  so  that 
it  shall  not  appear  that  there  may  be  difficulties  and  discus- 
sions afterwards,  the  whole  thing  being  reduced  to  a  simple 
topographical  operation,  which  is  also  common  thought. 

I  desire  to  listen  to  Your  Excellency  about  these  points. 

Minister  Bocayuva. — I  return  to  Your  Excellency  the 
greetings  addressed  to  the  Chief  of  the  Provisional  govern- 
ment, and  beg  that  Your  Excellency  will  present  to  the 
President  my  respectful  compliments,  and  accept  the 
assurances  of  my  high  consideration  for  Your  Excellency 
and  all  the  members  of  the  Argentine  Cabine*^ 

I  do  accept  the  heading  of  the  treaty,  which  shall  be 
made  out  in  few  articles.  I  will  sign  the  direct  agreement 
under  the  influence  of  a  spirit  of  American  fraternization.  I 
respectfully  consider  it  inconvenient  to  draw  our  boundary  line 
in  the  same  treaty,  it  is,  besides,  impossible.  This  task  be- 
longs to  the  joint  commission  which  shall  be  appointed  and 
and  furnished  with  instruction  made  by  common  accord  .... 


At  this  moment  the  telegraphic  communication  was  interrupted  between 
Buenos  Ayres  and  Mortevideo,  and  two  hours  later  I  received  the  end  of 
Senor  Bocayuva's  phrase,  and  a  peculiar  telegram. 


—  739  — 

Minister  Bocayuva. — This  is  the  fundamental  idea. 

Both  extreme  points  being  determined,  the  line  will  seek 
the  highest  corresponding  elevation  on  the  "  Sierra  de  la 
Factura,"  and  follow  the  unevenness  of  the  soil  as  straight 
as  possible. 

It  was  impossible,  according  to  the  chiefs  of  the  telegraphic  service, 
to  continue  the  conference,  and  we  left  the  place,  leaving  the  negotiation  in 
suspense  in  regard  to  the  intermediate  point  which  would  spare  the  vague- 
ness insisted  upon  by  my  illustrious  colleague.  The  traject  of  the  line 
offered  well-known  points,  and  we  shall  see  further  on,  the  gravity  of  the 
objection  that  Senor  Bocayuva  had  the  honor  to  raise,  with  regard  to  I 
Article  of  the  project,  transmitted  in  abstract  and  through  the  wires. 

Shortly  after  the  last  words  of  Senor  Bocayuva,  I  received  from  Senor 
Moreno  the  following  telegram. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  on  the  seventh  day  ot  January,  1890. 

If  Your  Excellency  accepts  as  a  middle  point  of  the 
line  the  highest  pitch  of  "Sierra  de  la  Factura,"  we  will  modify 
the  I  Article,  accordingly  and  finish  up  the  negotiation.  I 
wait  for  answer.  E.  B.  MORENO. 

Therefore  Seiior  Bocayuva  yielded,  accepting  the  drawing  of  the  line 
which  he  had  thought  impossible  two  hours  before  ;  but  it  seemed  very  strange 
that,  while  rejecting  the  middle  point  suggested  to  him  by  the  Argentine  gov- 
ernment, he  proposed  the  highest  point  of  the  mountain,  the  Factura  peak. 
This  was  important  to  cede  spontaneously  to  the  Argentine  Republic,  as  can 
be  seen  by  the  annexed  chart ;  a  greater  zonfe  of  ground,  and  the  limits  would 
thus  form  an  angle  towards  the  East. 

The  fact  indicated  an  error  of  the  Minister  of  Brazil,  made  through  not 
having  the  chart  before  him,  or  by  a  defective  telegraphic  transmission.  On 
the  other  hand,  he  had  the  conviction  that  if  the  telegraph  had  transmitted 
accurately  the  thought  of  the  Brazilian  negotiator,  his  government  would  not 
accept  that  wedge-like  frontier  incrusted  in  the  territory,  which  would  be  its 
property  when  the  fact  should  have  been  sanctioned. 

The  meeting  of  both  Ministers  of  Foreign  Relations  was,  therefore,  in- 
evitable, and  very  dangerous  for  our  country  to  take  for  closed  a  negotiation 
that  was  not  written  out. 

It  was  not  possible  to  refuse  the  article  favorably  modified  by  Seiior 
Bocayuva ;  and  the  Argentine  government,  aftet-  weighing  all  the  delicate 
circumstances  of  the  case,  agreed  to  send  Senor  Moreno  the  following  instruc- 
tions : 


'Bnenos  Ayres,  the  seventh  day  of  January,  1890. 

I  accept  reference  spoken  of  in  your  telegram,  the  highest 
point  of  the  Factura  peak  to  be  fixed  in  the  centre  of  the 
territory.  E.  S.  Zeballos. 


—  74-0  — 

At  the  same  time  I  sent  to  Senor  Bocayuva  a  dispatch  inviting  him  to  a 
meeting  in  an  intermediate  place,  at  Montevideo,  for  instance,  to  treat  the ' 
transcendental  subjects  which  concerned  the  chanceries  of  both  countries. 

My  illustrious  colleague  replied  to  the  above-mentioned  dispatch  which 
Senor  Moreno  had  communicated  to  him,  and  to  the  one  directly  received,  in 
these  terms : 

9  Rio  de  Janeiro,  the  seventh  day  of  January,  1890. 

Your  Excellency's  telegram  accepting  the  definite  terms 
of  the  treaty  puts  a  happy  termination  to  our  negotiations,  and 
I  congratulate  myself  upon  the  fact  that  we,  old  combatants 
on  the  field  of  journalism,  shall  be  the  Ministers  who  will  seal 
up,  in  this  honorable  manner,  the  secular  question  of  Misiones, 
the  only  delicate  point  in  the  relations  of  both  States. 

Your  Excellency's  invitation  to  a  personal  interview  may, 
in  fact,  be  very  important  for  the  future  policy  of  our  countries  ; 
but  only  upon  hearing  the  Chief  of  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment and  my  colleagues  could  I  give  an  answer  to  Your 
Excellency. 

I  reiterate  the  expressions  of  my  most  cordial  feelings 
for  the  prosperity  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  its  illustrious 
Chief  and  his  Ministers.  QuiNTiNO  Bocayuva. 

Misunderstandings  went  on,  as  can  be  seen  by  the  first  part  of  this  dis- 
pach,  if  compared  with  my  telegram  to  Senor  Moreno. 

The  Argentine  government  had  not  accepted  the  definite  terms  of  the 
treaty,  for  they  had  not  been  communicated  by  mail,  which  was  essential  for 
the  approval,  but  simply  the  middle  point  of  the  line,  that  is  to  say,  the  general 
idea  of  the  I  Article.  As  will  be  seen  right  after,  the  Argentine  negotiator 
refused  to  accept  in  Montevideo  the  wording  of  the  said  article  written  at 
Rio  de  Janeiro. 

But  these  misunderstandings  did  not  preoccupy  the  Argentine  govern- 
ment, for  if  the  interview  of  the  respective  Chiefs  of  Chancery  did  not  take 
place,  the  definite  te^jt  would  be  discussed  by  correspondence.  This  was 
obvious.  Two  States  may  agree  on  the  spirit  of  a  treaty,  but  when  it  comes 
to  shape  it  in  writing,  one  phrase,  one  word  may  alter  it  substantially,  and 
lead  to  future  dangers  in  such  a  manner  that  questions,  far  from  being 
settled,  might  be  postponed  or  entangled. 

The  Argentine  Minister  had  been  advised  ever  since  he  asked  for 
authority  to  sign  the  treaty,  to  insist  near  the  government  of  Brazil  upon  the 
necessity  of  the  interview  of  both  Ministers  of  Foreign  Relations. 

Consequently,  on  the  tenth,  I  received  the  following  satisfactory  dispatch  : 

Rio,  the  tenth  day  of  January,  1890. 

Thanks  for  Your  Excellency's  kind  words.  I  shall  soon 
proceed  to  Montevideo ;  will  advise  date  of  departure.  I 
reiterate  my  high  appreciation.  Bocayuva. 


« 


—  741  — 
Senor  Moreno,  on  his  part,  telegraphed  to  me  the  following : 

Rio,  the  tenth  day  of  January,  1890. 

Will  leave  on  the  fourteenth  on  the  cruiser  Riachuelo,  with 
Minister  Bocayuva.     Greeting.  E.  B.  Moreno. 

The  President  of  the  Republic  vested  me  with  the  necessary  powers,  and 
I  left  for  the  said  capital,  in  whose  harbor  the  great  Brazilian  vessel  would  be 
met  by  the  small  cruiser  Patagonia  and  the  despatch  boat  Azopardo  of  the 
national  navy. 


XVII 


I  was  accompanied  on  this  mission  by  the  chief  of  the  Argentine  Com- 
mission of  Limits,  Colonel  Garmendia,  and  his  assistant,  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Rhode.  Senor  Bocayuva  had  with  him  the  acting  chief  of  the  same,  Colonel 
Dionisio  E.  de  Castro  Cerqueira,  and  the  Adjutant  Sergeant-Major  Belermino 
Mendoza. 

Upon  Senor  Bocayuva's  arrival  at  Montevideo  with  the  Argentine  Minister 
at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  the  latter  informed  me  that  on  the  same  day,  the  seventh 
day  of  January,  after  telegraphing,  accepting  the  fixation  of  the  middle  point 
of  the  boundary  on  ,the  Factura  mountain,  the  Brazilian  negotiator  had 
recognized  his  error,  in  which  the  Provisional  Government  agreed.  That  in 
consequence  thereof,  he  came  to  propose  another  point  near  the  one  I  had 
suggested. 

Seiior  Moreno  finally  believed,  that  Senor  Bocayuva  should  not  be  made 
to  maintain  the  point  erroneously  given,  for  we  were  exposed  to  injure  the 
position  of  a  Minister  who  was  a  sincere  advocate  of  the  cordiahty  between 
both  nations. 

I  replied  that  in  reading  the  telegram  of  the  seventh  day  of  January  I  had 
seen  the  error,  and  that  the  Argentine  government's  good  faith  would 
facilitate  to  Senor  Bocayuva  the  means  of  rectifying  the  error,  without  injury 
to  its  interest  in  this  transaction. 

Senor  Moreno,  to  whom  the  Argentine  government  had  granted  power  to 
sign  the  treaty  at  Montevideo,  as  Senor  Alencar  would  do,  the  chiefs  of  the 
Chancery  being  thus  accompanied  by  their  princfpal  co-workers  in  the  great 
work,  left  for  Buenos  Ayres  for  private  reasons,  and  the  negotiation  began  at 
my  residence,  the  Hotel  Central,  between  the  two  Ministers  of  Foreign  Relations 
only,  their  private  secretaries  Seiiores  Pardo  and  Pena  being  present. 

At  the  first  meeting  Senor  Bocayuva  handed  me  a  project  of  treaty  whose 
original  I  kept  and  is  placed  in  the  archives  of  the  Department  of  Foreign 
Relations. 


—  742  — 

This  project  surprised  me.  It  contained,  between  the  text  of  I  Article  and 
by  way  of  accidental  phrases,  solemn  and  transcendent  clauses,  which  had  not 
been  mentioned  by  Senor  Bocayuva  during  the  interrupted  conference,  nor 
the  Argentine  government  in  its  communications.  They  had  not  been 
mentioned  in  the  abstract  already  known,  which  Senor  Bocayuva  requested 
Senor  Moreno  to  send  to  the  Argentine  government  through  the  wires,  to 
facilitate  the  telegraphic  conference. 

The  project  of  Senor  Bocayuva,  which  my  secretary  ad  hoc  copied  and 
signed,  besides  keeping  the  original  text,  was  this  : 

Project  of  a  treaty  presented  by  Minister  Senor 
Bocayuva  to  Minister  Senor  Zeballos  at  Monte- 
video on  the  twenty-third  day  of  January,  1890. 

Under  the  auspices  of  institutional  unity  of  America,  and 
in  the  name  of  the  feelings  of  fraternity  which  ought  to  subsist 
among  all  people  of  this  continent,  the  Chief  of  the  Provisional 
government  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil,  and  the  President 
of  the  Argentine  Republic,  wishing  to  put  a  mutually  amicable 
and  honorable  end  to  the  suit  on  limits  which  their  respective 
nations  have  maintained  since  the  colonial  epoch,  resolved  to 
celebrate  a  treaty,  and  appointed  their  plenipotentiaries,  to 
wit: 

The  Chief  of  the  Provisional  government  of  the  United 
States  of  Brazil  appointed  Quintino  Bocayuva,  Minister  and 
Secretary  of  State  and  of  Foreign  Relations,  and  Baron  de 
Alencar,'  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  in 
the  Argentine  Republic. 

The   President  ofc  the  Argentine  Republic   appoints  His 
Excellency  Doctor  Estanislao  S.  Zeballos,  Minister  of  Foreign 
•  Relatibns,  and  Don  Enrique  B.  Moreno,  Envoy  Extraordinary 
and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  in  Brazil. 

And  the  full  powers  of  attorney  having  been  exchanged 
and  found  in  due  form,  they  agreed  upon  the  following 
stipulation  : 

I  Article.     The  frontier  of  the  Republics  of  the  United 
States  of  Brazil  and  Argentine   in  the  contested  territory  of 
Misiones  begins  at  the  mouth  and  right  border  of  the  Chapeco 
••  on  the  Uruguay,  crosses  the  divisor  of  the  waters  of  the  Iguazu 

and  of  the  Uruguay,  between  Campo  Ere  and  Campo  Santa 
Ana,  at  the  nearest  point  to  the  one  situated  at  26°  20  latitude 
and  53°  longitude,  according  to  the  map  of  the  surveying  com- 
mission of  the  said  territory;  ending  at  the  mouth  and  left 
border  of  the  Chopin,  on  the  Iguazu. 


—  743  —  , 

The  boundary  line  shall  be  drawn  between  each  of  the 
extreme  points  and  the  central  point,  so  that,  sparing  the 
Brazilian  towns,  the  best  natural  limits  shall  be  availed ;  the 
same  to  be  constituted  by  straight  lines  only  where  it  cannot  be 
helped,  the  said  rivers  Chapeco  and  Chopin  remaining  in  all 
their  course,  in  the  exclusive  possession  of  Brazil. 

II  Article.  The  high  contracting  parties  bind  themselves 
to  recognize  the  possession  of  the  settlers  who  after  the  draw- 
ing of  the  line  shall  remain  on  one  or  the  other  side,  and  to 
grant  them  a  deed  of  property,  if  they  should  prove  that  they 
were  settlers  one  year  prior  to  this  date. 

« 

III  Article.  Both  high  contracting  parties  shall  agree,  in 
due  course,  upon  organizing  a  joint  commission  to  draw  the 
boundary  line,  to  which  they  shall,  by  mutual  accord,  give  the 
necessary  instructions. 

IV  Article.  The  joint  commission  shall  propose  the 
direction  that  the  boundary  line  shall  conveniently  take,  in 
conformity  with  I  Article  of  this  treaty,  and  with  the  ins- 
tructions referred  to  in  III  Article;  and  after  the  proposal  shall 
have  been  resolved  by  both  governments,  if  they  should  judge 
the  demarcation  to  be  necessary,  it  shall  be  proceeded  with 
according  to  the  instructions  ejiven  them. 

V  Article.  This  treaty  shall  be  ratified,  and  the  ratifica- 
tions shall  be  exchanged  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  with  the  least 
possible  delay  after  the  approval  by  the  Argentine  Congress, 
and  by  the  Assembly  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil. 

In  witness  whereof  the  said  Plenipotentiaries  sign  and 

seal  the  said  treaty  in  the  city  of  Montevideo  on  the 

January,  1890. 

(Copy.)  Ricardo  J.  Pardo, 

First  Secretary  of  the  Mission. 

The  clause  which  called  my  attention,  particularly  in  I  Article,  is  the  one 
that  reads : 

The  boundary  line  shall  be  drawn  between  each  of  the 
extreme  points  and  the  central  point,  so  that  sparing  the 
BRAZILIAN  TOWNS,  the  best  natural  limits  shall  be  availed, 
the  same  to  be  constituted  by  straight  lines  only  where  it  CAN- 
NOT  BE  HELPED 


^  _  744  _ 

At  the  telegraphic  conference  Senor  Bocayiiva  proposed  the  contrary  to 
me,  that  is  to  say,  to  draw  the  straight  line  in  preference. 

If  such  wording  had  been  proposed  to  me  by  telegraph  in  its  entirety,  it 
would  not  have  been  accepted  on  account  of  the  vagueness  of  the  criterion 
suggested  to  the  future  to  avUil  natural  limits  which  are  not  designated,  draw- 
ing curves  in  preference,  to  save  the  Brazilian  towns. 

My  proposition  of  the  central  point  had  a  plain  and  clear  object :  that 
the  boundary  line  should  leave  in  our  jurisdiction  the  colony  oi'Campo  Ere 
founded  by  the  Brazilians  in  the  centre  of  the  contested*territory.  By  the 
wording  of  the  treaty  made  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  this  result  could  not  be  attained, 
because  the  clause  about  drawing  curves,  to  save  the  Brazilian  towns,  would 
create  among  the  demarcators,  at  least,  a  fundament.nl  misunderstanding. 

On  arriving,  in  the  drawing  of  the  line,  at  the  heights  of  that  colony,  it  is 
natural  that  the  Brazilian  demarcators  would  try  to  deviate  from  the  straight 
line,  and  that  the  Argentines  would  object  to  it,  because  that  curve,  pene- 
trating into  their  country,  besides  breaking  the  equity  of  territorial  division 
increasing  the  part  awarded  to  Brazil,  was  an  obstacle  to  the  political  object 
that  Argentine  sovereignty  upon  that  colony,  clandestinely  advanced  upon  our 
territory,  should  be  recognized. 

The  treaty  would,  therefore,  fail  on  account  of  this  grave  difficulty.  Sub- 
sequent facts  have  demonsti'ated  that  if  Seiior  Bocayuva  did  not  pursue  such 
a  purpose,  the  commission  of  limits  which  was  called  upon  to  draw  the  line 
upon  the  ground,  would  have  pursued  it,  because  all  its  members,  like  the 
majority  in  Brazil,  rejected  the  line  through  motives  of  local  politics. 

I  proposed,  in  consequence,  to  Seiior  Bocayuva  to  strike  out  that  incidental 
phrase,  or  make  it  clear,  setting  forth  that  the  limit  would  spare  the  Argen- 
tine or  Brazilian  towns  which  it  would  find  in  its  path,  from  the  mouth  of  each 
river  to  the  central  point.  My  colleague  accepted  this  reform,  and  the  Ar- 
gentine sovereignty  over  the  colony  of  Campo  Ere  was  thus  recognized. 

In  order  to  insure  and  clear  up  this  interpretation,  I  refused  to  accept  the 
middle  point  which  the  Minister  of  Brazil  proposed  to  me  over  again,  after 
nobly  eliminating  the  error  to  which  I  have  made  reference.  That  point 
would  be  selected,  as  has  been  seen  in  the  project,  near  the  intersection  of  a 
parallel  and  of  a  meridian. 

It  was  another  vagueness,  a  point  politically  and  technically  undetermined, 
and  on  account  of  which  we  were  the  losers  of  a  number  of  leagues  of  land  on 
the  highest  altitudes  that  divide  the  waters  upon  the  country  road,  leading  from 
the  Argentine  meadows  of  the  Parana  to  the  sources  of  the  Pepiri  Guazi'i  and 
city  of  Palmas.  Seiior  Bocayuva  refused  this  proposal  at  the  telegraphic 
conference,  but  accepted  it  in  Montevideo,  and  the  line  was  thus  fixed  in  such 
a  manner  that  it  will  never  give  cause  for  further  doubts  or  contentions. 

I  added,  and  were  accepted,  other  minor  modifications  which  I  indicate 
with  italics  in  the  enclosed  comparative  text^ 


—  745 


SENOR    BOCAYUVA's    PROJECT  PRESENTED     I    DEFINITE      TEXT      AGREED      UPON      AND 
IN    MONTEVIDEO.  SIGNED   IN   MONTEVIDEO, 


I  Article. 

The  frontier  of  the  Republics  of  the 
United  States  of  Brazil  and  Argentine  on 
the  contested  territory  of  Misiones  begins 
at  the  mouth  and  right  border  of  the  Cha- 
peco  on  the  Uruguay,  crosses  the  divisor 
of  the  waters  of  the  Iguazu  and  of  the 
Uruguay,  between  Canipo  Et6  and  Campo 
Santa  Ana  at  the  nearest  point  to  the  one 
situated  at  26"  20'  latitude  South,  and  53° 
longitude,  according  to  the  chart  of  the 
surveying  joint  commission  of  the  said 
territofy,  ending  at  the  mouth  and  left 
border  of  the  Chopin  on  the  Iguazu. 

Between  eac'.i  one  of  the  extreme  points 
and  the  central  point,  the  boundary  line 
shall  be  drawn  so  that,  sparing  the  Bra- 
zilian towns,  the  best  natural  limits  shall 
be  availed,  it  being  constituted  by  straight 
lines  only  where  it  cannot  be  helped,  and 
remaining  in  the  exclusive  possession  of 
Brazil,  in  all  their  course,  the  said  rivers 
Chapec6  and  Chopin. 

II  Article. 

The  high  contracting;  parties  bind  them- 
selves to  recognize  the  possession  of  the 
settlers  who,  after  the  boundary  shall  have 
been  drawn,  would  remain  on  one  side  or 
the  other,  and  to  grant  to  them  a  deed  oi 
property,  if  they  should  prove  that  they 
were  seUlers  one  year  prior  to  this  date. 

III  Article. 

Both  high  contracting  parties  shall,  in 
due  time,  agree  upon  organizing  a  joint 
commission  which  shall  draw  the  bound- 
ary lin-,  and  be  furnished  by  common 
accord,  with  the  necessary  instructions. 

IV  Article. 

The  joint  commission  shall  propose 
what  direction  shall  convenienty  be  given 
to  the  boundary  line,  in  conformity  with 
I  Article  of  the  treaty,  and  with  the  in- 
structions referred  to  in  III  Article,  and 
the  proposal  being  resolved  by  both 
governments,  if  the  latter  judge  the 
demarcation  to  be  necessary,  it  shall  be 
proceeded  with,  subject  to  the  instructions 
which  shall  be  given  them. 

V  Article. 

This  treaty  shall  be  ratified  and  the 
ratifications  exchanged  at  Rio  de  Janeiro 
with  the  shortest  possible  delay,  after  it 
shall  have  been  approved  by  the  Argentine 
Congress  and  the  Assembly  of  the  United 
States  of  Brazil. 


I  Article. 

The  frontier  of  the  Republic  of  the 
United  States  of  Brazil  and  of  the  Argen- 
tina Republic  in  the  contested  territory  of 
Misiones  begins  at  the  mouth  and  right 
border  of  the  Chapeco  or  Pequiri  Guazi'i, 
on  the  Uruguay,  crosses  the  divortia 
acquarum  of  the  Iguazu  and  of  the  Uru- 
guay, between  Campo  Ere  and  Campo 
Santa  Ana,  at  the  middle  point  of  the 
distance  between  Coelhd's  settlement  on  the 

former  Campo,  and  the  bridge  over  the 
river  Santa  Ana  upon  the  road  to  the 
Sierra  de  la  Factiira,  according  to  the  chart 
of  the  surveying  joint  commission  of  the 
said  territory,  ending  at  the  mouth  and 
left  border  of  the  Chopin,  on  the  Iguazu. 
Between  each  one  of  the  extreme  points 
and  the  central  point  the  boundary  line 
shall  be  drawn,  availing  the  best  natural 
limits,  sparing  the  towns  of  both  nations, 
that  it  may  find  on  its  path,  it  being  con- 
stituted  by   straight  lines  only  where  it 

•cannot  be  helped.  The  said  rivers  Chapin 
and  Chapeco  shall  remain,  in  all  their 
course,  m  the  exclusive  possession  of 
Brazil. 

II  Article. 

The  high  contracting  parties  bind  them- 
selves to  recognize  the  possession  of  the 
settlers  who  after  the  boundary  line  shall 
have  been  drawn,  remain  on  one  side  or 
the  other,  and  to  grant  to  them  a  deed  of 
property,  provided  they  shall  prove  that 
they  were  settlers  one  year  prior  to  this 
date,  with  settlements  of  a  permanent 
character. 

Ill  Article. 
Both  high  contracting  parties  shall  in 
due  time  agree  upon  organizing  a  joint 
commission  which  shall  draw  the  bound- 
ary line,  and  be  furnished,  by  common 
accord,  with  the  necessary  instructions. 

IV  Article. 

The  joint  commission  shall  project  the 
plan  that  may  suit  the  boundary  line,  in 
conformity  with  I  Article  of  this  treaty, 
and  with  the  instructions  referred  to  in 
III  Article,  and  the  said  project  being 
approved  by  both  governments,  the  demar- 
cation upon  the  ground  shall  be  proceeded 
with,  if  the  high  contracting  parties  deem 
it  necessary, 

V  Article. 

This  treaty  shall  be  ratified  and  the 
ratifications  exchanged  at  Rio  de  Janeiro 
immediately  after  its  approbation  by  the 
Argentine  Congress  and  by  the  Assembly 
of  the  United  States  of  Brazil. 


.       —  746  — 

When  I  received  the  pro  ect  of  the  treaty  I  ordered  Colonel  Garmendia 
to  start  for  Buenos  Ayres  to  acquaint  the  Vice-President  of  the  Republic, 
Doctor  Don  Carlos  Pellegrini,  who  acted  as  Executive,  with  the  situation  and 
obtain  his  views. 

The  Vice-President  replied  to  me  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  January  as 
follows : 

I  received  your  letter  of  yesterday,  and  have  spoken  with 
Garmendia.  I  fear  you  are  going  to  meet  with  difficulties  on 
fixing  the  line.  It  is  evident  that  Senor  Bocayuva  does  not 
wish  to  return  home  without  closing  up  that  matter,  which 
places  him  in  a  position  favorable  to  us ;  but  at  the  same  time 
he  has  to  look  out  for  his  position  in  Brazil  at  these  moments. 

Your  Excellency  may,  at  the  conferences,  judge  which  of 
these  two  considerations  concerns  him  most  and  in  view  of 
Your  Excellency's  opinion  we  shall  be  better  situated  for  a 
discussion  when  the  difficulty  is  well  defined. 

Fortunately,  the  difficulty  did  not  come  off  and  I  was  able,  within  my 
instructions  and  plans,  to  close  up  th^  treaty. 

Ready  to  sign  the  same  at  the  Palace  of  the  Argentine  Lr-gation,  we 
agreed  to  do  it  in  the  halls  of  the  Uruguayan  government,  whose  distinguished 
hospitality  had  been  tendered  to  both  missions.  We,  in  consequence,  ex- 
changed the  following  couimunications  : 

Montevideo,  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  January,  1890. 

Sir: — The  undersigned  Ministers  of  Foreign  Relations  of 
the  Argentine  Republic  and  of  the  United  States  of  "Brazil, 
have  received  with  the  highest  consideration  the  offer  of  the 
halls  of  the  government's  palace  to  perform  the  international 
act  which  has  reunited  them  at  Montevideo,  and  though  they 
had  agreed  to  realize  it  in  the  House  of  the  Argentine  Lega- 
tion, they  take  pleasure  in  informing  Your  Excellency  that  as 
a  token  of  respect  and  cordiality  towards  the  Eastern  Republic 
of  the  Uruguay,  they  shall  meet,  for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  at 
the  government's  palace. 

In  communicating  this  to  Your  Excellency  we  beg  that 
Your  Excellency  will  present  to  His  Excellency  the  President 
of  the  Republic  our  feelings  of  gratitude,  and  our  best  wishes 
for  the  welfare  of  the  nation  and  his  person. 

With  the  assurances  of  our  distinguished  consideration, 
we  greet  Your  Excellency. 

ESTANISLAO   S.    ZEBALLOS. 

QuiNTiNO  Bocayuva. 

To    His   Excellency,   Minister  of   Foreign    Relations  of  the 
Republica  Oriental  del  Uruguay,  Don  Oscar  Hordehana, 


—  747  — 

Montevideo,  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  January,  1890. 

Sirs  : — I  have  just  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  collective 
note  of  yesterday's  date,  in  which  you  kindly  inform  me  that 
you  accept  the  offer  made  by  His  Excellency,  the  President 
of  the  Republic,  of  the  halls  of  the  government's  palace,  to 
perform  the  international  act  that  brought  you  together  at 
this  capital. 

His  Excellency,  the  President  of  the  Republic,  congratu- 
lates himself  deeply  and  sincerely  upon  that  friendly  resolu- 
tion, and  directs  me,  at  the  same  time,  to  place  at  your  dis- 
posal the  reception  hall  of  the  Department  of  Foreign  Rela- 
tions, where  the  sessions  of  the  South  American  Congress  of 
Private  International  Law  were  held. 

I  have  the  pleasure  to  renew  to  your  Excellencies  the 
assurances  of  my  high  and  distinguished  consideration. 

Oscar  Hordenana. 

The  treaty  was  signed  on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  January  by  the  Minis- 
ters of  Foreign  Relations  of  both  Republics,  and  by  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
the  same,  Senor  Moreno  and  Sehor  Alencar. 

Chiefs  and  adjutants  of  the  respective  commissions  of  limits  were  present. 
In  consequence  thereof  I  proposed  to  my  colleague  that  Colonels  Garmendia 
and  Cerqueira  should  exchange  the  charts  of  the  Misiones,  drawn  by  their 
respective  parties,  and  to  mark  out  on  the  copies  the  stipulated  limit,  signing 
the  charts,  and  to  make  a  record  thereof. 

Sehor  Bocayuva  accepted  this  suggestion,  tending  to  avoid  any  doubt  in 
the  future.  Colonel  Garmendia  produced  the  general  plan  of  Misiones, 
according  to  the  labors  of  the  commission  under  his  order,  and  Colonel  Cer- 
queira exhibited  the  Brazilian  chart. 

Both  works  having  been  compared,  they  were  found  to  be  remarkably 
accordant.  Colonel  Cerqueira  proceeded  to  draw  on  both  the  central  point, 
sketching  the  limit  with  his  own  hand ;  and  this  done,  both  commissions 
signed  the  charts  and  exchanged  the  same.  The  Brazilian  Minister  took  the 
Argentine,  and  I  kept  the  Brazilian  one.     This  is  the  minute : 

On  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  the  month  of  January  of  the 
year  1890,  at  the  Government  Palace  of  the  Eastern  Republic 
of  the  Uruguay  in  Montevideo,  the  President  of  the  Argentine 
Republic  being  at  the  time  the  most  excellent  Sehor  Doctor 
Don  Miguel  Juarez  Celman,  and  Chief  of  the  Provisional 
Government  of  the  Republic  of  the  States  of  Brazil,  His  Excel- 
lency Marshal-General  Don  Deodoro  da  Fonseca ;  assembled 
Colonels  Don  Jose  Ignacio  Garmendia,  first  commissioner  and 
chief  of  the  Argentine  Commission  of  Limits,  and  Don  Dionisio 
Evangelista  de  Castro  Cerqueira,  third  commissioner  of  the 
Brazilian  commission,  and  chief  pro  tem.  of  the  same : 

And  declared  authentic  the  plans  of  the  contested  territory 


—  748  - 

between  both  countries,  drawn  by  the  Joint  Commission, 
signed  by  them  and  presented  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Relations  of  both  Republics,  and  Doctor  Don  Estanislao  S. 
Zeballos  and  Don  Quintino  Bocayuva. 

By  these  plans  the  concordance  of  the  mouths  of  the  rivers 
Pepiri  Guazu,  or  Chapeco,  and  Chopin,  and  of  the  intermediate 
point,  situated  at  half  distance  between  the  river  Santa  Ana 
Bridge  and  Coelho's  farm  on  the  road  leading  from  Sierra  de 
la  Factura  Com  tapo  Ere,  is  established. 

Jose  Ignacio  Garmendia 
Dion  is io  E.  de  Castro  Cerqueira. 

This  minute  and  the  operation  made  upon  the  plans  rendered  unnecessary 
for  many  years  the  setting  of  landmarks  upon  the  intermediate  lines  between 
the  centre  and  the  extremes.  It  was  for  that  reason,  that  the  article  of  the 
project  foreseeing  the  demarcation,  was  modified. 

The  Eastern  government  assembled  in  the  hall  of  the  President  of  the 
Republic  awaited  the  termination  of  the  act,  and  we  went  in  to  greet  chem, 
amidst  reciprocal  effusive  and  cordial  congratulations. 

The  President  said  that  the  Eastern  Republic  gave  the  act  a  signal 
transcendency,  and  that  he  whished  to  celebrate  it  with  an  official  banquet, 
which  was  done  at  the  Government  Palace,  the  Argentme  Republic  occupying 
the  right. 

To  respond  to  this  demonstration  and  to  the  salute  made  to  the  Argentine 
flag  by  the  Uruguayan  naval  division,  I  gave  a  banquet  and  reception  at  the 
Palace  of  the  Argentine  Legation,  to  which  were  invited  the  authorities  and 
the  Press  of  Uruguay,  the  diplomatic  corps  and  both  missions. 

We  then  proceeded  to  Buenos  Ayres  where  Sehor  Bocayuva  and  his  suite 
were  warmly  received. 

The  illustrious  guest  signified  his  desire  to  go  to  Cordoba  and  salute  the 
President  of  the  Republic,  who  was  there  during  his  vacation,  and  the  excur- 
sion was  extended  over  the  neighboring  provinces  amidst  flattering  demon- 
strations for  the  Brazilian  republican. 

The  general  political  views  of  both  chanceries  being  perfectly  harmonized, 
new  and  extensive  beneficial  horizons  were  opened  for  South  America,  when 
Seiior  Bocayuva  returned  to  his  country,  to  report  the  result  of  his  mission. 

The  internal  policy  raised  a  storm  of  furious  winds  ag^iinst  the  worthy  ne- 
gotiator, and  against  the  work  of  confraternity  and  loyalty  that  had  just  been 
realized.  The  monarchical  party  declared,  through  Baron  de  Ladario's  organ, 
that  this  treaty  "is  one  of  the  greatest  crimes  of  the  Revolutionary  Commit- 
tee, that  History  will  record  in  amazement." 

The  same  party  affirmed  that  the  treaty  had  been  snatched  by  the  Argen- 
tine Republic  under  the  promise  that  it  would  support  the  new  government 
with  Argentine  arms,  and  consolidate  the  Republic. 

The  Argentine  negotiator  declares  most  solemnly  that  these  accusations 
are  groundless,  and  that  the  Brazilian  negotiator  has  told  the  truth  when  he 
said  that  the  negotiation  was  only  inspired  by  the  high  sentiments  of  repub- 
lican solidarity,  and  by  a  clear  notion  of  the  vital  conveniences  of  both  nations. 


—  749  — 

The  President  of  the  Republic  has  said  to  you  in  his  message  of  May  : 

There  is  no  record,  in  the  question  of  Rio  de  la  Plata,  of 
a  debate  more  solemn  and  abundant.  In  it  took  part  all  the 
Brazilian  Press,  the  dethroned  Emperor  and  the  old  chiefs  of 
Cabinet,  State  Ministers,  Plenipotentiaries,  geographers,  pub- 
licists and  demarcators  of  limits,  who  during  the  last  ten  years 
intervened  in  the  policy  of  Brazil. 

The  pact  was  brought  before  the  Congress  under  such 
auspices  and  was  rejected,  in  spite  of  the  spirited  and  glittering 
exposition  of  the  negotiator  Sefior  Bocayuva. 

The  trust  in  the  strength  of  the  Argentine  titles  explains 
why  that  long  campaign  and  great  diplomatical  commotion 
did  not  echo  in  the  Argentine  Republic  in  an  unpleasant  man- 
ner. 

Furthermore,  during  that  noisy  debate,  which  at  times 
was  kindled  by  the  heat  of  passion,  no  voice  was  raised  in 
,  favor  of  party  politics,   nor  against  the  Argentine   Republic 

which,  on  the  contrary,  was  treated  with  the  utmost  considera- 
tion. 

The  rejection  of  the  treaty  which  Marshall  Deodoro  and  his  Cabinet  had 
initiated  and  unanimously  approved  after  its  celebration,  was  the  first  symp- 
toms of  worthlessness  and  downfall  of  that  government.  The  wanton  political 
passions  found  a  motive  in  the  negotiation,  and  w;ith  less  concern  for  future 
events  than  for  the  interest  of  the  moment,  wounded  negotiator  Bocayuva's 
feelings  in  a  merciless  manner,  and  condemned  the  negotiation. 

The  judgment  of  the  special  committee  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  could 
not,  however,  avoid  certain  declarations  which  affirmed  the  Argentine  titles, 
in  that  they  recognize  the  validity  of  the  written  right  between  Spain  and- 
Portugal. 

The  following  is  the  document? 

Opinion  of  the  treaty  signed  in  Montevideo  on  the 
twenty-fifth  day  of  january,  1890. 

The  special  committee  appointed  to  pass. upon  the  Treaty 
of  Limits  between  Brazil  and  the  Argentine  Republic,  cele- 
brated in  Montevideo  on  the  twenty-iifth  day  of  January,  1890, 
and  to  express  an  opinion  upon  the  subject,  does  hereby  pre* 
sent  its  report,  in  the  discharge  of  the  commission  with  which 
it  was  intrusted. 

In  order  to  judge  with  tact  the  merits  of  the  treaty,  the 
committee  tried,  before  all  things,  to  study  from  its  root  the 
secular  discussed  question  of  limits,  with  a  view  to  ascertain 
the  historical  grounds  of  our  rights  to  the  territory  contested 
by  the  Argentines. 


—  75°  — 

To  attain  this  end,  the  committee  had  to  go  back,  through 
a  laborious  task,  to  the  historical  fountains  of  the  limits  of  the 
Portuguese  and  Spanish  possessions  in  South  America,  particu- 
larly in  the  region  comprised  between  the  rivers  Uruguay  and 
Iguazii, 

It  had  at  its  disposal  numerous  documents,  equally  valu- 
able, by  order  of  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  committee's  request. 

The  methodical  study  of  documents  so  complete,  so  clear, 
detailed  and  rich  of  informations  as  those  which  the  committee 
had  at  its  disposal,  would  suffice  to  satisfy  the  most  exacting 
minds.  However,  the  committee  carried  its  scruples  to  such  a 
point  as  to  declare  itself  not  entirely  satisfied  with  them. 

It  did  not  wish  to  spare  a  single  element  for  elucidating 
the  great  question,  and  requested  the  appearance  in  its  midst 
of  Sehator  Bocayuva,  and  Viscount  of  Cabo  Frio,  the  former 
negotiatior  of  the  treaty,  and  the  latter  Director-General  of 
the  Foreign  Department,  author  of  numerous  important  diplo- 
matic documents  upon  the  subject.  The  committee  had  also 
the  information  of  two  of  the  commissioners  charged  with  the 
study  of  the  disputed  territory. 

Its  duty  having  thus  been  fulfilled,  resorting  to  all  the 
means  apparently  necessary  and  leading  to  the  enlightenment 
of  the  matter,  the  committee,  entirely  satisfied  and  conven- 
iently posted  by  the  great  number  of  data  furnished  by  its 
searching  investigations,  thinks  itself  in  a  position  to  render 
an  opinion  upon  the  Montevideo  Treaty,  which  it  has  the 
honor  to  submit  to  the  high  consideration  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  in  the  following  terms  : 

Whereas,  the  territory  situated  to  the  East  of  the  rivers 
Pepiri  Guazu  and  San  Antonio,  limited  to  the  North  by  the 
river  Iguazii,  ^nd  at  the  South  by  the  river  Uruguay,  belongs 
by  fact  and  right  to  Brairil. 

It  belongs  by  right :  * 

First. — Because  the  treaty  of  the  thirteenth  day  of 
Janaary,  1750,  which  was  the  first  sierious  attempt  made  by 
the  Courts  of  Lisbon  and  Madrid  to  fix  the  limits  of  their  pos- 
sessions, acknowledges,  categorically,  the  possession  by  Portu- 
gal of  the  territory  situated  eastward  of  that  line. 

Second. — Because  the  treaty  of  the  first  day  of  October, 
1777,  in  VIII  Article  provides  :  that  the  frontier  shall  pass  by 
the  rivers  Pipiri  Guazii  and  San  Antonio,  thus  preserving  the 
name  Pepiri  Guazii  which  the  first  demarcators  give  to  the 
river  Pequiri,  of  the  river  of  the  treaty  of  1750,  with  a  view  not 
to  confuse  it  with  the  river  of  the  same  name  that  flows  into 
the  Parana,  near  the  Guaira  Fall,  naming  the  river,  which 
they  explored,  and  whose  ends  were  said  to  be  borders  of  the 
Pepiri  Guazii,  equally  San  Antonio. 


—  751  — 

If  this  so  conclusive  a  facr  of  the  preservation  of  the  names 
were  not  sufficient  to  convey  to  the  mo^t  refractory  minds  the 
conviction  that  the  Courts  had  the  renovation  of  V  Article  of 
the  treaty  6f  1750  in  view,  recourse  could  be  had  to  the  in- 
structions of  the  Spanish  government,  signed  by  Minister  Don 
Jose  Galvez  at  Aranjuez,  dated  the  sixth  day  of  June,  1778, 
and  to  those  from  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  Don  Juan  Jose 
de  Vertiz,  with  the  respective  operations  plan  where  there  are 
pointed  out,  in  the  most  positive  manner,  the  possessions  and 
characteristic  signs  of  the  mouths  of  the  rivers  Pepiri  Guazu 
and  San  Antonio. 

Third. — Because  these  two  rivers,  spoken  ot  by  the 
treaties,  are  the  same  which  were  surveyed  in  1887  by  the  first 
party  from  the  joint  commission  of  limits. 

These  rivers  appear  on  the  chart  of  the  joint  committee, 
on  private  plans,  on  the  diaries  of  observations,  and  in  the 
minutes,  with  the  same  names  given  them  by  the  treaty  of 
1777,  and  is  seen  in  the  classical  map  of  Juan  de  la  Cruz 
Cano  y  Olmedilla,  geographer  of  His  Majesty,  and  others. 
The  joint  comrnittee  established  that  all  topographical 
accidents,  characteristic  of  the  mouth  of  the  Pepiri  Guazii, 
and  of  its  vicinages  in  the  Uruguay,  as  well  as  those  relative 
to  the  mouth  and  to  the  course  of  the  San  Antonio,  which 
appear  in  diaries  of  the  demarcators  of  last  century  (the  first 
and  second  ones),  and  in  the  instructions  of  the  governmen} 
and  of  the  Spanish  commissioners,  agree  exactly  with  what 
was  observed  on  the  ground. 

Fourth. — Because  the  river  Chapeco  which  the  Spanish 
commissioners  of  the  second  demarcation  denominated  Pe- 
quiri  Guazu,  which  name  was  preserved  by  the  Argentines, 
was  not  known,  and  never  appeared  on  any  chart,  or  in  any 
other  document  with  such  denomination,  or  any  other,  before 
being  pointed  out  by  the  Spanish  geographer  Don  Joaquin 
Gundin. 

The  signs  given  for  the  recognition  of  the  Pepiri  Guazu  to 
the  second  demarcators  are  the  same  to  be  found  at  the 
mouth  of  this  river,  and  differ  very  materially  from  those 
which  the  Spaniards  affirmed  to  be  existing  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Chapeco. 

From  the  discovery  of  the  Chapeco  sprang  the  Oyar- 
vide's  San  Antonio  Guazu,  which  is  the  Brazilians'  Jangada, 
which  the  Argentines  claim  to  be  a  frontier  on  the  side  of  the 
Iguazu  fall. 

Neither  the  name  of  Pequiri  Guazu  nor  that  of  San  An- 
tonio Guazu  are  mentioned  in  the  treaty  of  1777.  These  are 
pure  fabrications  made  up  much  later,  and  which  only  served 
to  create   doubts  which   interfered  with  the  progress  of  the 


—  752  — 

explorations,  without  the  Spanish  commissioners  attaining 
their  desideratum,  because  there  is  no  act  or  pubhc  docu- 
ment sanctioned  and  approved  by  the  government  of  Madrid, 
showing  that  it  has  attached  any  importance  to  the  discovery 
of  the  geographer  Gundin's  river,  or  to  the  doubts  among 
the  commissioners. 

It  shows  that  the  San  Antonio  Guazii  was  scarcely  surveyed 
a  few  kilometres  below  its  source.  The  fact  of  this  river 
being  the  nearest  to  the  Chapeco,  which  runs  towards  the 
Iguazii,  is  one  of  no  account,  as  far  as  the  question  of  right  is 
concerned,  because  not  only  the  Chapeco  is  not  the  Pipiri 
Guazu,  but  the  Oyarvide's  San  Antonio  Guazu  is  not  the  San 
Antonio  mentioned  in  VIII  Article  of  the  treaty  of  1777,  in 
which  no  reference  is  made  to  the  nearest  river. 

Fifth.— Because  VIII  Article  of  the  treaty  of  the  first  day 
of  October,  1777,  governs  the  limits  of  Brazil  in  this  region 
with  the  Argentine  Republic,  notwithstanding  its  being  a 
preliminary  treaty ;  notwithstanding  its  not  having  been  renewed 
by  the  treaty  of  Badajoz  of  1801  ;  notwithstanding  the  Brazilian 
government  having  affirmed  its  nullity ;  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  treaties  only  bind  the  contracting  parties,  and  that 
it  was  celebrated  between  Port-ugal  and  Spain. 

VIII  Article  of  the  treaty  of  1777  is  in  full  force,  because 
the  Argentine  Republic  accepts  it;  because  the  Brazilian  govern- 
ment, though  denying  its  absolute  validity,  accepts  it  upon 
this  particular;  finally  because  the  extinguished  treaties  can  be 
renewed  or  re-established',by  mutual  consent,  expressedly  or 
tacitly,  of  the  contracting  or  accepting  partie?;  and  Brazil  and 
the- Argentine  Republic  have  so  declared  more  than  once  in 
public  documents.  Furthermore,  the  treaty  of  the  first  day 
of  October,  1777,  known  by  the  treaty  of  San  Ildefonso,  never 
ceased  to  be  valid,  and  as  such  it  has  been  always  maintained. 
*  Brazil,  though  considering  it  null,  admits  its  VIII  Article  to . 
govern  the  question  of  limits. 

It  belongs  by  fact :  because  Brazil  exercises  sovereignty 
and  domain  upon  the  territory  now  disputed  where  there  exist 
administrative  authorities,  as  well  as  judicial  and  of  police; 
where  taxes  are  imposed  and  collected,  and  where  the  real 
possession  is  shown  in  the  most  convincing  manner  by  the- 
existence  of  towns,  among  which  one  is  head  of  district 
(Palmas);  industrial  establishments,  country  roads,  bridges 
and  other  works  of  art,  telegraphic  lines,  and  finally  a  popula- 
tion of  8,000  souls,  exclusively  composed  of  Brazilians,  in  which 
not  one  Brazilian  citizen  is  found. 

Because  Spain  in  the  colonial  times,  or  the  Argentine  Re- 
public after  her  separation  from  the  Metropolis,  never  occupied 
any  portion  of  the  territory  situated  to  the  east  of  the  line  of 


—  753  — 

the  river  Pepiri  Guazu  and  San  Antonio,  showing  animus pos- 
sidendi. 

It  is  well  to  express,  and  it  is  of  great  weight  to  demon- 
strate that  up  to  a  recent  date,  the  Argentine  Republic  never 
intended  to  penetrate  into  the  territory  that  she  now  disputes ; 
that  in  1866  the  Brazilian  government,  engaged  in  the  great 
struggle  with  the  dictator  of  Paraguay,  had  communciations 
opened  as  far  as  the  River  Parana  by  the  illustrious  military 
engineers  Jeronimo  Jardim  and  Alvaro  de  Oliveira,  then  first 
lieutenants. 

From  the  report  signed  by  General  Jardim,  the  explora- 
tor  of  1866,  it  is  demonstrated  that  there  was  in  that  period,  of 
recent  date,  by  the  way,  no  road  or  path  communicating  the 
territory  with  the  neighboring  Republic. 

Your  Excellency  was  the  first  man  who  ever  crossed  that 
wilderness,  giving  names  to  places  and  setting  signs. 

Whereas,  for  the  reasons  already  exposed,  and  others  ex- 
isting in  great  number,  and  which  corroborate,  in  the  most 
conclusive  manner,  the  conviction  of  the  committee,  of  the 
legitimacy  of  Brazil's  claims  to  the  territory ;  that  the  ex- 
Imperial  government,  fully  convinced  of  our  right,  consented 
that  it  should  be  considered  contestable ;  that  this  right  is 
undeniable  and  irrefutable,  either  in  the  light  of  historical 
documents  or  affirmed  by  the  conventional  written  right ;  and 
finally,  taking  as  a  basis  the  uti  possidetis,  real  and  effective, 
justified  by  a  long,  old,  effective  and  peaceful  possession ; 
whereas  the  Montevideo  treaty  admitted  the  division  of  the 
territory. 

Whereas,  ex  vi  of  the  same  treaty,  there  belongs  to  the 
Argentine  Republic  a  considerable  area  of  territory  inhabited 
by  countrymen  of  ours,  who  have  their  lands  recorded  in  our 
archives,  who  always  obeyed  our  authorities,  and  who  always 
meant  to  build  up  their  homes  on  the  soil  of  the  country. 

And  finally,  whereas  the  Montevideo  treaty  must  not 
annul  the  one  of  the  fifth  day  of  November,  1889,  which  stipu- 
lates arbitration  as  a  last  recourse,  under  the  Constitution  of 
the  Republic,  to  resolve  international  questions  ;  now,  therefore, 

The  committee  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  shall  not  lend  its  sanction  to  the  treaty  of  limits 
signed  at  Montevideo  on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  January,  1890, 
Court  of  Sessions,  the  sixth  day  of  August,  189 1. 

Dionisio  de  Castro  Cerqueita  (Reporter) — 
Bernardino  de  Campos —  Joaquin  Fran- 
cisco de  Abreu — Francisco  de  Assis  Rosa 
e  Silva  —  Nil>  Peganha  (beaten)  — j- 
D'' Manhaes  Barreto — Anibal  Falcdo — 
Alcindo  Guanabara — Doctor  J.  Atigusto 
de  Freitas. 

The  Rio  de  Janeiro  press  published  abstracts  from  the  sessions  in  which  the 
treaty  was  discussed.  Some  versions,  more  or  less  authorized,  said  what  fol- 
lows: 


—  754  — 

The  negotiator  of  the  treaty  made,  on  the  first  day,  a  very 
extensive  exposition  of  the  history  of  the  question  under  dis- 
cussion, and  closed  revealing  the  doubts  which  after  a  lengthy 
study  had  struck  him  with  regard  to  the  clearness  that  had 
been  always  ascribed  lo  the  rights  with  which  Brazil  sustained 
its  claims. 

In  his  judgment,  the  contradictions  were  numerou-s,  and 
it  would  be  very  difficult  for  an  umpire  to  pass  a  sentence  de- 
cidedly favorable  to  Brazil. 

On  the  second  day  of  his  exposition  Seiior  Bocayuva  con-' 
fined  himself  to  refer  to  the  situation  in  which  the  nation  was 
placed  3t  the  moment  of  the  pioclaniation  of  the  Republic,  the 
many  difficulties  which  obstructed  the  course  of  the  provisional 
government,  the  internal  policy  and  the  economical  situation 
also  ;  these  circumstances  having  been  instrumental  to  the  cele- 
bration of  the  treaty  with  the  Argentine  Republic.  He  closed 
saying  that  the  only  thing  in  question,  that  which  was  being 
contended,  was  not  precisely  the  Montevideo  pact,  since  the 
Empire  had  adjusted  one  before  on  conditions  less  favorable, 
but  the  cause  of  the  Republic,  to  the  preservation  of  which 
everyone  ought  to  concur  that  if,  in  order  to  attain  this  high 
purpose  to  counteract  the  present  monarchical  labors,  the  re- 
jection of  the  treaty  under  discussion  was  necessary,  he  would 
not  hesitate  to  invite  the  Chamber  to  proceed  in  that  direction. 

The  last  consideration  of  the  opinion  of  the  special  committee  says  that 
the  Montevideo  treaty  must  not  annul  that  of  the  fifth  day  of  November,  1889, 
which  provides  arbitration  as  the  last  recourse,  under  the  constitution  of  the 
new  Republic,  to  resolve  international  questions,  and  Deputy  Serzedello  sug- 
gested the  modification  which  the  Chamber  adopted  in  this  form  : 

Whereas  the  last  recourse  for  the  decision  of  international 

question  is  arbitration,  as  provided  by  the  constitution 

This  attitude,  dispensing  with  the  reference  to  the  treaty  of  1889,  seemed 
to  produce  doubts  as  to  its  effectiveness  after  the  rejection  of  the  Montevideo 
pact ;  and  this  doubt  was  clearly  shaped  in  the  speech  of  Deputy  Badaro, 
delivered  shortly  after. 

At  the  sitting  of  the  twenty-second  day  of  September,  1891,  the  budget 
of  Foreign  Relations  was  discussed  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 

I  do  not  know,  either,  what  the  Argentine  government 
pretends  v/ith  regard  to  the  territories  of  Misiones,  after  this 
assembly  disproved  the  Montevideo  tre;ity.  I  think  that 
this  question  is  dead,  our  right  is  irrefutable  and,  conse- 
quently, all  previous  treaties  are  annulled,  including  that  of 
the  fifth  day  of  November,  1889,  which  stipulated  arbitration, 
its  procedure  and  the  election  of  an  arbitrator.  On  another 
occasion  I  said  frankly  to  the  Chamber,  that  the  treaty  of  the 
'  fifth  day  of  November  could  not  be  accomplished  without  the 

approbation  of  the  legis'ature,  since  it  might  involve  in  its 
ulterior  effects  the  cession  of  the  territory  or  removal  of  juris- 
diction, cases  in  which,  even  in  the  constitution  of  the  Empire, 
the  Congress  approbation  was  required. 

This  is  the  only  assembly  which  has  been  at  work  after 
the  fifth  day  of  November.  The  government  is  free  from  any 
embarrassement,  and  ought  to  take  some  steps  with  regard  to 
the  territory  of  Misiones,  which  is  to  be  colonized  by  Russian 
Jews. 


—  755  —      • 

The  government  of  Marshal  Deodoro  having  been  overthrown  and 
subsistuted  by  that  of  Vice-President,  General  Floriano  Peixoto,  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  National  Congress,  it  announced  that  the  commissions  of  limits 
finished  their  Cabinet  works,  and,  if  necessary,  the  question  would  be  sub- 
mitted to  arbitration. 

At  the  same  time  a  Brazilian  diplomat  sounded  the  opinion  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Republic  and  mine  in  a  personal  way,  upon  a  new  direct  settle- 
ment. I  had  the  honor  to  state  then  that  this  form  of  solution  was  not 
desirable  to  us,  and  that  we  relied  on  the  arbitration  ;  but  if  Brazil  had  any 
new  proposal  to  offer,  it  must  be  subjected  to  the  previous  acceptance  of  these 
three  conditions : 

1st.  The  proposal  to  be  officially  initiated  by  the  Brazilian  government. 
2d.  The  proposal  to  bear  the  declaration  that  the  treaty  would  be  approved 
by  the  Rio  Congress  before  being  submitted  to  the  Argentine  Congress. 
3d.  The  areas  that  each  country  would  obtain  by  the  new  transaction  to  be 
similar  to  those  of  the  Zeballos-Bocayuva  treaty,  though  the  position  of  the 
boundary  line  would  vary. 

A  few  days  after  this  interchange  of  ideas  of  a  personal  character  I  was 
authorized  by  the  President  of  the  Republic  to  open  a  ncvv  negotiation,  which 
would  dispel  the  doubts  which  were  already  floating  about  the  situation  of 
the  treaty  of  November,  1889,  and  of  the  future  of  the  Misiones  suit. 

In  December,  1890,  and  January,  1891,  I  addressed  to  Senor  Agustin 
Arroyo,  recently  accredited  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  with  the  high  honors  of  his 
predecessors,  the  proper  instructions.  I  urged  him  to  decidedly  sustain  the 
arbitration,  and  to  hasten  its  accomplishment. 

It  was  necessary  to  warn  him  with  regard  to  the  overture  for  the  direct 
settlement  to  which  I  have  alluded,  and  in  a  note  dated  the  twenty-eighth 
day  of  December  I  exposed  the  antecedents,  which  I  confirmed  in  these 
terms  : 

I  make  Your  Excellency  acquainted  with  said  antecedents, 
so  that  Your  Excellency  shall  be  entirely  posted  on  what  has 
happened,  and  improve  the  first  opportunity,  so  as  to  inform 
the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  that  country  of  what  has 
been  said  here.  Your  Excellency  will  please  to  add  that  the 
Argentine  government  has  no  interest  whatever  in  delaying 
the  arbitration,  but  earnestly  desires,  as  stated  in  the  said  note, 
to  solve  this  suit,  resorting  to  this  recourse  as  quickly  as 
possible. 

On  the  eleventh  day  of  January  and  in  view  of  certain  symptoms  hostile  to 
arbitration,  I  sent  Senor  Arroyo  the  following  telegram  : 

Buenos  Ayres,  the  eleventh  day  of  January,  1892. 

To  the  Argentine  Minister  in  Brazil. 

According  to  instructions  which  Your  Excellency  wil 
have  received  by  mail,  hurry  up  solution  suit  of  Misiones  pro- 
posing to  go  decidedly  to  pending  arbitration. 

The  Argentine  government  only  waits  for  a  definite  word 
from  Rio  government  to  take  proper  steps. 

Greetings, 

ESTANISLAO    S.    ZeBALLOS. 


—  756  — 
Senor  Arroyo  replied : 

Petropolis,  the  seventeenth  day  of  January,  1892. 

In  compliance  with  Your  Excellency's  instructions  I  had 
an  interview  with  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  of  which 
I  give  Your  Excellency  an  account  in  note  of  this  day.  The 
Brazilian  government  declares  that  the  treaty  of  September, 
1889,  has  recovered  its  full  validity,  and  the  government  is 
determined  to  accomplish  it.  The  government  only  waits  for 
the  termination  of  the  labors  of  the  commission  of  limits. 

Agustin  Arroyo. 

Brazil  was  passing  through  trying  moments  of  agitation,  and  in  anticipa- 
tion of  possible  political  modifications,  the  Argentine  government  decided  to 
solemnize  the  result  of  that  conference  by  sending  to  Senor  Arroyo  the  follow- 
ing urgent  instructions : 

Buenos  Ayres,  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  January,  1892. 

To  the  Argentine  Minister  at  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Confirming  yesterday's  telegram,  please  propose  to 
celebrate  a  protocol  stipulating  urgency  of  treaty  of  arbitration, 
and  obligation  to  communicate  at  once  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States  his  selection,  by  common  accord,  to  decide 
question  of  limits.     Telegraph  results. 

ESTANISLAO    S.    ZEBALLOS. 

On  the  eighth  day  of  February  Sefior  Arroyo  and  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Relations  of  Brazil,  Senor  Lobo,  agreed  to  shape  into  written  form  the 
declarations  interchanged  through  notes,  a  brief  form  which  circumstances 
rendered  preferable  to  a  protocol,  the  Argentine  instructions  having  arrived  at 
the  moment  of  a  political  crisis.  The  Cabinet  fell  on  the  ninth,  so  that  the 
not°s  remained  unsigned. 

Deputy  Serzedello  succeeded  Seiior  Lobo.  The  amendment  of  the  last 
consideration  of  the  opinion  of  the  special  committee  which  studied  the 
Montevideo  treaty,  which  was  asked  for  and  obtained  in  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  by  Senor  Serzedello,  caused  this  alarm ;  but  the  new  Minister,  in  a 
conference  with  the  Argentine  plenipotentiary,  made  explicit  declarations,  not 
only  with  regard  to  his  high  estimation  of  th;  cordial  relation  with  our  coun- 
try, but  accepting  without  reserve,  the  solution  by  arbitration. 

But  the  written  form  of  the  declarations  did  not  materialize.  Tie  Brazil- 
ian government  always  expected  that  Baron  de  Capanema  would  finish  the 
Cabinet  work  relative  to  the  exploration  of  Misiones.  General  Garmendia  had 
terminated  those  of  his  commission,  and  sent  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  the  report  and 
the  plans  stipulated  by  the  treaty  of  1885,  so  that  they  should  be  signed  by  his 
colleague.  The  Argentine  government  repeated  its  instructions  to  Senor 
Arroyo,  so  that  he  would  obtain  proper  aid  to  have  Baron  de  Capanema  make 
haste,  thus  eliminating  the  only  obstacle  in  the  way  of  arbitration. 

On  the  fourteenth  day  of  March  Senor  Serzedello  offered  his  excuses  to 
the  Argentine  Minister,  who  fulfilled  his  instructions  faithfully,  for  the  delay, 
and  it  was  agreed  to  finish  the  negptiation  without  loss  of  time. 


—  757  — 

The  Argentine  note  of  the  twenty-second  day  of  February  was  finally  re- 
plied to  on  the  seventeenth  day  of  March,  and  the  compromise  was  solemnly 
established.     The  following  are  the  notes  : 
Legation  of  the 
Argentine  Republic. 

Petropolis,  the  twenty-second  day  of  February,  1892. 

At  the  conference  I  had  the  honor  to  hold  with  Your  Ex- 
cellency on  the  sixteenth  instant,  relative  to  the  benefits  that 
our  respective  countries  would  derive  from  the  prompt  and 
definite  conclusion  of  the  pending  question  of  Misiones,  the 
only  one  which  devides  them,  I  had  occasion  to  propose  to 
Your  Excellency,  in  pursuance  of  instructions  received  from 
my  government,  the  celebration  of  a  protocol,  in  which  we 
should  set  forth  the  necessity  of  complying,  without  delay,  with 
the  provision  ot  the  treaty  on  arbitration,  signed  at  Buenos 
Ayres  on  the  seventh  day  of  September,  1889,  the  ratifications 
of  which  were  exchanged  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  on  the  fourth  day 
of  November  following,  asking  the  President  of  the  United 
States  for  his  acquiescence,  so  as  to  confer  upon  him  the  charge 
of  arbitrator  which  the  said  pact  assigns  to  him. 

I  then  had  the  pleasure  to  hear  from  Your  Excellency,  as 
I  had  he;ird  before  from  his  distinguished  predecessor  that  the 
government  of  Brazil  was  determined  to  bring  into  practice, 
without  delay,  the  decision  of  the  said  convention,  to  which 
end  Your  Excellency  had  just  had  an  interview  with  Sehor 
Baron  de  Capanema,  chief  of  the  commission  of  limits,  from 
whom  Your  Excellency  had  received  the  assurance  that  the 
labors  under  his  charge  were  nearly  completed,  and  would  be 
presented  to  Your  Excellency  momentarily.  Your  Excellency 
further  said,  in  this  connection,  that  there  was  no  apparent 
necessity  to  adjust  a  new  protocol,  since  the  point  for  stipula- 
tion was  bound  to  be  realized  within  very  few  days. 

It  was  my  province  to  reply  to  Your  Excellency  that,  at  all 
events,  I  did  not  think  it  out  of  place  to  exchange  notes  in 
which  we  would  record  the  ideas  expressed  during  our  inter- 
view, as  a  palpable  demonstration  of  the  perfect  harmony  of 
purpose  existing  between  both  governments,  tending  to  the 
acceleration  of  the  moment  of  seeing  the  international  horizon 
of  both  republics  free,  for  ever,  from  the  only  divergence  which 
at  this  present  day  precludes  their  marching  together  in  unison 
upon  the  road  of  their  respective  progress. 

Your  Excellency  having  admitted  the  propriety  of  the  said 
indication,  I  begin,  for  my  part,  to  realize  it  by  addressing  the 
present  note,  in  whose  contents  1  expect  that  Your  Excellency 
will  see,  faithfully  reproduced,  the  views  which  we  had  occasion 
to  exchange  upon  the  treaty  in  the  course  of  the  conference 
which  1  have  just  epitomized. 

Trusting  that  Your  Excellency  will  kindly  favor  me  with 
an  answer,  I  take  pleasure  to  improve  this  opportunity  to 
reitirate  to  the  Minister  the  assurances  of  my  most  distinguished 
consideration. 

(Signed)  AGUSTIN  ARROYO. 

To  Lieutena7it-Colonel  Don  Inocencio  Serzedello,  Minister  of 

Foreign  Relations  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil. 

TRANSLATION. 


-758- 
Department 

OF 

Foreign  Relations 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  the  scvente^th  day  of  March,  1892. 

I  have  the  honor  to  reply  to  the  note  which  Senor  Don 
Agustin  Arroyo.  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  of  the  Argentine  Republic  has  been  pleased  to 
address  to  me  on  the  twenty-second  ultimo,  in  which,  with 
reference  to  conferences  he  had  held  with  me,  and  with  my  pre- 
decessor, treats  on  the  convenience  that  the  question  of  limits 
shall  be  submitted,  without  delay,  to  the  arbitration  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  treaty  of  the  seventh  day  of  September,  1889,  being, 
as  it  is,  a  binding  law  for  both  contractmg  parlies,  cannot 
undergo  any  alteration  \vithout  the  consent  of  the  respective 
Congresses.  When  I  agreed  in  the  said  convenience  I  understood, 
as  I  still  understand,  that  the  action  of  both  governments 
is  dependent  upon  the  provisions  of  the  said  treaty. 

I  Article  fixes  the  term  of  ninety  days  for  the  closing  of 
the  discussion  on  right  from  the  day  on  which  each  of  the 
commissions,  constituting  the  joint  committee,  shall  have 
delivered  to  its  government  the  report  and  the  plan  referred 
to  in  IV  Article. 

The  report  and  the  plan  belonging  to  the  Argentine 
government  were  sent  from  here  on  the  nineteenth  ultimo 
to  Senor  Garmendia  by  Senor  Baron  de  Capanema,  who 
handed  to  me  those  of  Brazil  on  the  same  occasion.  Since 
that  date,  or  from  the  date  on  which  the  said  General  shall 
have  made  a  similar  delivery,  probably  the  twenty-fifth,  the 
stipulated  ninety  days  must  be  counted.  The  Argentine 
government  got  ahead  of  time,  but  it  does  not  matter. 

The  Brazilian  Counter  Memorandum  is  the  last  docu- 
ment of  discussion  upon  right,  and  as  in  case  this  should  be 
continued,  the  Argentine  government  would  have  the  saying, 
the  Vice-President  of  the  Republic  accepts  Sefior  Arroyo's 
note  as  a  declaration  that  the  said  discussion  is  closed. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  both  governments  to  wait  for  the 
expiration  of  the  term  of  ninety  days,  which  occurs  in  the 
latter  part  of  May,  to  ask  the  President  of  the  United  States 
of  America  to  accept  the  charge  of  arbitrator. 

Therefore,  the  Vice-President,  agreeing  to  proceed  in 
this  matter  with  all  possible  promptness,  thinks  that  in  con- 
formity with  the  spirit  and  letter  of  II  Article  of  the  treaty,  it 
is  incumbent  upon  him  to  address  a  letter  to  the  appointed 
arbitrator  through  the  accredited  Minister  of  Brazil  in  Wash- 
ington on  an  ordinary  mission,  directing  at  the  same  time 
that  an  authentic  copy  of  the  treaty  and  its  translation  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 

If,  as  is  to  be  expected,  the  reply  should  be  favorable,  an 
Envoy  Extraordinary  on  a  special  mission  shall  go  to  the 
United  States  of  America. 

Should  the  Argentine  government  agree  upon  this  pro- 
ceeding, the  letter  from  the  Cabinet,  to  which  I  have  made 
reference,  shall  be  issued  without  delay. 

I  avail  with  pleasure  of  this  opportunity  to  reiterate  to 
Senor  Arroyo  the  assurances  of  my  high  consideration. 

(Signed)  Serzedello  Correa. 


—  759  — 

It  was,  therefore,  necessary  to  take  the  exploration  of  Misiones  as  closed, 
that  is  to  say,  to  declare  accomplished  the  preliminary  treaty  of  1885,  and 
then  to  finish  up  the  diplomatic  debate,  and  submit  the  question  to  the 
umpire. 

General  Garmendia  produced  the  plans  and  reports  in  connection  with 
those  operations,  and  the  government  issued  the  needful  decrees.  The 
following  are  the  documents  : 

Zarate,  the  eleventh  day  of  April,  1892. 

To  His  Excellency,  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  Doctor  Don 
Estanislao  S.  Zeballos. 

I  have  the  honor  to  address  Your  Excellency  handing 
the  Argentine  general  plan,  and  the  report  provided  by 
XII  Article  of  the  instructions  recently  received,  signed  by 
the  joint  commission,  as  well  as  the  partial  plans  of  the  mouths 
of  the  rivers  Pepiri  Guazu  and  Pequiri  Guazu,  and  of  the 
highest  grounds  between  the  same,  signed  by  the  chiefs  of 
both  commissions,  together  with  the  private  report  of  the 
undersigned,  in  possession  of  Your  Excellency,  with  which 
all  the  labors  of  the  Argentine  Commission  of  Limits  with 
Brazil  are  terminated,  and  consequently  the  stipulations  con- 
tained in  the  instructions,  annexed  to  the  treaty  of  the  twenty- 
eighth  day  of  September.  1885,  have  been  complied  with. 

In  addition  to  this  I  enclose  an  index  of  the  plans  and 
documents  which  have  been  delivered  to  the  Department,  rep- 
resenting the  complement,  in  its  minute  details  of  all  the 
works,  as  well  as  the  diplomatic  correspondence,  official  and 
private,  with  Baron  de  Capanema,  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Relations,  who  have  held  the  office  during  this  time,  the  com- 
missioners and  other  officers  of  the  commission  of  limits. 

As  I  have  on  previous  occasions  praised  the  distinguished 
members  of  the  Argentine  commission  of  limits,  whose  under- 
lings were  compensated  for  their  services  in  accordance  with 
their  actions,  I  omit  to  enter  into  further  considerations  upon 
that  matter. 

I  avail  of  this  opportunity  to  greet  Your  Excellency  with 
my  greatest  esteein  and  consideration. 

Jose  Ignacio  Garmendia. 
Department 

OF 

Foreign  Relations. 

Buenos  Ayres,  the  eleventh  day  of  April.  1892. 
The  chief  commissioner  of  the  joint  commission  of  limits 
with  Brazil,  General  Don  Jose  Ignacio  Garmendia,  having 
stated  that  with  the  delivery  of  the  maps  which  he  received, 
signed  by  the  Brazilian  chief  commissioner  of  the  said  com- 
mission, Baron  of  Capanema,  terminate  the  labors  which, 
according  to  the  treaty  of  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  September, 
1885,  were  committed  to  him  for  the  exploration  of  the  con- 
tested territory  of  Misiones  and  the  four  rivers  of  the  inter- 
national controversy ; 


—  760  — 

The  President  of  the  Republic 
DECREES : 

I  Article.  The  exploration  which  according  to  the  in- 
structions annexed  to  the  treaty  of  1855  was  commanded  to 
the  joint  commission  of  limits  on  the  contested  territory  and 
the  rivers  above  mentioned,  is  declared  as  terminated. 

II  Article.  It  is  ordered  that  an  expression  of  thanks 
be  given,  in  the  name  of  the  government,  and  in  the  manner 
agreed  upon,  to  the  chief  of  the  Argentine  commission,- 
Brigadier-General  Don  Jose  Ignacio  Garmendia,  commission- 
ers and  officers  of  the  same,  and  that  an  individual  note  shall 
be  sent  to  every  member  as  a  memento  of  their  distinguished 
merits  contracted  in  the  performance  of  this  grave  interna- 
tional  commission. 

III  Article.  Also,  that  a  note  be  sent  to  the  Departments 
of  War  and  Navy  with  a  transcript  of  this  decree,  as  an  evi- 
dence of  the  services  rendered  to  the  country  by  the  chiefs, 
officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army  and  of  the  navy  who  took 
part  in  said  commission. 

IV  Article.     Communicate  this,  etc. 

PELLEGRINI. 

ESTANISLAO    S.    ZeBALLOS. 

Whereupon,   the   Brazilian  government's  proposal   as  to  procedure  were 
answered  in  the  following  terms : 

Buenos  Ayrc?,  the  thirty-first  day  of  March,  rSgz. 
To  the  Minister : 

I  have  had  the  pleasure  to  receive  Your  Excellency's 
note  No.  69,  dated  the  nineteenth  inst. ,  accompanying  copy 
of  the  communications  which  Your  Excellency  has  exchanged 
with  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  Brazil,  establishing 
that  the  question  of  limits  between  both  countries  shall  be 
immediately  submitted  to  the  arbitration  of  the  President  of 
^the  United  States,  according  to  the  treaty  of  the  seventh 
day  of  September,  1889. 

The  President  of  the  Republic  having  been  apprised  of 
the  contents  of  these  notes,  has  decided  upon  approving  of 
the  judicious  fulfillment  given  by  Your  Excellency  to  the 
instructions  I  had  the  honor  to  transmit  by  note  of  the 
twenty-ninth  day  of  December,  1891.  There  is  no  incon- 
venience in  accepting  the  date  of  the  twenty-fifth  day  of 
February  as  a  starting  point  to  count  the  ninety  days  of 
I  Article  of  the  treaty. 

Therefore  Your  Excellency  will  kindly  notify  the  Min- 
ister of  Foreign  Relations  that  the  Argentine  government 
will  sign,  under  date  of  the  fifteenth  day  of  April  next,  the 
autographic  letters  for  the  President  of  the  United  States,  as 
well  as  the  copies  of  the  treaty.  These  documents  shall  be 
forwarded  by  the  next  mail  to  the  accredited  Legation  at 
Washington,  for  proper  course. 


—  761  — 

In  accordance  with  the  term  stipulated  in  IV  Article  of 
of  the  treaty  of  the  seventh  day  of  September,  1889,  the 
Argentine  government  shall,  in  due  time,  appoint  the  pleni- 
potentiary who  shall  defend  the  rights  of  the  Argentine 
Republic. 

I  avail  of  this  opportunity  to  reiterate  to  Your  Excellency 
the  assurances  of  my  distinguished  consideration. 

ESTANISLAO    S.    ZEBALLOS. 
To  His  Excellency,  Senor  Don  Agustin  Array,  Envoy  Ex- 
traordinary and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Argen- 
tine Republic  in  the  United  States  of  Brazil. 

The  Argentine  government  addressed  the  President  of  the  United  States 
in  these  terms : 

CARLOS  PELLEGRINI, 
Constitutional  President  of  the 
Argentine  Republic. 
To  His   Excellency  the  President  of  the    United  States  of 
America. 

Great  and  good  friend. 

Greeting. — By  II  Article  of  the  treaty  signed  in  this  city 
on  the  seventh  day  of  the  month  of  September,  1889,  a  legal- 
ized copy  of  which  I  have  the  honor  to  accompany  herewith, 
it  was  stipulated  that  the  time  referred  to  in  I  Article,  having 
expired  without  an  amicable  solution,  the  question  of  limits 
existing  between  the  Argentine  Republic  and  Brazil  should 
be  submitted  to  the  arbitration  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  of  America. 

The  high  contracting  parties,  in  designating  Your  Excel- 
lency in  said  capacity,  have  taken  into  consideration  not 
only  the  friendly  relations  which  tie  them  to  the  United 
States  of  America,  but  also  the  vivid  interest  that  inspires 
Your  Excellency  in  everything  connected  with  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  American  nations.  I,  therefore,  ask  that  Your 
Excellency  will  kindly  deign  to  accept  the  appointment  of 
arbitrator,  which  the  said  international  pact  confers  upon 
Your  Excellency,  so  that  Your  Excellency's  just  and  avowedly 
impartial  sentence  shall  decide,  in  a  satisfactory  and  honor- 
able manner  for  both  countries,  this  matter  which  has  been 
discussed  during  more  than  a  century. 

With  sincere  wishes  for  the  greatness  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  I  have  the  honor  to  tender  to  Your  Ex- 
cellency the  assurances  of  my  highest  consideration  and  par- 
ticular esteem. 

C.   PELLEGRINI. 

ESTANISLAO    S.    ZEBALLOS. 
Issued    in    the    City    of  Buenos  Ayres,    capital    of    the 
Argentine  Republic,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  April,  of  the  year 
1892. 

The  Government  of  the  United   States  has  addressed  to  the  Argentine 
Legation  at  Washington,  the  following  communication  : 


—  762  — 
Department 

OF 

State 

Washington,  tlie  twenty-fifth  day  of  May,  1892. 

Sir: — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  note  of  the  twelfth  inst.,  accompanying  the  original 
and  an  official  copy  of  the  ceremonial  letter  addressed  by  the 
President  of  the  Argentine  Republic  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  requesting  him  to  accept  the  function  of  arbi- 
trator, to  decide  the  question  of  limits  pending  between  the ' 
Argentine  Republic  and  the  United  States  of  Brazil,  by 
virtue  of  II  Article  of  the  treaty  signed  by  both  country  at 
Buenos  Ayres  on  the  seventh  day  of  September,  1889. 

It  has  afforded  me  great  pleasure  to  place  the  letter  in 
the  hands  of  the  President. 

The  President  feels  under  obligation  for  the  signal 
demonstration  of  confidence  and  esteem  thus  signified,  and 
his  reply  to  the  invitation  shall  not  be  delayed  as  soon  as 
a  similar  request  shall  have  been  made  by  the  government 
of  the  United  States  of  Brazil. 

Please  to  accept,  sir,  the  renewed  assurances  of  my  high 
consideration. 

William  F.  Wharton, 


XVIII 

The  Misiones  question  was  warmly  discussed  by  the  Brazilian  statesmen 
from  1857  to  1891.  There  have  been  profusely  divulged  on  this  matter 
many  documents,  affirmations  and  news,  not  always  pertinent,  often  inaccur- 
ate and  frequently  incomplete.  Public  opinion  could  be  misled  if  the 
Argentine  Republic  would  not  take  cognizance  of  such  a  propaganda,  and 
disavow  it.     The  opportunity  to  do  so  has  arrived. 

The  quarrel  having  been  submitted  to  arbitration,  the  object  of  this 
exposition  is  to  definitely  inform  the  Argentine  Republic  about  the  manner 
in  which  this  grave  question  has  been  treated  at  all  times,  and  to  present  in 
an  organic  body,  methodically  arranged,  the  refutation  of  the  inaccuracies, 
the  rectification  of  the  errors,  and  the  necessary  and  illustrative  complement  of 
the  omissions  contained  in  the  propaganda  with  which  Brazil  has  resisted  our 
unquestionable  rights  to  the  territory  of  Misiones. 

The  object  of  this  part  of  my  Memoir  having  been  explained,  it  will  be 
seen  that  its  plan  was  strange  to  the  examination  of  the  documents  and  argu- 
ments, which  we  will  exhibit  before  the  arbitrator  in  defense  of  our  titles  and 
rights.  This  task  has  another  characteristic  feature  which  shall  be  attended 
to  by  the  plenipotentiary,  to  whom  the  country  shall  entrust  its  interests.  In 
the  preceding  refutation  and  exposition  of  antecedents  I  have  admitted  those 
documents  and  data  whose  exhibition  must  not  be  made  for  the  first  time,  but 
in  the  presence  of  the  arbitrator. 

The  diplomatic  horizon  will  ultimately  remain  clear  on  Brazil's  side,  if 
the  ferment  of  political  parties  of  this  country  do  not  create  complications, 
luckily  unforeseen  for  the  present,  and  which,  in  any  event,  shall  not  be  pro- 
voked by  the  Argentine  Republic,  which  is  bent,  through  a  decidedly  frank 
policy,  upon  making  herself  respected  without  meddling  with  her  neighbor's 
troubles. 


INDEX 


YEAR.  PAGE. 


TREATIES   AND    ROYAL   LETTERS    PATENT. 

1493. — Bull  of  Pope  Alexander  VI ...         9 

1494. — Treaty  of  Tordesillas 13 

1 68 1. -^Provisional  Treaty  concerning  the  restitution  of  the  Colonia  del 

Sacramento 25 

1701. — Treaty  of  Alliance  between  Spain  and  Portugal,   and  Act  of 

Guaranty  of  the  King  Charles  II  of  Great  Britain 31 

1713. — Act  of  Guaranty  of  Oueen  Anne 37 

171 5. — Treaty  of  Utrecht 39 

1750. — Treaty  of  Limits  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  possessions  in 

South  America 49 

175 1. — Instructions  which  were  to  guide  the  Commissioners  of  the  two 
Crowns  in  the  demarcations  of  the  respective  dominions  in 

South  America  in  execution  of  the  Treaty  of  1750 61 

1751. — Separate  Articles  of  the  Treaty  concluded  and  signed  the  17th 
of  January  of  this  present  year  of  175 1  about  the  instructions 
of  the  respective  Commissioners  which  are  to  pass  to  South 

America 71 

Treaty  extending  the  term  for  the  deliveries  stipulated  by  the 
Treaty  of  Boundaries  celebrated  the  13th  of  January,  that  it 

may  be  extended  to  all  the  present  year 73 

Treaty  as  to  the  facts  of  the  Geographical  Charts  which  are  to 
govern  the  Commissioners  entrusted  with  the  survey  of  the 

boundaries 73 

Supplement  and  Declaration  of  the  Treaty  of  17th  of  January 
by  which  the  instructions  of  the  Commissioners  which  are  to 
pass  to  South  America  shall  be  governed  • 74 


—  764  — 

YEAR.  PAGE. 

Declaration  signed  at  Madrid,  dated  the  12th  of  July,  by  the 
Plenipotentiaries  of  their  Most  Faithful  and  Catholic  Majest- 
ies on  the  margins  of  the  Geographical  Chart,  which  served 
fofthe  adjustment  of  the  Treaty  of  Boundaries  of  the  con- 
quests, on  13th  January,    1750 76 

Declaration  made  in  the  Portuguese  language ']'] 

Declaration  made  in  the  Spanish  language 78 

1 76 1. — Treaty  concluded  between  the  Crowns  of  Spain  and  Portugal 
and  signed  at  the  Pardo  the  12th  of  February,  1761,  in  order 
to  annul  the  Treaty  of  Boundaries,  which  was  stipulated  in 
the  year  1750 79 

1763. — Convention  for  the  suspension  of  hostihties,  and  of  boundaries 
in  America,  concluded  between  the  Governor  of  the  Prov- 
ince of  San  Pedro,  Colonel  Ignacio  Eloy  de  Madureira,  and 
the  Spanish  General  Don  Pedro  de  Cevallos,  at  the  town  of 
Rio  Giande 83 

1777. — Preliminary  Treaty  about  the  boundaries  of  the  countries  of 
South  America,  belonging  to  the  Crowns  of  Spain  and  Por-  ' 
tugal,  by  which  the  places  through  which  the  boundary  line 
of  their  dominions  is  stipulated 85 

1778. — Treaty  of  Friendship,  Guaranty  and  Commerce,  between  the 

Kings  of  Spain  and  Portugal 97 

181 2. — Reception  of  His  Excellency  Juan  Rademaker,  Envoy  Extra- 
ordinary of  His  Majesty  the  Regent  of  Portugal 105 

Armistice  concluded  on  the  twenty-sixth,  between  the  Most 
Excellent  Provisional  Superior  Government  of  the  United 
Provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Juan 
Rademaker,  sent  as  Envoy  for  this  purpose  by  His  Royal 
Highness  the  Prince  Regent  of  Portugal 106 

1857. — Treaty  of  Limits  between  Brazil  and  the  Argentine  Confederation     109 

1885. — Treaty  for  the  survey  of  the  river  Pepiri-guazu  and  San  Anto- 
nio, Chapeco  or  Pequiri-guazii  and  Chopim  or  San  Antonio- 
guazu,  and  of  the  territory  separating  them,  disputed  bet- 
ween the  Argentine  Republic  and  Brazil  .    ..  .  , 114 

Instructions  referred  to  in  Article  II  of  the  Treaty  concluded 
between  the  Argentine  Republic  and  Brazil,  on  the  28th  of 
September,  1885,  for  the  sui-vey  of  the  territory  in  litigation 
on  the  West  and  East,  and  of  the  same  territory 115 

1889. — Treaty  of  Arbitration  concluded  between  the  Argentine  Re- 

pubhc  and  the  Empire  of  Brazil 119 

1890. — Project  of  Treaty  between  the  Argentine   Republic  and  the 

United  States  of  Brazil 123 

Act  of  authenticity  and  conformity  of  the  Plans  having  served 


—  7^5  — 


PAGE. 


for  the  demarcation  of  the  frontier  fixed  in  the  preceding 
Treaty 125 

CAPITULATIONS. 

1534, — Capitulations  made  with  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza  for  the  con- 
quest of  the  River  Plate" 129 

1536. — Capitulations  made  by  Her  Majesty  with  Gregoriode  Pesquera, 
resident  of  Burgos,  to  raise  and  produce  spices  in  that  part 
of  River  Plate,  in  the  demarcation  of  Spain,  from  the  place 
known  as  La  Cananea  to  the  river  Santa  Catalina,  and  one 

hundred  leagues  inland 135 

1537. — Commission  by  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza  appointing  Juan  de 
Ayolas  and  Francisco  Ruiz  Galan  Lieutenants  Governors  of 

the  River  Plate *. 143 

1540. — Capitulations  made  with  Alvar  Nufiez  Cabeza  de  Vaca  .    .    .    .     145 

1547. — Capitulations  made  with  Juan  de  Sanabria 151 

1 57 1. — Capitulations  made  with  the  Adelantado  Juan  Ortiz  de  Zarate  .     156 

ACTS  OF  POSSESSION  AND  JURISDICTION  OF  SPAIN  ON  THE  TER- 
RITORY   SUBMITTED    TO    ARBITRATION. 

1 54 1. — Act  of  Possession  of  the  island  of  Santa  Catalina  by  the  Gover- 
nor of  the  River  Plate,  Alvar  Nuiiez  Cabeza  de  Vaca.  ...     169 
1541. — Acts  of  Possession  of  the  pueblo  de  Tocanguazu,   Province  of 
Vera,   on   November   28th,  by  the  Governor  of  the  River 

Plate,  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca , 170 

1544. — Original  Report  of  Alvar  Nunez,  of  all  the  events  occurred 
since  his  arrival  on  the  coast  of  Brazil  and  River  Plate  ; 
wherein  appears  the  proof  of  his  having  taken  possession  of 

the  island  of  Cananea 173 

1577. — Action  against  Ortuno  Arbildo  at  Icatu  in  the  territory  of  the 
Province  of  Guayra,  and  finally  sentenced  by  Don  Juan  de 

Garay ' 177 

1567. — Infoi«nation  of  the  services  of  the  Captain  Rui  Diaz  Melgarejo     183 
1588. — Act  of  foundation  of  the  city  of  Vera  de^  las  Siete  Corrientes.  .    201 
1 591. — Jurisdiction  of  Spain  over  the  territory  submitted  to  Arbitration     205 
1612. — « La  Argentina."     History  of  the   Discovery,    Settlement  and 
Conquest  of  the  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate,  written  by  Rui 

Diaz  de  Guzman,  in  the  year  1612 209 

1588. — Title  and  Commission  in  favor  of  Rui  Diaz  de  Guzman 225 

1593. — Taking  of  possession  of  the  said  territories  and  settlement  of 
San  Salvador,  and  foundation  of  the  city  of  Santiago  de 
Xerez 228 


—  766  — 


PAGE. 


1593. — Letter  of  the  city  of  Xerez  to  the  city  of  La  Asumpcion.  .    .    .     239 

1593. — Statement  of  the  Attorney  of  the  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo, 
Pero  Mino,  asking  for  aid  of  ammunition  and  gunpowder  to 
repulse  the  rebel  Indians  who  are  in  continuous  war  .    .    .    .     241 

1 61 7. — Royal  Letters  Patent,  dividing  in  two  parts  the  original  Govern- 
ment of  the  River  Plate,  and  appointing  Don  Diego  de  Gon- 
gora  as  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  said  Province  .    .     244 
Laws  of  Indies 249 

1679. — Judicial  Proceedings  relating  to  the  foundation  and  change  of 

site  of  Villa  Rica  del  Espiritu  Santo -250 

1726. — Royal  Letters  ordering  that  the  thirty  Indian  Reductions  of 
the  Company  of  the  Jesuits,  in  the  District  of  Paraguay,  be 
placed  under  the  Jurisdiction  of  the  Government  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  and  the  College  of  La  Asumpcion  be  restored  to  the 
possession  of  the  Fathers  of  said  Society 261 

1743. — Royal  Letters  enumeradng  the  thirty  Pueblos  of  Misiones  of 
Paraguay,  in  charge  of  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits,  and  issuing 
instructions  to  be  observed  in  their  future  Government  .    .    .     263 

1751. — Jurisdiction  of  Spain  over  the  Territory  submitted  to  Arbi- 
tration   283 

1771. — Royal  Decree  containing  the  Provisions  to  be  observed  in  the 
Establishment  of  the  Spiritual  Government  of  the  Thirty 
Pueblos  of  Guaranis  situated  in  the  Province  of  Paraguay  .    .     287 

1775. — Rolls  of  the  Indians  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  pueblos  of  Corpus, 
on  the  river  Parana,  and  San  Xavier,  on  the  river  Uruguay, 
in  which  district  was  included  the  territory  submited  to  ar- 
bitration   289 

1776. — Instructions  given  by  His  Majesty  to  Don  Pedro  Cevallos,  for 
his  guidance  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  political  and 
fiscal  Government  of  the  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate  and 
others  herein  expressed 291 

1784. — Copy  of  the  Letter  of  the  Viceroy,  Marquis  of  Loreto,   bearing 

date  Buenos  Ayres,  July  4th,  1784,  to  the  Intendant  Gover- 

.    .  nor  of  Paraguay,  placing  him  in  Command  over  the  Pueblos 

of  Misiones,  in  accordance  with    the   Regulations    oftlnten- 

dants 297 

1803. — Royal  Letter,  given  at  Aranjuez,  on  the  17th  of  May,  1803, 
appointing  Don  Bernardo  Velasco  Military  Governor  of  the 
Thirty  Pueblos  of  Misiones  on  the  Rivers  Parana  and  Uru- 
guay   299 

1805.— Title  of  Intendant  Governor  of  the  Province  of  Paraguay, 
adding  thereto  the  command  of  the  Thirty  Pueblos  of  Mi- 
siones, conferred  to  Don  Bernardo  Velasco 303 

1806. — Relating  to  the  necessary  expenses. of  the  new  town,  which  it 


:67 


PAGE. 


has  been  ordered  shall  be  established  at  the  junction  of  the 

Ibicui  and  Uruguay  Rivers 309 

1806.    -Private  letter  of  the  Marquis  de  Sobre-Monte,  Viceroy  of  Bue- 
nos Ayres,  to  the  Prince  of  La    Paz    upon    the    question  of 
boundaries  with  the  Portuguese,  and  the  means  proposed  by 
the  Spanish  Government,  in  order  to  check  their  usurpations.    315 
Latitude  and  Longitude  of  the  Pueblos  of  Misiones 319 

PORTUGUESE  USURPATIONS  IX  THE  DOMINIONS  OF  SPAIN. 

1639. — Regarding  the  punishment  to  be  dealt  to  the  Portuguese  Ma- 
melukes of  San  Pablo,  who  came  to  captivate  the  Indians 
of  the  reductions  of  the  Province  of  Paraguay 323 

1647. — Memorial  of  Father  Antonio  Ruiz  de  Montoya 329 

1649. — Record  of  the  Council  of  La  Asumpcion  disposing  the  taking 
of  people  of  war  from  Villa  Rica  to  reconnoitre  the  places  of 
the  Government  of  Paraguay,  occupied  according  to  the 
advices,  by  the  Portuguese,  and  ordering  the  preparation  of 
ammunition,  arms,  and  material  to  repulse  them,  Jan.  12.    .     336 

1676. — Act  of  the  City  Council  of  La  Asumpcion,  calling  a  Council  of 

War  to  discuss  matter  conceruing  the  Mamelukes  invaders  .     345 

1676. — Report  of  Diez  de  Andino  regarding  his  expedition    to    drive 

the  Portuguese  from  the  dominions  of  Spain 359 

1704-1734. — Documents  concerning  the  invasion  of  the  Spanish  terri- 
tory by    the   Portuguese 367 

1750. — Letter  from  the  Governor  Don  Jose  de  Andonaegui,  dated 
November  19th,  1750,  accompanying  a  report  of  the  Misio- 
nes of  Indians,  held  by  the  Jesuits  in  the  Bishoprics  of  Pa- 
raguay and  of  Buenos  Ayres 383 

1 77 1. — The  Governor  of  Buenos  Ayres  sends  copies  of  letters  from  the 
Governor  of  Paraguay,  indicating  the  advances  of  the  Por- 
tuguese towards  Gatimi,  their  ambitious  ideas  and  excesses 
to  penetrate  in  the  dominions  of  His  Majesty 389 

1784. — Differences  with  the  Portuguese  since  the  peace  of  1763  to  the 
declaratien  of  war  in  1777,  abstracts  madefrom  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Viceroys  of  the  River  Plate 401 

1790. — Reflections  on  the  reports  given  by  the  Governor  Quarter- 
Master,  about  the  foundation  of  the  fort  Coimbra  and  the 
town  of  Albuquerque  by  the  Portuguese  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  Paraguay 407 

1 79 1. — The  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  Arredondo,  advicfes  the  Conde 
de  Florida  Blanca  that  he  has  given  the  necessary  orders  for 
the  expulsion  of  the  Portuguese  from  Itapucu  which  they 
have  unduly  occupied 411 


—  7(^8  — 

YEAR.  PAGE. 

1792.— Note  from  the  Viceroy  Arredondo  to  the  Count  of  Aranda 
complaining  of  the  continued  advances  and  depredations  of 
the  Portuguese  on  the  South  of  the  Piratini 413 

1 801. — True  statistics  of  the  seven  eastern  pueblos  of  Misiones  of 
Uruguay,  at  the  time  they  were  invaded  by  Brazilians,  some 
eighty  day  after  the  ratifications  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace  of 
Badajoz 415 

1804. — Communication  from  the  Count  of  Campo  Alange,  Spanish 
Ambassador  at  Lisbon,  to  the  Portuguese  Minister  Araujo 
de  Azevedo,  protesting  against  the  advances  of  the  Portu- 
guese in  the  Misiones,  made  after  the  agreements  of  the 
Peace  of  Badajoz,  urging  on  him  the  celebration  of  a  definit- 
ive treaty  on  boundaries 419 

1804. — Note  of  Don  Pedro  Cevallos,  approving  the  conduct  of  Count 
of  Campo  de  Alange  in  the  matter  of  the  foregoing  com- 
munications, inducing  him  to  ask  the  Portuguese  Govern- 
ment the  appointment  of  a  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to 
celebrate  a  definitive  Treaty  of  Limits  in   America  ....    425 

1804. — Letter  of  Count  of  Campo  Alange  to  Minister  Pedro  de  Ceva- 
llos, and  memorandum  of  the  reply  to  the  same 427 

1804. — Letter  of  Count  of  Campo  Alange  to  Minister  Don  Pedro  Ceva- 
llos, informing  the  latter  of  an  interview  held  with  Araujo  de 
Azevedo,  relating  to  th*e  Portuguese  usurpations  in  America.    429 

1806. — Statement  about  the  situation  of  the  negotiation  with  Portugal 
and  the  conclusion  of  a  definitive  treaty  of  limits,  as  shown 
by  the  preceding  documents 431 

1 804- 1 806, — Correspondence  of  the  Commander  of  the  Spanish  frontier, 
Don  Jorge  Pacheco,  with  the  Viceroy  of  Brazil,  concerning 
the    Portuguese   usurpations 437 

ACTS  OF  POSSESSION  AND  ARGENTINE  JURISDICTION  ON  THE 
TERRITORY  SUBMITTED  TO  ARBITRATION. 

1810. — Recognition  of  the  Junta  of  the  new  independent  Government 

of  the  River  Plate,  by  the  pueblos  of  Misiones 45 1     ^ 

18  lo.-T-Separating  the  pueblos  of  Misiones   from   the  Jurisdiction   of 

Paraguay 451 

1810. — Ratification  of  the  Rademaker's  Armistice 452 

1812. — Artigas'  Letters.. 453 

i8i3.-r-Representation  ofthe  pueblos  of  Misiones 452 

1 8 16. — Artigas'    Letters 453 

1814. — Creation  of  the  Provinces  of  Entre  Rios  and  Corrientes  .    .    .    .  456 
1833. — Convention  of  peace,  friendship  and  alHance  between  Misiones 

and  Entre  Rios 459 


—  769  — 

VEAR.  PAGE. 

1825. — Authorizing  the  Executive  Power,  in  view  of  the  persistent 
efforts  of  the  Emperor  of  Brazil  to  occupy  the  Oriental  Pro- 
vince, to  put  in  operation  in  Entre  Rios,  Corrientes,  Misiones 
and  Montevideo,  VI  Article,  VII  Treatise  and  first  Title  of 
the  General  Army   Ordinances 461 

1827, — Convention  made  between  the  Governments  of  Entre  Rios  and 

Corrientes 463 

1826. — Constitution  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  sanctioned  in  the  Hall 

of  the  General  Constituent  Congress,  at  Buenos  Ayres  ...     465  i^ 
Treaty  between  the  Province  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  Corrientes  .    467 

1827. — Pact  of  allegiance  between  the  Commissioners  of  the  Province 
of  Corrientes  and  those  of  a  portion  of  the  remainder  of  the 
old  Occidental  Misiones 468 

1843. — Treaty  of  Peace  and  Friendship  and  a  Temporary  Treaty    of 

Limits,  between  the  province  of  Entre  Rios  and  Corrientes  .    472 

1855. — Constitution  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes 473 

1863. — A  Decree,  authorizing  the  Government  of  Corrientes  to  make 

contractsforthebuildingofroadstotheYerbales  of  Misiones  .    477 

1863. — Protest  of  the  Argentine  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.Don  Rufino 

de  Elizalde  against  Brazilian  occupation  of  ArgentineTerritory.    479 
Law  fixing  the  duty  of  the  "yerba-mate" 480 

1864. — Article  II  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes  .    .    480 

1864. — A  Decree,  reserving  certain  lands  in  Misiones,  to  favor  the 

development  of  the  industry 480 

1866. — Decree  by  the  Governor  of  Corrientes  appointing  a  political 

Chief  in  Misiones 482 

187 1. — Report  of  the  Boundary  Committee  of  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  specifying  the 
boundaries  of  the  territory  of  Misiones 483 

1877. — A  Decree,  ordering  a  chart  of  the  Province  of  Corrientes,  with 
the  territory  of  Misiones,  to  be  drawn,  and  appointing  sur- 
veyors   486 

1877. — Justice  of  the  Peace 486 

1877. — The  House  of  Representatives  of  Corrientes  authorizes  the 
Executive  Power  to  make  a  contract  upon  Colonization  in 
the  territory  of  Misiones 487 

DOCUMENTS  CONCERNING  THE    ANTECEDENTS,    INTERPRE- 
TATION AND  EXECUTION  OF  THE  TREATIES  AGREED 
BETWEEN  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL,   AND  THE  AR- 
GENTINE REPUBLIC  AND  BRAZIL. 

1756. — Paper  of  the  Honorable  Regent  of  Buenos  Ayres  on  the  mat- 
ter of  Boundaries  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Spain  and  Portugal  .    .    495 


—  77°  — 

YEAR.  PAGE, 

1755-1760. — Letters  from  the  King  of  Portugal,  the  Marquis  of  Pom- 
bal  and  the  Count  of  Unhao,  upon  the  cancellation  of  the 
Treaty  of  1750  . 515 

1759. — Journal  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  Surveyors. — Surveying 

of  the  false  River  Pepiri 519 

1759. — Letter  of  Don  Francisco  de  Arguedas,  addressed  to  the  Mar- 
quis de  Valdelirios,  dated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pepiri,  March 
27th,  1759,  wherein  are  told  all  the  incidents  relating  to  the 
survey  of  said  river 527 

^111- — Official  Letter  of  Don  Francisco  de  Sousa  Coutinho,  Portu- 
guese Ambassador  at  Madrid,  to  Senhor  Aires  de  Sa  Mello, 

upon  the  Treaty  of  Boundaries  of  the  same  year 535 

Note  to  Don  Pedro  de  Cevallos  enclosing  a  copy  of  Royal  Let- 
ters given  to  the  Portuguese  Ambassador,  relating  to  the 
Preliminary  Treaty  of  Peace  of  1777 541 

1777. — Instructions  from  the  Count  of  Florida  Blanca  to  the  Count  of 
Aranda,  Spanish  Ambassador  at  Paris,  upon  the  matter 
involved  in  the  Treaty  of  1777 543 

1779. — Advice  of  Brigadier  Don  Joseph  Custodio  de  Sa  y  Faria  upon 
the  inconveniences  to  result  from  adopting  the  boundaries 
designated  in  the  Treaty  of  1777 549 

1782. — Report  of  the  Count  of  Florida  Blanca  on  the  opinion  of  Bri-, 
gadier  Don  Joseph  Custodio  de  Sa  y  Faria,  and  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  boundary  line  of  the   Preliminary  Treaty 
with  Portugal 552 

1787-1790. — Letters  from  the  Surveyors  Varela  y  LUloa    and  Alvear, 

upon  the  operations  on  the  boundary  line 560 

1789. — Letters  from  the  Spanish  Commissioner  Sefior  Varela  y  Ulloa, 
stating  to  the  Portuguese  Commissioner  the  reasons  upon 
which  are  based  the  differences  of  opinion  existing  between 
them,  regarding  the  demarcation  of  the  Pepiri  river 562 

1789. — Act  drawn  in  the  pueblo  de  San  Juan  Bautista,  the  6th  of  Oc- 
tober, in  which  it  is  stated  that  the  Commissioners  not  hav- 
ing agreed  upon  the  situation  of  the  true  Pepiri,  have 
decided  to  submit  the  question  to  the  decision  of  the 
respective  Courts 575 

1789. — Letter  of  Sefior  Varela  y  Ulloa,  to  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  Marquis  de  Loreto,  arguing  the  convenience  of  not 
accepting  any  other  limit  but  the  river  Pepiri-guazu  .    .    .    .     579 

1790. — The  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres  reports  to  the  Court  of  Spain, 
with  enclosed  documents  upon  the  differences  ocurred  regard- 
ing the  river  Pepiri 581 

1790. — Letter  of  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres,  accompanying  the  Plan 

of  the  first  Party  of  Surveyors 585 


771  — 


1794- — Original  private  letter  of  Don  Pedro  Cervino  to  Felix  de  Azara, 
containing  a  narrative  of  what  occurred  on  account  of  the 
survey  of  the  true  Pepiri-guazu,  made  by  the  Spanish 
engineer  Andres  de  Oyarvide,  and  other  important  nejvs  in 
regard  to  the  settlement  of  boundaries  in  conformity  with 
the  Treaty  of  1777 5^7 

1800. — Extracts  about  the  fourth  dispute  (survey  of  the  rivers  Pepin 
and   San  Antonio),    taken  from    the    Requena    y    Jurado's 

Memoir • 597 

The  Pepiri  of  the  mistake,  in  the  interior 601 

1880. — Official  correspondence  of  the  Argentine  Legation  in  Rio  Ja- 
neiro, about  the  settlement  of  Military  Colonies  on  the  dis- 
puted territory 611 

1882. — Argentine  Possession  in  Misiones,  recognized  by  Brazil. — 
Declarations  of  Brazil  that  its  military  Colonies,  which  the 
Argentine  Government  considered  as  lying  within  the  dis- 
puted territory,  for  which  reason  it  made  claims  and  com- 
menced to  take  defensive  measures,  were  situated  outside  of 
the  territory  in  dispute 619 

1885. — Preliminary  negotiation  of  the  Treaty  celebrated  between  the 

Argentine  Republic  and  Brazil  in  the  year  above-mentioned     623 

1891. — Memoir  of  the  Argentine  Commission  of  Boundaries  with  the 

United  States  of  Brazil 627 

1891-1893. — Document  concerning  the  reopening  of  the  negotiations 
on  the  Treaty  of  1890,  after  being  rejected  by  the  Brazilian 
Congress 637 

1890. — Memoir  of  the  Argentine  Department  of  Foreign  Relations 

presented  to  the  National  Congress 1141 


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